Fridae

It may be quite hard to imagine Rashomon done Little-Red-Riding-Hood style, and to make it an animated feature with a really odd collection of voice acors (Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close and Xzibit working together on a project?) takes a really big leap of faith. Anne Hathaway voices Little Red Riding Hood, and in this version of the fairy tale, she is not as pure and innocent as she is usually made out to be. And the same goes for Grandma (Glenn Close), the Wolf (Patrick Warbuton) and the Woodsman (James Belushi), all of whom have their own versions of the story. Eventually, the truth is unveiled, and it is not something that you would expect.

Although the storyline of Hoodwinked sounds very smart on paper, when viewed as a movie it isn't all that well executed. While there are some hilarious moments, the Rashomon style of filming means watching the same sequence of events multiple times, which feels repetitive especially since the events are not all that interesting to begin with. Although the voice acting is quite decent, what Hoodwinked cannot be excused for is the poor quality of the computer animation — this is almost definitely the most unspectacular looking animated film of the year. The work looks and feels cheap, and for moviegoers weaned on quality animation from Pixar and other established studios it simply will not do.

If Miramax wants to join in the animated film "battle", it's got to put in more effort and money than what's on show in Hoodwinked.