''Hoodwinked!'' is a 2005 American animated
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
mystery comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
directed and written by
Cory Edwards
Cory Edwards (born August 21, 1968) is an American film director, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian. He is best known for directing, co-writing, and voice acting in ''Hoodwinked!, Hoodwinked'' (2005), and for co-writing and voice acting in t ...
along with
Todd Edwards, and
Tony Leech, and produced by
Katie Hooten,
Maurice Kanbar,
David K. Lovegren,
Sue Bea Montgomery, and
Preston Stutzman. It retells the folktale "
Little Red Riding Hood" as a
police procedural
The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...
, using backstories to show multiple characters' points of view. Produced independently by Blue Yonder Films with
Kanbar Entertainment, the film features the voices of
Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime ...
,
Glenn Close,
Jim Belushi,
Patrick Warburton,
Anthony Anderson,
David Ogden Stiers,
Xzibit,
Chazz Palminteri, and
Andy Dick.
''Hoodwinked!'' was among the earliest computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. Working apart from a major studio allowed the filmmakers greater creative control, but also restrained them economically. Due to the film's low budget, its animation was produced in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
with a stylized design inspired by
stop motion
Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
films. The Weinstein Company did not sign on as the film's distributor until near the end of production, and while the company had several roles recast with higher-profile actors, it otherwise made few changes to the film. Structurally, the film was inspired by non-linear crime dramas, such as ''
Rashomon'' and ''
Pulp Fiction''. It was released shortly after the first two installments in the successful ''
Shrek
''Shrek'' is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...
'' series, which accentuated the
fairy tale parody genre of which ''Hoodwinked!'' is a part. ''Hoodwinked!'', however, intentionally deviated from the ''Shrek'' series in its style of humor and in certain plot elements. This was in part based on Cory Edwards' concerns over exposing children to the high level of cynicism often found in the genre.
The film was released by
the Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...
in Los Angeles, California, and Philadelphia on December 16, 2005, for a one-week engagement before expanding nationwide on January 13, 2006. Critical reception to the film was varied; although its script and voice performances were praised by many reviews, its animation quality was heavily criticized. The film was a commercial success, earning over thirteen times its less-than-$8 million budget. A sequel, ''
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil'', was released in 2011 to negative reviews and failed to match the financial success of the first film.
Plot
Red Puckett arrives at her grandmother Abigail's house, where the
Big Bad Wolf has disguised himself as Red's Granny. As the Wolf attacks Red, Granny, who has been tied up, jumps out of a closet just before ax-wielding woodsman Kirk bursts through the window. The police arrive and Detective Nicky Flippers questions everyone.
Red explains she was delivering goodies for her grandmother's pastry business when she discovered a threat from the mysterious Goody Bandit, who has been stealing recipes, causing pastry businesses to shut down. Red had set out to take the Puckett recipe book to Granny's mountaintop home for safekeeping, but fell out of a
cable car that is owned by her rabbit friend Boingo and encountered the Wolf, who asked her suspicious questions. She then met the old singing goat Japeth, who accompanied her to Granny's house where she found the Wolf waiting in ambush.
The Wolf reveals that he is an investigative reporter on the trail of the Goody Bandit, and had reason to believe Red and Granny were the culprits. The Wolf and his hyperactive squirrel assistant Twitchy confronted Red in hope of solving the Goody Bandit mystery. When they failed to detain Red, they made haste for Granny's house, arriving ahead of Red via a shortcut known to Boingo. They found Granny already tied up in the closet. The Wolf disguised himself as Granny, planning to trick Red into revealing the truth about the Goody Bandit.
Kirk explains his appearance at Granny's house was coincidence; he is an aspiring actor trying out for the part of a woodsman in a commercial. After his schnitzel truck was robbed by the Goody Bandit, he was consoled by Boingo then received a callback for the commercial. He spent the rest of the day getting into character by chopping trees, until at sunset a tree collapsed and pushed him through the window of Granny's home.
The investigation turns to Granny, who is secretly an extreme sports enthusiast. Earlier that day she had competed in a ski race, with Boingo watching as a fan. Granny had been attacked by the opposing team before winning the race. She learned that the Goody Bandit hired the team to eliminate her. While parachuting back home, she got tangled in the parachute strings, which snagged on her ceiling fan and threw her into the closet.
Feeling betrayed by Granny's secrecy, Red wanders off alone. Flippers deduces that Boingo, having been present in all four stories, is the Goody Bandit. Red notices Boingo sneaking in and stealing the recipe book. She follows him to his cable car station hideout where she confronts him but is overpowered and captured. The police pursue Boingo in the wrong direction. Granny, the Wolf, and Kirk locate Boingo as he is explaining his evil scheme to Red: he plans to add addictive "Boingonium" to the recipes then bulldoze the forest for a Boingo-themed corporate empire.
The Wolf and Kirk distract Boingo as Granny sneaks into Boingo's lair, but they are all found out. Boingo sends a bound and gagged Red down the mountain in a cable car loaded with explosives. Granny goes after Red with Boingo and his henchmen in pursuit. Red frees herself and escapes with Granny, while the police, who have been redirected by a caffeine crazed Twitchy, wait at the bottom of the mountain to arrest Boingo and his henchmen.
Kirk finds success in a yodeling troupe, while Red, Granny, the Wolf, and Twitchy are enlisted by Flippers to join the ''"Happily Ever After"'' crime-solving agency.
Voice cast
*
Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime ...
as
Red Puckett, a subversion of the red riding hood character.
*
Glenn Close as Abigail "Granny" Puckett, Red's Grandma. She owns her own bakery business and likes to do extreme sports, unbeknownst to her granddaughter.
*
Jim Belushi as Kirk Kirkendall the Woodsman, an aspiring actor with an
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n accent who owns a schnitzel truck.
*
Patrick Warburton as
Wolf W. Wolf. In this story, the wolf is a reporter who is working to crack the case of the stolen recipes.
*
Anthony Anderson as Detective Bill Stork, a stork.
*
David Ogden Stiers as Detective Nicky Flippers, a frog with a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
accent who interrogates the main characters, which acts as a framing device for various parts of the story.
*
Xzibit as Chief Ted Grizzly, a bear who is the chief of police.
*
Chazz Palminteri as Woolworth, a sheep with a pompadour who is an ally to the wolf.
*
Andy Dick as Boingo the Bunny, the twist villain of the story who is actually behind the recipes disappearing.
*
Cory Edwards
Cory Edwards (born August 21, 1968) is an American film director, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian. He is best known for directing, co-writing, and voice acting in ''Hoodwinked!, Hoodwinked'' (2005), and for co-writing and voice acting in t ...
as Twitchy, a fast-talking squirrel and Wolf's sidekick. He moves quickly and sporadically. Coherent sentences can barely be made out whenever he talks which causes others to sometimes struggle to understand him.
* Benjy Gaither as Japeth the Goat, a mountain goat that owns the minecart business that transports travellers around the mountain. He claims to have been cursed by a witch that caused him to only sing, though he is caught saying a singular sentence. He is considered the
breakout character
A breakout character is a character (arts), character in Serial (literature), serial fiction, especially a member of an ensemble cast, who becomes much more prominent, popular, discussed, or imitated than expected by the creators. A breakout c ...
of the film for his random non sequiturs and his song "Be Prepared."
Tom Kenny
Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...
,
Preston Stutzman, and
Tony Leech portray, respectively, pig police officers Tommy, Timmy, and Glen, while
Ken Marino plays raccoon officer Raccoon Jerry. Joshua J. Greene portrays commercial director Jimmy Lizard.
Mark Primiano,
Kevin Michael Richardson, and
Tara Strong
Tara Lyn Strong (; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The Powerpuff Girls'', '' The Fair ...
play friendly skiers 2-Tone (a penguin), P-Biggie (a polar bear), and Zorra (a fox), while Tye Edwards portrays Boingo's henchman Dolph.
Production
''Hoodwinked!'' was one of the first independent
computer-animated films to be produced without the aid of a distributor. Although the film's budget is listed as $30 million on
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray ...
,
several sources have rejected this figure, reporting that the film was produced for no more than $15 million.
Director
Cory Edwards
Cory Edwards (born August 21, 1968) is an American film director, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian. He is best known for directing, co-writing, and voice acting in ''Hoodwinked!, Hoodwinked'' (2005), and for co-writing and voice acting in t ...
explained in a 2009 interview that the film's actual budget was under $8 million.
Any of these figures would be significantly lower than is typical for a computer-animated film's budget.
At the time of ''Hoodwinked!''s production, the costs of computer-animation software had only recently decreased to a price that was accessible to more than just major studios, and leading up to the film's release, producer
David Lovegren said, "Six or seven years ago, the idea of doing ''Hoodwinked!'' as an independent
nimatedfeature would have been impossible".
The filmmakers only made the film independently by necessity,
and Cory Edwards has said, "It's not a model to be followed. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, seat-of-your-pants kind of thing that just barely came off."
However, he added that the process was worth going through to get the film made and encouraged aspiring filmmakers to be willing to follow it.
Development

After a number of years spent producing
commercials
A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
and
music videos in Tulsa, brothers Cory and
Todd Edwards founded their own production company, Blue Yonder Films. Joined by their friends producers Brad Knull, Robert Yanovitch and
Preston Stutzman, who also led marketing for the company. The group released their first feature film, ''Chillicothe'', at the 1999
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
. Emboldened by this success, the company then moved to Los Angeles in the hopes of producing a sophomore film. Blue Yonder evolved as Knull and Yanovitch left to pursue other interests, and new opportunities for the remaining three partners proved elusive at first.
An associate producer on ''Chillicothe'',
Sue Bea Montgomery, sought out studios that might want to work with the trio; she was met with indifference and determined that Blue Yonder Films would have to further establish itself on the independent scene before anyone would take interest. Montgomery then set up a meeting between the filmmakers and
Maurice Kanbar, a successful entrepreneur who had made a minor investment in ''Chillicothe''.
The Edwards brothers
pitched a number of ideas for live-action films to Kanbar and proposed a development deal that would have entailed Kanbar paying the group and covering their rent in exchange for a significant portion of the rights to any scripts that Blue Yonder Films ever sold. Kanbar, however, was interested in a more direct approach, preferring to focus efforts on getting a single film produced. He had always admired animation, and after seeing a
direct-to-DVD computer-animated short film that Cory had made called ''Wobots'', suggested the possibility of producing an animated feature with Blue Yonder Films, one that would tell a familiar narrative with a twist. Kanbar gave the group a month to come up with a story idea.
Although Kanbar expressed interest in producing a retelling of "
Cinderella
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
" or ''
The Adventures of Pinocchio
''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' ( ; , i.e. "The Adventures of Pinocchio. Story of a Puppet"), commonly shortened to ''Pinocchio'', is an 1883 Children's literature, children's fantasy novel by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischi ...
'', the Edwards brothers insisted on avoiding stories that had already been defined by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
.
Several ideas were considered by the brothers. Cory suggested "
Little Red Riding Hood", describing it as a story "so simple that you can go a lot of different directions with it",
and within a few days, inspiration came to Todd through non-linear
crime dramas, such as ''
Rashomon'' (1950), ''
Pulp Fiction'' (1994), ''
Run Lola Run'' (1998) and ''
Memento'' (2000). Todd's proposal to retell "Little Red Riding Hood" as a police investigation, exploring the narrative through multiple points of view, was embraced by Kanbar, who agreed to fully finance the film before seeing a finished script.
Kanbar's initial plan was to release the film directly to DVD.
In 2002, Kanbar and Montgomery joined together in founding
Kanbar Entertainment and Kanbar Animation, independent production studios that teamed with Blue Yonder Films for the production of ''Hoodwinked!''
Cory served as the film's main director, as he had more experience with animation, comedy, and children's entertainment, while Todd served as co-director. Montgomery and Stutzman were joined by Disney animation veteran David Lovegren as producers on the film,
and Cory's and Todd's sister
Katie Hooten joined as an associate producer.
Tony Leech, who had worked with the Edwards brothers on ''Chillicothe'', was initially hired as an editor, but gained story input as well.
He eventually proved to be so valuable to the production that he was given a role as co-director.
Pre-production

The filmmakers found independently producing the film to have both benefits and challenges. Although they were given a great amount of creative control by their executive producer Maurice Kanbar,
their small budget kept them from making potentially beneficial changes to the story once production was underway. Todd Edwards related that "Money doesn't just buy you more talent and more machinery, it also buys you flexibility on a story level. At Disney, if they don't like the third act, they just throw the whole thing out and re-animate the whole thing, even if it's finished ... We had no such luxury, and so in a way, you're watching our first version of the movie."
Knowing ahead of time their inability to alter the film's script once animating had begun, an effort was made by the filmmakers to finalize the script as much as possible before the start of production, which is not a common practice for studio-produced animated films.
Turning away from the well-known
archetype
The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
s of the ''Little Red Riding Hood'' characters, the filmmakers continued to look towards non-linear crime dramas for inspiration instead. Producer Preston Stutzman explained that "The whole film is about surprises and secret lives".
Not wanting Red to be "boring" or "too innocent", she was patterned on
James Dean and given the desire of leaving home to find her way in the world. Todd Edwards had the idea of basing the Wolf on
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...
's character in ''
Fletch'', feeling that it would be fun to apply the character's dry, deadpan style of humor to an animated wolf, while Cory Edwards created the hyperactive character of Twitchy to serve as the Wolf's
foil
Foil may refer to:
Materials
* Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine
* Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal
* Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food
* Tin foil, metal foil ma ...
. Going against types, Red's Granny was written as a thrill-seeking action hero, while the strong Woodsman was written as being childishly incompetent.
The police officers were written to come across as everyday guys and Cory Edwards has explained that the decision to make three of them pigs was not politically motivated.
Nicky Flippers was not a part of the story as it was initially conceived and prior to his creation, the investigation was going to be led by Chief Grizzly. After producer Sue Bea Montgomery and her husband pointed out similarities between their film and the 1950s film/TV series ''
The Thin Man'', the Edwards brothers and Leech decided to introduce the character and his dog into the film as a homage to
Nick Charles.
They considered several different types of animals before settling on making him a frog.

Cory Edwards chose to approach the film predominantly as an action/comedy, instead of as a typical animated film, and wrote the script to appeal to audiences of any age like many of the films produced by
Pixar
Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...
or Disney.
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
,
Road Runner, ''
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'', ''
The Muppets'', ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' and ''
The Incredibles
''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...
'' (2004) have all been cited as inspirations for the film. An attempt was made to distance the film from ''
Shrek
''Shrek'' is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...
'' and other similar themed films that had been recently released, by excluding
magic,
wizards, and
fairies
A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...
from the film.
Cory Edwards also strived for a different style of humor than ''Shrek'', choosing to make his film more
family friendly
Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety ...
and less of a satire.
Working out of Todd and Preston’s apartment, Cory and Todd Edwards initially wrote the script while Cory sketched most of the film's
storyboards, and Todd wrote the songs. Leech simultaneously scanned the boards and edited the
story reel on his
Mac computer.
The first (temp) voice cast was the three of them. Producer Sue Bea Montgomery showed test screenings of the story reel to children in her neighborhood, and gained input from their reactions. The filmmakers had been considering removing Japeth the goat, but chose not to when he proved one of the most popular characters at these screenings. The children also particularly liked Twitchy, which led to the expansion of the character's role.
In an effort to save costs, the film's cast was originally going to be composed mostly of friends and family members of the filmmakers.
Cory and Todd brought in their cousin Tye Edwards to play Dolph and turned to their friend Joshua J. Greene to play Jimmy Lizard.
Japeth was written specifically for Benjy Gaither, the son of
gospel music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...
singers
Bill and
Gloria Gaither. He had been a friend of the Edwards brothers since childhood and Cory's short film ''Wobots'' had been produced through his animation studio Live Bait Productions.
Cory's wife Vicki was given the role of a skunk reporter, and while some consideration was initially given to having an adult play the child woodpecker Quill, the role was instead given to producer David K. Lovegren's daughter Kathryn.
The Edwards brothers, Leech, and producer Preston Stutzman all took on roles as well.
Wanting to do one of the voices in his movie and having watched a lot of
squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...
s,
Cory took on the role of Twitchy, and
Pro Tools was used to speed up the recording of his dialogue by 50 percent.
Todd played the local Sandwich Man, Leech played both Det. Bill Stork and Glen, and Stutzman played Timmy.
As the producers gained greater confidence in the film, however, larger name actors were brought in.
Patrick Warburton was the first celebrity actor to join the film and did so purely out of a love for the script. Though Cory Edwards had originally envisioned the Wolf as sounding like a mixture between a young Chevy Chase and
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...
, he praised Warburton's performance, saying that he "made the Wolf his own character."
Warburton, who had past experience in voice acting from ''
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
''Buzz Lightyear of Star Command'' is an American animated science fiction comedy television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and co-produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is a spin-off of Pixar's ''Toy Story'' franchise a ...
'' and ''
The Emperor's New Groove
''The Emperor's New Groove'' is a 2000 American animated fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Mark Dindal and produced by Randy Fullmer, from a screenplay writte ...
'' (2000), found funny Edwards' idea to voice the Wolf as an investigative reporter who fancied himself like Chevy Chase's ''Fletch'' character, so he decided to voice the Wolf dryly and inquisitively.
Andy Dick also joined the cast early on, to voice Boingo. He used
improvisation
Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...
and approached the role differently from how it had been written, interpreting the character as victimized and unstable. The filmmakers were enthusiastic over Dick's angle on the character, and Todd Edwards said, "What we had written was kind of stock, to be honest, but Andy Dick, well, where he was supposed to laugh, he'd be crying. Where he was supposed to yell, he'd be laughing. He just mixed it up!"
Prolific
voice performers Tara Strong
Tara Lyn Strong (; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The Powerpuff Girls'', '' The Fair ...
,
David Ogden Stiers and
Tom Kenny
Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...
were cast in multiple roles. Strong was cast as Red and Zorra, Stiers was cast as Kirk, the Woodsman and Nicky Flippers, and Kenny was cast as Tommy and Woolworth the Sheep.
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
-winning actress
Sally Struthers
Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie Bunker, Archie and Edith Bunker in ''All in the Family'', for which she won two Emmy Awards, and Babette on ''Gilmor ...
was brought in to play Granny Puckett and Joel McCrary was cast as Chief Grizzly.
Animation
The film's animation was created in
Alias Maya, and to save costs, was produced in
Manila
Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
, Philippines.
Producers Sue Bea Montgomery and David K. Lovegren founded the animation studio Digital Eye Candy for the purpose of the film's production
and stationed it in a 5,000-square-foot rented house. Cory Edwards traveled to this studio a total of fifteen times over the course of the film's three-year production and has explained that although the house was located in an expensive part of Manila, the rent was no more than that of his two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles.
When Cory was not able to be on site, Todd took over directing duties. "Along with Tony, we were kind of a 'three-headed monster,'" Cory explains. "We all knew what movie we were making, and I trusted those guys to make creative calls when I couldn't be there." Lovegren had attempted to start an independent animation studio in the Philippines before in 2001, but the studio, called ImagineAsia, was closed after it failed to attract business. Digital Eye Candy hired approximately twenty animators that had previously been employed by ImagineAsia,
and at one point the studio reached fifty employees.
The film's animators had little experience with computer-animation and feature-length films and had to be trained by the producers over the course of the film's production.
Since none of the animators were specialists, they were not divided into specific teams, but instead each worked on all areas of the animating process. The filmmakers found this to be a poor method though, because it kept the individual skills of the animators from being optimized. Due to their independent backgrounds, the animators were accustomed to working at fast paces, and despite their small numbers, each phase of production was able to be completed within a short period of time.
Still, schedule and budget restraints led the filmmakers to enlist
Prana Studios in Mumbai, India to perform
visual effects
Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of
a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production.
The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...
,
lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
, and
compositing
Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live action, Live-action shooting for compositing ...
.
The filmmakers found that the most difficult aspect of producing the film independently was their inability to fix all of the mistakes made in the film's animation.
Todd Edwards explained that "it becomes an equation: 'I have 10 things that I would like to change in this shot. I have the time and the budget to do three. Pick those three and then let's move on.' And that was hard to do".
Another obstacle during the film's production, according to Cory Edwards, was putting fur on the animal characters. It took the filmmakers three and a half years to work out a method to do so perfectly, forcing themselves to redesign and reanimate several aspects.
Knowing that they could not match the quality of other computer-animated films, the film was instead designed to imitate the look of
stop motion
Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
. Cory Edwards cited
Rankin-Bass
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City. It was known for its seasonal television specials, ...
as an inspiration and explained, "If we approach our look like that—photographed miniatures in stop motion—and if that nostalgia resonates with our audience as far as that look, then we're not going to shoot ourselves in the foot trying to put every freckle and hair on photoreal creatures."
Edwards contrasted the technically innovative, but critically panned ''
Howard the Duck'' (1986) with the simple, but beloved puppet character
Kermit the Frog to illustrate to his crew the importance of well-written, likeable characters over technical quality.
Distancing the film from what producer Preston Stutzman called the "candy-coated, brightly colored pastel world
of other CG animated films, an attempt was made to bring an organic look to the film, and “dirt” was rubbed into the colors.
''
The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993) was cited as an inspiration for the filmmakers to try to bend the characters' shapes into extremes, and many other choices unconventional to computer-animated films were also made. For example, one of the Woodsman's eyes was made bigger than the other, and Red was given only four fingers, so as to make her look more like a doll. Producer Katie Hooten explained that "CG in the past has been pushing the envelope to make things look more realistic, but ''Hoodwinked'' takes things back to where CG looks a lot more like a cartoon."
Music
The film's score was composed by
John Mark Painter, who along with his wife Fleming McWilliams, constituted the
rock duo
Fleming and John in the 1990s. The Edwards brothers were fans of the group and first met Painter while Cory was performing in an animated film on which Painter served as the composer.
The score was inspired by music from the 1960s including the soundtracks of ''
Planet of the Apes'' (1968), ''
Dark Shadows
''Dark Shadows'' is an American Gothic fiction, Gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulatio ...
'' (1966-1971) and ''
The Untouchables'' (1987) have been cited as influences, as well as the works of
Henry Mancini.
It was recorded in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, where Kristin Wilkinson served as the
orchestrator and
conductor.
In an effort to appeal to older audience members, Todd Edwards chose to replace parts of Painter's score with original rock music. From this came the song "Little Boat", written and sung by Daniel Rogers, who had composed Edwards' first film ''Chillicothe''.
"Runaway" was written by Joshua J. Greene, a friend of the Edwards brothers', who also provided the voice of Jimmy Lizard in the film.
"The Real G", sung by Cory Edwards and "Bounce", sung by Todd Collins were both written by Painter and Cory Edwards. "Blow Your House Down" was performed by the Filipino band
Pupil and written by their lead singer
Ely Buendia
Ely Eleandre Basiño Buendia (born November 2, 1970) is a Filipino musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Eraserheads, with whom he has released seven albums since their founding in 1 ...
.
Cory Edwards was willing to include the
Foo Fighters
The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...
' song "
All My Life". The Foo Fighters decided against it due to having a new album coming out and having no enthusiasm about using their old hit, afraid it was getting overused. No Foo Fighters song was included on the soundtrack.
Todd Edwards wrote nine original songs for the film and sung four of them: "Critters Have Feelings", "Tree Critter", "Eva Deanna", and "Glow". "Eva Deanna" was written about a day that he and his wife spent at the zoo with their niece, the daughter of associate producer Katie Hooten.
"Glow" was written about the Edwards siblings' grandmother, Vera, who had died a few years earlier. "Great Big World" was sung by
Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime ...
and replaced another song called "Woods Go-Round", which Edwards considered too childish and described as being "in the vein of Saturday morning cartoons." This change required the scene to be re-animated and re-cut.
"Be Prepared" was sung by Benjy Gaither and developed out of a practicality; the filmmakers wanted to introduce Japeth while the character is rocking back and forth on his horns, as though the horns are a rocking chair. However, they realized that this would make the horns too big to fit in a minecart later on in the film. As a solution, they came up with the gag of having the character switch his horns several times, and this led to the song's concept.
McWilliams joined Jim Belushi to sing "The Schnitzel Song" and Painter asked his longtime friend
Ben Folds to sing "Red is Blue", a selection strongly advocated for by Edwards. Folds was working on a new album at the time, but a year after the proposal, found the opportunity to record the song and compose a piano arrangement for it as well.
"Top of the Woods" was sung by Andy Dick and was originally composed to be slow-paced. The recording of Dick's performance was sped up though at the suggestion of Ralf Palmer, a prolific animator and friend of producer Sue Bea Montgomery.
The Japanese dub has its own theme song Daisuki!Happy end by
Yuko Hara.
Distribution

''Hoodwinked!'' was shown to potential distributors throughout various stages of its production. Though a distribution offer was made by
DreamWorks Pictures
DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film studio and Film distribution, distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994, as a live-action a ...
, it was turned down as the filmmakers did not feel that it was a good deal.
As the film neared the end of production, it was screened at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world.
Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
.
Harvey and
Bob Weinstein were also at the festival at the time, screening
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...
's film ''
Sin City
''Sin City'' is a series of neo-noir Comic book, comics by American comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in ''Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special'' (April 1991), and continued in ''Dark Horse Prese ...
'' (2005), which they were distributing through their then newly formed studio,
the Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...
. They decided to pick ''Hoodwinked!'' up for distribution after it was brought to their attention by Rodriguez's wife, whose attorney also happened to work for Blue Yonder Films.
Although Cory Edwards did not meet Rodriguez, he acknowledged him as instrumental to get the film made.
The Weinsteins had recently left the Walt Disney Company and according to Cory Edwards, they "loved the idea of picking up an animated film and giving Disney a run for their money".
The involvement of the Weinstein Company encouraged Kanbar enough to enlist
Skywalker Sound.
The film was nearly complete by the time that the Weinsteins became involved, and Edwards has stated that nothing was done by them to ruin "the original vision of the movie." However, a few edit suggestions were made to quicken the film's pace which Edwards felt were good ideas, as he considered the first twenty minutes to be dragging.
The Weinstein Company also heavily recast the film with bigger-name actors in the hopes of attracting a larger audience. Anne Hathaway replaced Tara Strong in the lead role of Red;
Jim Belushi replaced David Ogden Stiers in the role of Kirk, the Woodsman;
Anthony Anderson replaced Tony Leech in the role of Det. Bill Stork;
Glenn Close replaced Sally Struthers in the role of Granny Puckett;
Xzibit replaced Joel McCrary in the role of Chief Grizzly and
Chazz Palminteri replaced Tom Kenny in the role of Woolworth the Sheep.
Opining that the final steps in character design were really fleshed out when the actors were hired, Hooten felt that Hathaway put some edge that was missing on Red, making her more sarcastic, sassy and quick.
Anderson accepted the role of Bill Stork given his past experience as voice actor and his previous collaborations with the Weinsteins in ''
Scary Movie 3'' (2003) and ''
My Baby's Daddy'' (2004), wanting to do something that his children and godchildren could watch and enjoy.
Palminteri was called to be offered the part of Woolworth the Sheep, which he accepted as he found the script hilarious.
Despite these recastings, Tara Strong retained the much smaller role of Zorra, David Ogden Stiers retained the role of Nicky Flippers, Tom Kenny retained the role of Tommy and Tony Leech retained the role of Glen. Many high-profile country singers were considered to replace Benjy Gaither in the role of Japeth, but none of them were available and Gaither retained the role. The Weinsteins also wanted to replace Joshua J. Greene in the role of Jimmy Lizard with a more famous actor such as
Albert Brooks, but the role was ultimately not recast. Edwards appreciated the reason for the recastings and attributed a large part of the film's financial success to them. He expressed disappointment about the amount of recasting, however, saying, "At a certain point it became Recast-o-Rama, everybody got recast-happy. My feeling is, you get two or three names on that poster, you're fine. Our Hoodwinked poster has like a paragraph of names on it. After a certain point, I don't think you need more than two, three celebrities—give it to the voice actors. It sweetens the pot".
Since the film's animation had already been mostly completed by the time the recastings were made, the new actors had to deliver their lines exactly as the old actors had done, giving them no opportunity to improvise. Edwards expressed disappointment with the fact that the original actors would not get any credit for their improvisations in the film, which were copied by the replacement actors.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released in December 2005. Owing to legal disputes, the CD was pulled off of the market a month after its release
and was not available again until November 2009.
It was re-released on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
in January 2010.
Release

''Hoodwinked!'' received a one-week, limited release in Los Angeles on December 16, 2005 to qualify for Oscar consideration.
A nationwide U.S. release was scheduled for Christmas Day, 2005, but it was moved to January 13, 2006 to avoid competition with other films released during the holiday season.
Home media
''Hoodwinked!'' was released on DVD on May 2, 2006 and on Blu-ray and DVD on February 15, 2011. The film was the best-selling DVD in its initial week of release, selling over 700,000 copies and making over $13.5 million.
A 22-minute behind-the-scenes video podcast is available for free on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
.
Reception
Box office
In its opening four-day weekend, ''Hoodwinked!'' grossed $16,879,402 in 2,394 theaters in the United States, ranking 2 at the box office and averaging $7,050 per venue.
It fell $50,000 short of ''
Glory Road'', which took the box office's number-one spot that week.
The film maintained its number-two spot in the box office for its second weekend, dropping 16.1 percent, and placed in the top ten for a total of five weeks.
At the end of its theatrical run it had grossed a total of $110,013,167 worldwide—$51,386,611 in the United States and $58,626,556 in other territories.
Critical reception
''Hoodwinked!'' received mixed reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has a rating of 46%, based on 125 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus reads, "This fractured fairytale doesn't have the wit or animation quality to compete with the likes of the ''Shrek'' franchise."
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, it received a score of 45 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
James Berardinelli of
ReelViews gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and claimed that many of the film's ideas for altering its familiar storyline "sound better on paper than they turn out in execution." Finding it tedious to view the film's story told multiple times, he wrote that the film "slips into boredom."
Bruce Westbrook of the ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
'' also gave the film two-and-a-half stars, and although he praised its "snappy dialogue and fresh characterizations", he considered the film's plot underdeveloped and characters lacking in motivation.
Peter Rainer writing for ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' gave the film a C+ and called it "a moderately enjoyable escapade that isn't quite clever enough for adults and not quite imaginative enough for children."
He was not overly critical of the film, but felt that it was a disappointment in comparison to the high standards for computer-animated films set by Pixar.
Jami Bernard of the ''
New York Daily News
The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' suggested that timelessness is a necessary component of an animated classic, and faulted the film for its attempt to be hip and current.
While
Ty Burr of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' praised the film's vocal performances, he wrote, "''Hoodwinked'' never builds to a level of sustained comic mania ... One aches to think what the great ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' directors could have done with this material."
Several critics, however, were more enthusiastic about the film.
Owen Gleiberman of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' gave ''Hoodwinked!'' an A− and praised the zaniness of its humor.
Calling the filmmakers heroes, he compared them to
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
and
Steven Soderbergh
Steven Andrew Soderbergh ( ; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. A pioneer of modern Independent film, independent cinema, Soderbergh later drew acclaim for formally inventiv ...
due to their potential for bringing independent filmmaking to prominence in animation.
Although Nancy Churnin of the ''
Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...
'' considered the film inferior to those of Pixar and DreamWorks, she still gave it a B and wrote, "it's got an upstart charm, a clever premise, appealing characters voiced by a terrific cast and a script that should make you laugh out loud more than once."
In his review for the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', Michael Wilmington praised the film's voice cast, music, and script, and wrote, "it packs more verbal wit and surprise than the usual cartoon."
Kevin Thomas of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five calling it "high-energy, imaginative entertainment".
Japeth was praised amongst both positive and negative reviews. Gleiberman and Churnin both felt that the character was one of the best parts of the film,
and Westbrook and Wilmington both described him as "a hoot". In a mostly positive review for the ''
Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...
'', Roger Moore called the character hilarious,
while in a mostly negative review for ''
Variety'',
Justin Chang wrote that the character "steals the show every minute he's onscreen."
One of the main criticisms of the film was the poor quality of its animation. Berardinelli called it some of the worst CGI animation in memory. He felt that the characters looked plastic, considered the backgrounds dull, and wrote, "On more than one occasion, I thought I was watching something made for TV. When compared to today's visual standards for animated films, ''Hoodwinked'' is far below the curve."
Burr considered the film's surfaces poorly rendered and compared them to "
Teletubbieland reupholstered with
Naugahyde."
Westbrook felt that the animation worked well for the animal characters, but wrote, "the humans have a glassy sheen and brittle hardness, much like work done in the early days of CG ... That art has come too far to embrace a throwback like Hoodwinked as lovably quaint. It's simply dated."
Stephen Hunter of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' compared the characters to rubber toys, and wrote, "their faces are without nuance or vividness ... In movement, especially, do they lack grace and conviction. It seems like the recent breakthroughs in computerized magic have bypassed the poor Edwards fellows, as it looks stuck somewhere in the 1970s, or maybe even earlier."
Many reviews negatively compared the film to the ''Shrek'' series. Liam Lacey of ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' considered the film to be "a sort of discount Shrek",
while Burr called it "''Shrek'' with added drek."
Westbrook wrote that "Echoing such a popular predecessor as Shrek is not a good thing—especially when the echo is so faint."
Berardinelli felt that the fairy tale references were not as smartly done as in the first Shrek film,
while Bernard felt that ''Hoodwinked!'' took fairy tale revisionism too far. He felt that the humor in ''Shrek'' worked due to the fairy tale characters remaining in character throughout the film, and wrote, "It's pointless to scold them for behaving the way fairy tales intended, and that's far funnier than turning them into breakdancing anachronisms."
Bill Muller of ''
The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain.
History
Early years
The newspap ...
'' considered Red's kung fu abilities to be overly similar to
Princess Fiona
Princess Fiona is a fictional character in DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks' ''Shrek (franchise), Shrek'' franchise. One of the film series' List of Shrek (franchise) characters#Main, main characters, Fiona first appears in ''Shrek'' (2001) as a ...
's "''
Matrix
Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
* Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form
* Matrix (biology), the m ...
'' agility."
Gleiberman also noted the similarities between the film and ''Shrek'', but he was positive in the comparison, feeling that its independent production gave the filmmakers "the freedom to follow their flakiest corkscrew whims."
While Wilmington did not find ''Hoodwinked!'' as impressive or beguiling as ''Shrek'', he wrote that "when it's cooking, it does make you laugh."
Retrospectively, several critics noted that the film was considerably better than the 2007 animated
fairy tale parody film ''
Happily N'Ever After''. Although Burr had given ''Hoodwinked!'' a negative review, he likened the film to ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...
'' in comparison to ''Happily N'Ever After''.
Wilmington also considered ''Hoodwinked!'' the superior of the two films.
While
Christy Lemire of the ''
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
'' likened ''Hoodwinked!'' to a poor man's ''Shrek'', she went on to call ''Happily N'Ever After'' a poor man's ''Hoodwinked!''
In 2018,
Richard Brody of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' called ''Hoodwinked!'' one of the top independent films for families. Acknowledging the crudeness of the animation, he nonetheless praised the writing as "bold and funny" and wrote that the direction "displays admirable comic timing."
Brody considered the character personalities distinct from those in other animated comedies. He also commended the vocal performances for having a "zippy, brash energy that doesn't feel condescending".
''Hoodwinked!'' has also been praised by
Tony Bancroft, who co-directed ''
Mulan
Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...
''.
''Hoodwinked!'' received a
Saturn Award nomination for
Best Animated Film at the
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films is an American non-profit organization established in 1972 dedicated to the advancement of science fiction, fantasy, and Horror fiction, horror in film, television, and home video. The Aca ...
,
but lost to ''
Corpse Bride''.
''Entertainment Weekly'' ranked the film as number ten on "The Must List" for its January 27, 2006 issue, calling it a "genre-busting indie animated gem."
Analysis
In February 2006, author Timothy Sexton wrote an article titled "Hoodwinked: A Postmodern Examination of the Dangers of Runaway Capitalism" for ''
Associated Content'', in which he posited that ''Hoodwinked!'' was one of the first postmodern animated films and that the film also carried political undertones. He argued that the relative nature of truth was shown by revealing deviations from the original fairy tale as the film explored the story from each of the central characters' points of view. Calling ''Hoodwinked!'' "the most subversive movie released nationwide since ''
Fahrenheit 9/11''",
Sexton went on to interpret the film as a critique on the
free enterprise system. He drew comparisons between the film's villain and the typical American business owner, going so far as to say that the character was "clearly based on people like
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
and
Sam Walton".
In Sexton's view, the film exposed the flaws of capitalism, showing that if left unregulated, business owners will establish monopolies and eliminate competition.
The film's director and co-writer Cory Edwards was surprised by Sexton's interpretation and denied that the film intentionally carried any political messages. He explained that he and the other filmmakers were simply drawing from the evil schemes common of ''
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
'' films, ''Bugs Bunny'' cartoons, and ''
The A-Team
''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...
'', and wrote "If Mr. Sexton sees my movie as a sermon against mega-corporations monopolizing America, that's fine. But our villain is just as easily the face of every dictator in history, or every schoolyard bully who is compensating for low self-esteem, or any Mafia boss who dominates by either absorbing or wiping out his competition. Hey, if you look at an abstract painting and see the devil in a red splotch, that's your prerogative ... I guess a movie's message is only partially supplied by the filmmaker."
In May 2007 ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine ran an article by
James Poniewozik titled "Is ''Shrek'' Bad for Kids?" which considered the negative effects on children of being raised with fairy tale satires, instead of the original stories. Poniewozik mentioned ''Hoodwinked!'' writing, "I thought ''Hoodwinked!'' and most of the ''Shrek'' series were hilarious ... But even if you ultimately reject their messages, old-school fairy tales are part of our cultural vocabulary. There's something a little sad about kids growing up in a culture where their fairy tales come pre-satirized, the skepticism, critique and revision having been done for them by the mama birds of Hollywood."
Cory Edwards wrote into the magazine, expressing his similar sentiments and writing, "As the writer-director of ''Hoodwinked'', it may surprise you that I couldn't agree more with James Poniewozik's article. Even as I was making the film, I asked myself the same question: Are we parodying something that kids should have the chance to experience first, 'un-parodied?' We went to great lengths to distance our film from ''Shrek''s humor (and no, I don't think ''Shrek'' considers kids). I would hope that ''Hoodwinked'' and its sequels will be seen as trying to do something genuine with its characters, rather than look for the next joke at the expense of innocence. We ALL need the real folklore of fairytales, whether we admit it or not."
Sequel
A sequel, ''Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil'', was released on April 29, 2011. It was first announced in January 2006
and in February, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech explained that although they would be writing the screenplay, they would not return to direct.
Cory Edwards later elaborated on this decision, explaining that he had a negative experience working with some of the first film's "key players" and felt that he had been poorly treated by them.
He also cited concerns over being confined to animation, and stated that he felt it would be a lateral move to direct a sequel to his first film as his second film.
In March 2007, Edwards announced that
Mike Disa had been hired to direct the sequel and expressed enthusiasm over his involvement, saying that he "has a real passion for the film and a devotion to maintaining the ''Hoodwinked'' world. He wants to do the sequel justice and he really gets what we're trying to do."
Although much of the first film's cast returned for the sequel, Anne Hathaway was replaced by
Hayden Panettiere in the role of Red and Jim Belushi was replaced by
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...
in the role of Kirk the Woodsman.
Kanbar Entertainment initially intended to finance production of the sequel independently as it had done with the first film, but entered into a co-financing agreement proposed by The Weinstein Company.
The film was initially scheduled to be released on January 15, 2010, but in December 2009, The Weinstein Company postponed the film's release date indefinitely.
In April 2010, Kanbar Entertainment brought a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company. In addition to claiming that the postponement of the film's release date breached an agreement between the two companies, the lawsuit accused the Weinstein Company of not contributing to monthly production accounts after February 2009, neglecting to consult Kanbar Entertainment of a release strategy, and not responding to proposed changes to the film, even though Kanbar Entertainment held "final authority on production decisions".
The film was a financial failure, earning $23.1 million worldwide; less than its budget.
Critical reception to the film was almost universally negative, with a Rotten score of 11% across 61 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
and a score of 20/100 on Metacritic.
Cory Edwards expressed disappointment with the finished film, indicating that it was heavily altered from the original script and saying that it was "deflating to give this thing away and watch others run with it in ways I would not."
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoodwinked 2005
2005 American animated films
2005 action comedy films
2000s buddy comedy films
2000s comedy mystery films
2000s musical comedy films
2000s police comedy films
2005 computer-animated films
2005 directorial debut films
2005 films
American action comedy films
American buddy comedy films
American children's animated comedy films
American children's animated musical films
American comedy mystery films
American computer-animated films
American detective films
American independent films
American musical comedy films
American nonlinear narrative films
Metafictional works
American police detective films
American police films
Animated films about rabbits and hares
Animated films about bears
Animated films about birds
Animated films about frogs
Animated films about squirrels
Animated films about talking animals
Animated films about wolves
Big Bad Wolf
Fairy tale parody films
Films about confectionery
Films about journalists
Independent animated films
Animated films based on Little Red Riding Hood
The Weinstein Company animated films
The Weinstein Company films
2000s English-language films
Animated buddy films
Animated crossover films
Films about lying
English-language crime comedy films
English-language action comedy films
English-language musical comedy films
English-language comedy mystery films
English-language buddy comedy films
2005 musical films