Hoodwinked

—1. Overview
—2. Cast and Crew
—3. Photo Pages
—4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—5. Posters (Anne Hathaway)
—6. Production Notes (pdf)
—7. Spiritual Connections
—8. Presentation Downloads

It could’ve been a contender

It’s common for filmmakers to fall in love with the films they’ve made. After having spent so much time creating, polishing and marketing the things, who could blame them? Hoodwinked’s writers/directors/siblings Cory & Todd Edwards seem to have loved creating the movie. The result: a clever concept that could’ve been an instant classic had someone been standing over their shoulders to lovingly say, “Perhaps this could be better if…”

Hoodwinked begins immediately after the incidents of Little Red Riding Hood. The wolf has been apprehended, Granny has been freed and Little Red is being questioned for what should’ve been an open-and-shut case. As more witnesses give their accounts, though, it turns out that this might be more than the typical case of attempted consumption. The clues could lead to the identity of… The Goody Bandit!

The concept is clever, following in the footsteps of other re-imagined fairy tales (John Scieszka’s book, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, the Shrek franchise and most recently, Chicken Little). The execution of the clever concept leaves me scratching my head, though. Looking at all the film provides—familiar characters, comedy, action, suspense and more—we should have a thoroughly entertaining product.

The main problem with Hoodwinked, it seems, is its structure. It begins as a “whodunit” film noir. From there, it robs Rashomon’s multiple-flashback construction (with each character’s flashback being different from the rest). Then, it becomes the archetypal hero’s quest as Little Red strikes out to abandon her ordinary world. After that, there’s the James Bond hot pursuit. And every now in then, someone breaks into a song that may or may not relate to the plot. Interspersed between all of that is a series of slowly-executed, hit-‘em-over-the-head allusions to other films. It seems that the Edwards brothers sat down and wrote their top 100 movie moments, and then figured out how to link those moments using only talking animals and fat-faced German children.

Though the Brothers Edwards seem to have plenty of filmmaking potential, they spend more time trying to mimic what worked in other films than trying to express their collective filmmaking voice. Though these allusions could have worked, the comedic timing seems slightly off. And rarely do you feel like the characters are in any real danger. As the characters near potentially life-threatening events, they remain lackadaisical about the whole thing, while the accompanying soundtrack remains sing-songy. This seems to be intentional, perhaps to aid in the happy fairy-tale feel, but the lack of any believable conflict or intensifying danger makes the film seem like an inconsequential 15-minute cartoon installment.

The good news is that there are some redeeming themes amidst the mish-mash of worn-out jokes and paper-thin mysteries. The bad news is that few of them are fully developed. From Japeth the banjo-playing mountain goat, we learn to always be prepared. As his ho-hum mine cart ride with Little Red shows us, we never know what will happen next in our lives. Though his preparation involves interchangeable horns for all occasions, ours can be preparation for temptation (see Matthew 26:41), hardship (Ephesians 6:10-18) and mortal death (John 3:16).

Another half-developed theme in Hoodwinked is the importance of family. One of the Goody Bandit’s targets is Granny’s family cookbook. Granny explains to Red that its value is a result of generations and generations of family members perfecting their recipes and passing them on to their offspring. As a result, the book serves as the ultimate authority when it comes to cooking. Like Little Red’s family, humans are given a guide: the Bible (one that can provide authoritative guidance in the countless stories of human weakness and divine strength).

The most-developed theme in Hoodwinked deals with the value of unity—not a unity that says we should all act or think alike, but rather a unity in spirit. Though the characters initially seem to fit the stereotypes of little girls, feeble grannies, carnivorous wolves and mighty woodsmen, they’re anything but. This inability to look beyond the surface begets unfair judgment, and as a result, the heroes point fingers at one another while the real villain nearly escapes scot-free. Once the heroes learn that they have more in common than they had originally thought, they’re able to use their individual strengths to create a unified body capable of doing more than any of them alone. This universal truth (as fleshed out in 1 Corinthians 12) is one that we quite often forget.

When all is said and done, the heroes of Hoodwinked learn the power of unity. It’s a shame that the filmmakers didn’t learn this lesson when crafting their story. Though the film is family-friendly, a more well-defined emotional arc could’ve made Hoodwinked something families would want to watch together time and time again.

— Overview