Hoodwinked 2: Movie Review

Hoodwinked 2: Movie Review

Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs Evil
Rating: 4/10
Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Warburton, Glenn Close, Bill Hader and Amy Poehler
Director: Mike Disa
When Red Riding Hood's grandma (Glenn Close) is kidnapped while investigating the disappearance of Hansel and Gretel, (Saturday Night Live alums Hader and Poehler) Red (Panettiere) is called in to try and rescue her.
But this mission sees her team up once again with the brilliant Patrick Warburton's Wolf - despite their objections.
Can they put aside petty differences and save the day?
The sequel to Hoodwinked is a curious thing.
Without Anne Hathaway in the lead as Red Riding Hood, Hayden Panettiere steps in and it just doesn't seem to be the same film in many ways.
The animation looks a little crooked in some ways and is more redolent of a computer game than a computer animated film.
And the script is flat in many ways - there's far too few throwaway one liners to give it the oomph that it needs and Warburton's Wolf is by far the best thing in this with his trademark laconic and deadpan delivery, it's not enough to deliver.
There are a few nods to other films - Star Wars and Silence of the Lambs being the most obvious, but there's little for the adults in the audience to appreciate here.

While there's a degree of lunacy to the animation and the feel of the film (a banjo toting goat from the first film returns to be continually plagued by things falling on him), the combination of a poor story overall and a hit and miss style make this instantly forgettable and nowhere near as good as the original.