Blu-ray Review: Hoodwinked Too! – Hood Vs Evil

This is a sequel nobody asked for. A modest box office hit in January, 2006, Hoodwinked cut through the competition with its brand of fairy tale satire and sarcasm, providing a Shrek on a budget, experience for families looking for something to see at the multiplex.  The sequel arrived nearly five years after the original, due to production delays and legal issues. Unfortunately, the final product has jokes as stale as week old bread, and dull animation.

Red (Hayden Panettiere), a member the Sisters of the Hood, is pressed into service by the top-secret Happily Ever After Agency when Granny (Glenn Close) is kidnapped by a witch (Joan Cusack) who has also imprisoned Hansel and Gretel (Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) for no apparent reason.  In tow are Red’s friends Wolf (Patrick Warburton) and the caffeinated squirrel Twitchy (Cory Edwards).

Part of what worked about the original; despite its forgettable animation was its wacky freshness. The story took a classic fairytale and wasn’t afraid to openly mock it. Random subplots supported the base story of Red Riding Hood, running off creatively, only to come back to the source mythology. The sequel has no framework whatsoever, starting with a play on Hansel & Gretel and then dissolving into an array of awful one liners.

Director Mike Disa, who worked as an artist and animator for the Walt Disney Studios on several projects, fails to give his key characters the expression through animation and vocal work that  audiences expect.  If Disa had any influence on the voice talent, it doesn’t show. Across the board, their performances are forgettable, with Hayden Panettiere delivering a lethargic performance. All of the actors involved—Glenn Close, David Ogden Stiers, Martin Short, Joan Cusack—and the others, have all proven themselves to be capable performers. You have to wonder if they realized they were part of a forgettable movie from the start.

Admitedly, the final act’s “Stay Puft Marshmallow Man” climax is actually reasonably funny, with lines like, “Look at all of these little people running around; they have done nothing to deserve our reckless destruction,” capturing the irreverent tone of the original. It’s just unfortunate that everything leading up to that feels slapped together and ridiculous. Only the most ardent fans of the first film are going to want to check out this sequel.

Presented in 1.78 aspect ratio, this transfer looks very good. Colors, bright and vivid, pop off the television screen. Black levels and edge delineation are strong. Detail here is spot on as well. For those that do want to add Hoodwinked Too! To their collections, this is a fine transfer.

The featured audio is an English DTS-HD MA 5.1, with subtitles in English SDH and Spanish, and as you´d expect from a film that´s action-dependent, it´s a loud and robust soundtrack that fills the room.

Aside from the include Standard DVD, we don’t get much in the way of special features:

• Music Videos (480p): I Can Do It Alone by Hayden Panettiere (3:34), You Know It by Lavay Cole (3:02), and Perfect Two by CeeJ (3:13).
• The Voices (480p, 19:13): Individual voice cast members discuss their work on the film. Included are Hayden Panettiere as Red, Patrick Warburton as Wolf, Heidi Klum as Heidi, Wayne Newton as Jimmy 10-Strings, and David Ogden as Nicky Flippers.
• Storyboard Sequences (480p, 4:29): Bridge and HEA Invasion.
• Production Artwork (1080p).
• Hoodwinked Too! Video Game Teasers (480p, 0:41): Red’s Escape Mobile Game Teaser and Decoder Game Teaser.