Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mike Disa
Produced by	Maurice Kanbar David Lovegren Joan Collins Carey
Written by	Cory Edwards Todd Edwards Tony Leech
Starring	Hayden Panettiere Glenn Close Martin Short Patrick Warburton Joan Cusack Bill Hader Amy Poehler Cheech Marin Tommy Chong David Ogden Stiers
Music by	Murray Gold
Editing by	Tom Sanders
Studio	Kanbar Entertainment Kanbar Animation Narfia Entertainment Group
Distributed by	The Weinstein Company
Release date(s)	April 29, 2011 (2011-04-29)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$16,960,968

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is a 2011 American computer-animated family action comedy film and the sequel to 2005's Hoodwinked!, directed by Mike Disa and released on April 29, 2011. It was also released in 3D. The film was written by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech, who also wrote the previous Hoodwinked! film. Most of the cast reprised their roles, with the exceptions of Anne Hathaway and Jim Belushi.

In this film, Red (Hayden Panettiere) is in training with a mysterious group called the Sisters of the Hood and must team with Wolf (Patrick Warburton) to rescue Hansel and Gretel (Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) and Granny (Glenn Close) from the evil witch, Verushka (Joan Cusack). The film received largely negative reviews. On the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, as of September 2011, the film holds a rating of 11% across 61 reviews.

Plot

Wolf (Patrick Warburton), Granny (Glenn Close), and Twitchy (Cory Edwards) are on a rescue mission to save Hansel and Gretel (Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) from an evil witch (Joan Cusack). The plan goes wrong however and Granny is kidnapped as well. Meanwhile, Red (Hayden Panettiere) is in training with a mysterious group called the Sisters of the Hood where she learns that a secret all powerful truffle recipe has been stolen. She teams up with Wolf and Twitchy to find the recipe and save her grandma, but she and Wolf can't get along and the team splits up. Meanwhile the witch, Verushka, who stole the truffle recipe, tries to force Granny into making it for her.

Granny escapes and finds Hansel and Gretel, but learns that they are actually the masterminds behind the plot. Granny is recaptured and learns that Verushka was an old classmate of hers when they were both in training with the Sisters of the Hood; Verushka was always second behind Granny's accomplishments. Eventually Red, Wolf, and Twitchy team back together and infiltrate Hansel and Gretel's base. Red accidentally reveals the final ingredient for the truffle recipe and the truffles are made.

Hansel and Gretel eat the truffles transforming into giants and go on a rampage through the city. Hansel and Gretel betray Verushka and Granny convinces her to join forces with her, Red, Wolf, and Twitchy. They trick Hansel and Gretel into eating more truffles which make them so obese that they can no longer move their arms and legs. Hansel and Gretel are arrested and the film ends.

Cast

• Hayden Panettiere as Red Puckett, leader of the Happily Forever After Agency's top team.
• Glenn Close as Abigail "Granny" Puckett, Red's grandma who makes her ingredients delicious.
• Patrick Warburton as Wolf W. Wolf, an investigator.
• Joan Cusack as Verushka, who tries to get revenge on Abigail for beating her at everything in the Sister of the Hoods.
• Bill Hader and Amy Poehler as Hansel and Gretel, the two children who tricked Red and the others to rescue them from the Witch.
• Cory Edwards as Twitchy, a squirrel who serves as Wolf's main wingman and friend.
• Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, and Phil LaMarr as The Three Little Hench Pigs: Mad Hog, Stone, and Wood
• David Ogden Stiers as Nicky Flippers, a frog and the CEO of the Happily Ever After Agency.
• Andy Dick as Boingo the Bunny, an evil bunny who tried to steal Granny's secret recipe and destroy Red and her friends; the main antagonist of the first film.
• Martin Short as Kirk Kirkendall, a woodsman actor who dreamed of having a singing show; now he's a yodeler and has a troupe.
• Benjy Gaither as Japeth
• Brad Garrett as The Giant
• Wayne Newton as Jimmy 10-Strings, an anthropomorphic harp
• Debra Wilson as Iana
• David Alan Grier as Moss
• Lance J. Holt as Klaus / Hench Pig #4
• Mike Disa as Helmut
• Heidi Klum as Heidi
• Rebecca Andersen as Radio voice
• Danny Pudi as Little Boy Blue
• Frank Welker as Animals' vocal effects (uncredited)

Production

The film's screenplay was written by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech who co-wrote and co-directed the first "Hoodwinked" film, while long time animation veteran Mike Disa made his directorial debut on the film. Cory Edwards cited many reasons for not returning as a director for the sequel. In addition to wanting to focus on other, particularly live-action films, so as not to be pigeon holed into animation, he explained that he had had a poor experience working on the first film, and felt that he had not been treated well. He also questioned the integrity of the "fractured fairytale" genre of which "Hoodwinked" is a part, calling it, "a trend I groaned about even as I finished the film." When Time Magazine featured an article titled "Is Shrek Bad For Kids?" which "discusses the dangers of a culture where fairytale parodies are being substituted for the originals", Cory Edwards wrote in to the magazine, expressing his similar sentiments. He wrote;

“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.” — Cory Edwards, Los Angeles

While Cory Edwards expressed enthusiasm about Mike Disa’s involvement with the film 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”, he was less enthusiastic about the final film, insinuating that it would not hold much appeal for anyone older than ten and saying that it was “deflating to give this thing away and watch others run with it in ways I would not.” He also expressed disappointment with major edits that had been made to the original script.

Casting

While most of the cast reprised their roles from the first film, Hayden Panettiere replaced Anne Hathaway in the role of Red, while Martin Short replaced Jim Belushi in the role of Kirk the woodsman. Cory Edwards explained that the role of Red was recast due to the recent success of Hathaway's career, saying "It’s clear to me that her involvement in the first film was a nice favor for Harvey and the last of her “little girl roles.” ...You can see how a sequel to an animated film is not in her trajectory anymore." Regarding Belushi's departure from the series, Edwards explained, "he was never really comfortable with the accent for the Woodsman. He wanted to help us out and loved the film, but he kept saying, “I’m not an accent guy.” So he had a hard time connecting to that character."

Whereas in the first film, the voice of the character Twitchy was created simply by speeding up the recording by 50%, various speeds were used in this film and occasionally the dialogue was only pitched higher without being sped up at all. The difference in Twitchy's voice was immediately noticed by fans after the release of the film's trailer, causing Twitchy's voice actor Cory Edwards to relate that while he had explained to the new filmmakers how the voice was created in the first film and would remark on how the character sounded different when invited to screenings, "from the many blank stares and the end result, nobody really cared."

Lawsuit

The film was originally going to be released January 15, 2010; however, in December 2009, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back to February at the earliest. A Weinstein Company executive stated that some of the reasons were so that the company could focus its resources on promoting Youth in Revolt which would be released January 8 of that year and so that they could perform some tweaks on the film's animation. He also stated that the Weinstein Company was in the final stages of a marketing deal with a fast food chain.

Burger King released toys for the film in January 2010, shortly after the film's initial release date had passed, even though a new release date had not yet been set.

In March 2010, it was revealed that Kanbar Entertainment was suing The Weinstein Company for delaying the film's release, for not making contributions to monthly production accounts after February 2009, and for not consulting them about a release strategy. Kanbar Entertainment also stated that The Weinstein Company did not respond to proposed changes to the film, even though Kanbar Entertainment had final authority on production decisions.

In February 2011 the first trailer and poster for the film were released and a new release date of April 29, 2011 was finally announced.

Release

Box office

Unlike the first film which was financially successful, Hoodwinked Too! was a box office bomb. It opened to only $4.1 million and took in $10.1 million at the domestic box office, unlike its predecessor which earned $51.4 million domestically in 2006. Produced on $30 million, the film has grossed $13,481,916 as of June 2011, receiving a domestic total of $10,143,779, based on Box Office Mojo.

Reception

“	Once upon a time, fairy tales were told with beauty, wit, simplicity and charm, a tradition that seems increasingly a thing of the past in "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil." Less a movie than an ill-advised lab experiment in which classic children's stories are injected with Bond-movie stylings, inane wisecracks and martial-arts mayhem, this manic misfire takes storybook revisionism to ever more irritating ends.	”
—"Justin Chang"

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil received overwhelmingly negative reviews. On the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, as of November 2011, the film has garnered a rating of 11% across 61 reviews, with the consensus statement being: "It may add 3D to the original, but Hoodwinked Too! is missing the first installment's wit and refreshingly low-budget charm."

Claudia Puig of USA Today said that "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is memorable for being one of the most obnoxious animated movies of recent years. If ever there was a movie that should have gone straight to video — or better yet, never have been made — this is it." Roger Moore writing for the Orlando Sentinel gave the film two stars out of four, criticizing the story as “nothing more than a series of martial-arts video-game "levels" for small children”, though praising the voice work of Bill Hader and Amy Poehler whose casting as Hansel and Gretel he considered "inspired". Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter considered the film to be "one of the most obnoxious and least necessary animated films of the century thus far". Kyle Smith from the New York Post only gave the film half of a star and wrote, "Few were those who demanded a sequel to 2005's "Hoodwinked," and those few should have been ignored. "Hoodwinked Too" doesn't unreel so much as dump on the screen busted fairy-tale characters, dumb would-be jokes, rusty pop-culture references and inert action scenes."

Even many of the critics who enjoyed the first film were disappointed with the sequel. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one star and said it "leeches the fun clean out of the first Hoodwinked and Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post wrote that, "while the first film was lifted out of mediocrity by an utterly delightful storyline...the sequel is a flat, plodding and largely mirthless affair."

As with the first "Hoodwinked" film, many reviews were critical of the film's animation. In his review for The New York Times, Andy Webster criticized the film's animation, stating "the images don't remotely approach the nuance of, say, Ice Age, let alone anything from the mack daddy, Pixar. And while it seems there's no getting away from this marketing aesthetic, the resemblance at times to a video game is far, far too acute. The Shrek films — in visual terms — have done this kind of thing better." Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said that the film “suffer[s] from a stylistic stiffness" and called the characters “clunky and ungainly”.

In December 2011, The National Post's Chris Knight listed Hoodwinked Too! on his "worst 10 films of 2011".

In sharp contrast with other reviews, Nell Minow of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Hoodwinked Too! three stars, praising the film's strong heroines and the script, stating "once again what we think we know about fairy-tale heroines, villains, mean girls, old ladies, witches and happy endings are deliciously turned upside down and inside out."

Home media

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and a 3D Blu-ray combo pack on August 16, 2011.^{[citation needed]}

Video game

An adventure game called Red's Escape which includes some of the characters from the movie was made for the iPhone and iPad and is centered on the heroine of the movie, Red. She must avoid enemies and scores points as she climbs the different stages of the witch's tower. Red ascends the tower using her belt, which is used like a grappling hook to grab objects and swing her to new heights. Along the way various enemies and obstacles attempt to derail Red, from gun-toting piggies, sharp spikes, and a maniacal witch. Chasing Red all the while is Gretel, a lederhosen-clad, pastry-fueled behemoth who wants nothing more than to crush the life out of her. Unlike the movie the game has been received favorably in the iTune's store.

External links

• Official website
• Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil at the Internet Movie Database
• Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil at AllRovi
• Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil at Metacritic