Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil [2011]

The first “Hoodwinked” movie had Anne Hathaway in the lead, and managed to make $110-million worldwide. Five years later, and here comes the eagerly unanticipated sequel and awkwardly named Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil . It isn’t bad, but in a way, the freshness from the first film is gone, as we follow Red (now voiced by Hayden Panettiere), Big Bad, and a few other HEA agents (that’s Happily Ever After in case you’ve never watched the first one) in tracking down and rescuing Granny from the hands of the evil witch (Joan Cusack). Along the way, they meet the likes of Hansel and Gretel (convincingly voiced by Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) and the three little pigs. This serves as an excuse for the writers to throw random pop culture references at our faces, often without pausing to take a deep breath (which is part of the problem with the film). References include a Hannibal Lecter-like sequence featuring Boingo the Bunny, “Say hello to my leetle friend”, and “Hasta la vista Wolfie!”. You get the picture. To be honest, there isn’t much to discuss here. I believe that kids in particular won’t have a good time watching it, for the simple reason that it might be a bit too dark for them. Adults on the other hand might have a few chuckles, especially film buffs, but overall, “Hoodwinked 2” (or “too”) is instantly forgettable. You might want to catch it one night if there’s nothing else playing on cable TV, but in the morning, you’ll wake up with no recollection of the story, or its characters. As one critic wrote: “This is one Hoodwinked too many!”.

Rating: 2/4