Review of Hoodwinked Too! Hood VS. Evil (2011) by Scott E — 02 Oct 2011

I guess this was okay, not as good as the first Hoodwinked film. It has way too many flaws to be at its potential. The story is is flawed, the delivery is flawed, its artistic approach is flawed. Overall it is an underwhelming sequel. To be frank, I expected more. The characters and material were never fully realized or honestly rendered. There is plenty of blame to go around here. But despite all this harsh criticisms I won't say it is terrible. It can be entertaining fun for the whole family, but it fails to truly deliver its message with any impact. The story line has places to go with trust and friendship, but it kinda delivers it wishy-washy. To be brutally honest, some good talents were wasted in this project.

Hayden Panettiere brings so little chutzpah to Red, she makes you long for Anne Hathaway who voiced the role in the first film. Patrick Warburton plays the Wolf with the same wry sense of humor and solid delivery but the script is woefully inadequate for him. Cameo performances did little to enhance to project. And seasoned veteran voice over actress Joan Cusack has perhaps the juiciest role in the film, and once again it is under-written. Where she was at her best in Chicken Little as Abby Mallard or as the Mom in Mars Need Moms, as Verushka in Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil, her jokes are written to undercut her brilliant delivery. This film is one missed opportunity after another, perhaps the result of a director who really didn't believe its message about trust.