Hoodwinked is a clean entertaining family film, and a great first film for the Edwards brothers. (Cory Edwards is a popular Christian stand-up comedian)
My kids loved it.
I enjoyed it… but I’m not going to rush out and buy the DVD.
The film tells the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood”… and then some. The story starts with a traditional telling of the tale we all heard as kids. The cops show up and then we hear the story retold from the perspective of each individual character.
The writing was extremely creative, delivering some very funny moments that had my family laughing pretty hard. And the talent behind the voices was no joke. I can’t believe that even some of the small roles were filled by the likes of Chazz Palminteri (writer and lead in one of my favorite films of all time,
A Bronx Tale).
The music was also enjoyable. It wasn’t Alan Menken (
The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin…), but it was catchy. And you could tell that a comedian was involved in the creative process. My kids were singing the Shnitzel song long after.
And in the spirit of Brad Bird doing the voice of Edna in
The Incredibles, Corey Edwards did the voice of Twitchy, the caffeine induced ADHD squirrel that spouts enjoyable lines like:
”Shewentpastaporcupineandaredbirdstreeandaguywithalongbeardand
shessingingeverywhereshegoessheslikelalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala!”
Hoodwinked would probably be sitting in my DVD collection right now if it weren’t for the mediocre animation. Ten years ago I might have thought this was pretty good. But now… it looks like a well done video game. It’s hard to compete with animation greats like
The Incredibles, the
Toy Story films and
Shrek. Sad, because Hoodwinked’s writing and performances are above the bar. If these guys could team up with some better animators for their next film, it will be a hit.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT: Yes, the film is a G-rated film in the guise of a PG film.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth
Ministry, is the author of numerous books including the new
Should I Just Smash My Kid's Phone?, and youth ministry books like
Ministry By Teenagers,
Connect: Real Relationships in a
World of Isolation, and the award winning book
Do They Run When They See You Coming? Jonathan
speaks and trains at conferences, churches and events across North
America, all while providing free resources for youth workers and parents on his
websites,
TheSource4YM.com and
TheSource4Parents.com. You can follow Jonathan on
his blog, getting a regular dose of youth culture and parenting help.
Jonathan and his wife Lori, and their three teenagers Alec, Alyssa and Ashley live
in California.
