| Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| 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 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 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million[1] |
| Box office | $16,960,968[2] |
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.
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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.
Hoodwinked Too! was under production at Blue Yonder Films, the producers of the first Hoodwinked! film, from June 2008 to January 2010. 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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5]
A theatrical poster and a trailer were released February 2011, and a release date of April 29, 2011, was announced.[6]
Neither Anne Hathaway nor Jim Belushi reprised their roles from the original film as Red and Kirk the woodsman respectively.
Produced on $30 million,[1][2] the film has grossed $13,481,916 as of June 2011, receiving a domestic total of $10,143,779, based on Box Office Mojo.
| “ | 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. | ” |
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—"Justin Chang"[7] |
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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."[8]
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."[9] 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".[10] 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".[11] 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."[12] 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[13] 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."[14] 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."[15]
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."[16] Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said that the film “suffer[s] from a stylistic stiffness" and called the characters “clunky and ungainly”.[14]
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil was released on Blu-ray 3D combo pack, Blu-ray, and DVD on August 16, 2011.
DVD sales were poor. The 5-disc combo pack which includes Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy, and the soundtrack was being sold on Amazon.com 2 weeks after the film was released for $8.80.
In addition to the DVD release 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.