HOODWINKED

Okay, it’s no Oscar nominee, the character designs suck and the animation (despite a few nice shots) is no where near Pixar’s polished perfection – but HOODWINKED caught me off guard and I found myself laughing often during the industry screening I attended this morning. I’m not recommending anyone go out and see it – but if you do, you might actually have a good time with it, as I did. The script, vocal characterizations, direction and songs (yes, songs) are very well done.HOODWINKED opened this week at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to qualify for Academy Award. The film, as you may have already heard, is a “Fractured Fairy Tale” spoof of Red Riding Hood, done in the style of The Usual Suspects crossed with (choke) The Family Guy. I guess I’m just here to report that the film isn’t a total bust (an easy impression to get from the posters, trailers and those damn ugly character designs) – it will be interesting to see what kind of money it will generate without a full scale family marketing campaign and a brand name distributor/producer behind it.