Hoodwinked!

Hoodwinked! is a 2005 computer-animated musical comedy mystery film. It retells the folktale Little Red Riding Hood as a police procedural, using backstories to show multiple characters' points of view. It was produced independently by Blue Yonder Films with Kanbar Entertainment, directed and written by Cory Edwards along with Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech, and produced by Katie Hooten, Maurice Kanbar, David K. Lovegren, Sue Bea Montgomery, and Preston Stutzman. The film features the voices of Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers, Xzibit, Chazz Palminteri, and Andy Dick. Hoodwinked! was among the earliest computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. Working apart from a major studio allowed the filmmakers greater creative control, but also restrained them economically. Due to the film's low budget, its animation was produced in the Philippines, with a less realistic design inspired by stop motion films. The Weinstein Company did not sign on as the film's distributor until near the end of production, and while the company had several roles recast with higher-profile actors, it otherwise made few changes to the film. Structurally, the film was inspired by non-linear crime dramas, such as Rashomon and Pulp Fiction. It was released shortly after the first two installments in the successful Shrek series, which accentuated the fairy tale parody genre of which Hoodwinked! is a part. Hoodwinked!, however, intentionally deviated from the Shrek series in its style of humor and in certain plot elements. This was in part based on Cory Edwards' concerns over exposing children to the high level of cynicism often found in the genre. The film was released by The Weinstein Company in Los Angeles, California, and Philadelphia on December 16, 2005, for a one-week engagement before expanding nationwide on January 13, 2006. Critical reception to the film was varied; although its script and voice performances were praised by many reviews, its animation quality was heavily criticized. The film was a commercial success, earning over thirteen times its less-than-$8 million budget. A sequel, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, was directed by Mike Disa and created by an entirely different team, even though the original draft of the screenplay was written by the Edwards brothers and Leech. It was released in 2011 to negative reviews and financial failure. Plot