Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs Evil

The animation may be less blocky than the first Hoodwinked!, but it still resembles a video game.

Director: Mike Disa
Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Warburton, Glenn Close
*

Hoodwinked!, the computer-animated take on Little Red Riding Hood, gets a sequel, this time in 3D, as Red (voiced by Panettiere) is called upon to save the kidnapped Hansel and Gretel from an evil witch (Joan Cusack).

She reluctantly teams up once more with Wolf (Warburton) and Granny (Close) for the mission, which is orchestrated by the HEA (Happily Ever After agency), a group that ensures every story has a happy ending. Hoodwinked Too! feels unnecessary from beginning to end.

The "blocky" animation that plagued the first film is replaced with a smoother aesthetic, but one that still resembles a video game. The most notable departure, however, is the absence of the witty and subtle tone that made the previous instalment enjoyable. This has been replaced by a brash, bawdy comedy that prefers to race to the punchline as quickly as possible and ram out-of-date references down your throat (the Kill Bill homage being particularly baffling).

The voice cast is fine (although Panettiere sounds stilted at times), but there's a method of delivery that can make a bad script funny. A modern fairy tale that will not have a happy ending for anyone paying to see it, this cynical sequel pales in comparison to its competitors.