I wasn't interested in seeing the first Hoodwinked, due to the commercials, which seemed to focus on bad animation and making a wolf in an afro funny. When I got the DVD for my kids, it quickly became a family favorite, having quick humor, sly references to other movies, and (not least) an interesting plot. A police investigation into the happenings around the story of little red riding hood and resultant conflicting accounts by each of the major players made for a quite interesting movie. Hoodwinked 2 seems to have forgotten what made the first movie enjoyable. It starts off well, but then drifts into a straightforward, predictable story of Hansel and Gretel trying to obtain a secret recipe which gives them unlimited power. There are no overlaps, story twists, or the quick wit that made the first movie fun. Also, strangely absent is music. The first movie was loaded with catchy songs (often sung by a scene stealing goat). The only music in this film are sung by said goat, but only enough to set him up for a repeated "object falls on him" joke. Familiar characters from the first movie show up as bystanders, but none of them speak, i.e. the x-games bears and the cops appear, but are not heard or utilized in the story. Frankly, I expected more from this movie, but was not totally surprised. If you haven't seen it, watch the original instead. Skip this one.
Review of Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
