Hoodwinked

Little Red must cope with some rather weird characters.

Herald rating: * * *

This cheerful low-budget computer-animated film puts a new spin on the Brothers Grimm classic Little Red Riding Hood.

First time director-screenwriter Cory Edwards has turned this fairytale into a film noir whodunnit and it's a sassy and wickedly irreverent film that, partly because of its low-key release and lack of hype, is surprisingly entertaining.

Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain) voices Little Red Riding Hood, known only as Red in this film, with a mix of teenage apathy and attitude.

With an evil Goody Bandit on the loose stealing recipes, Red - who delivers her grandmother's famous sweet treats - heads for the mountains to visit reclusive grandmother (Close) and hide the family's famous recipe book.

On arriving at the cottage, she discovers not only her granny tied up and a wolf (Warburton) impersonating her, but a hyperactive camera-wielding squirrel and a psychotic axeman. Detective Flippers (Stiers), who gets all the good lines, and his team are called in to find out who really is the the Goody Bandit.

As each suspect is interviewed, and gives a version of the day's events, it becomes apparent that they are all hiding a secret of sorts.

Filled with fairytale characters, and pop culture references, Hoodwinked is obviously aimed at lovers of the Shrek franchise. Budget restraints mean Hoodwinked, with its over-the-counter software, would never be able to compete with the animation level of Shrek, but at least Edwards and his team have tried to create a special look, opting for a retro 3D surreal effect that resembles looking through an old-fashioned Viewfinder.

Hoodwinked won't win any prizes for its simplistic animation, but it works hard at throwing the unexpected at the audience, from oddball characters to a quirky soundtrack featuring everything from a country singing goat to an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like yodeller (Belushi).

Although Hoodwinked is not as flash as Shrek, it's certainly a lot more witty and entertaining that other fairytale-based animations such as Chicken Little.

Voices: Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, James Belushi, Andy Dick, Patrick Warburton, David Ogden Stiers
Running Time: 81 minutes
Rating: G
Screening: Village, Hoyts and Berkeley
Verdict: Surprisingly funny and irreverent computer-animated fairytale to entertain the whole family.