Movie audiences are fast approaching the days of teams of superheroes eager to takeover multiplex screens like an army seeking the hearts and minds of oppressed peoples. The Avengers, X-Men: First Class, The Breaking Dawn Legion of Vampires, you catch my drift, right?
Well, the D-League gets animated in Hoodwinked Too, the follow-up to the Miramax sleeper from 2005, which swaps out Anne Hathaway for Hayden Panettiere as the voice of Red Riding Hood who hooks up with The Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton) as part of the HEA (Happily Ever After) team to investigate the disappearance of Hansel (Bill Hader) and Gretel (Amy Poehler). Granny (Glenn Close) lends a hand, but this is supposed to be all about Red and the Wolf, and unfortunately that’s the problem.
Panettiere and Warburton don’t feel like they’re part of the same universe in terms of voice styling. Warburton’s loony tunes delivery certainly engages, but he so dominates the story that it's hard to focus on Red, the true lead. Hood vs. Evil is her coming of age, the sequel that should establish her as the franchise player, yet she ends up like little girl lost in the forest of hood and evil. There’s no hope for a last-minute rescue or a chance of another installment; the Hood’s goose is cooked. Grade: D
Opens April 29. Check out theaters and show times, see the trailer and get theater details here.
