Hoodwinked

(2005) * 1/2 Pg
80 min. The Weinstein Company. Directors: Tony Leech, Todd Edwards, Cory Edwards. Cast: Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Anthony Anderson, Patrick Warburton, David Ogden Stiers.

The new CG-animated kiddie comedy Hoodwinked is another tiresome postmodern riff on Shrek. Deconstructing "Little Red Riding Hood" by crossing it with Rashomon, Clue, and COPS, Hoodwinked posits a crime (recipe theft by an unknown Goodie Bandit); proceeds to four long suspect interviews with Red (Anne Hathaway), Granny (Glenn Close), the Wolf (Patrick Warburton), and a Woodsman (Jim Belushi); and devolves further into an evil-madman showdown apparently meant to spoof the James Bond pictures.

Writer-director Cory Edwards shows periodic signs of wit: the interweaving of the P.O.V. stories, the pencil-mustached design of urbane frog detective Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers), jittery Wolf sidekick Twitchy the Squirrel, the occasional well-aimed punchline ("Ah! The Wolf did it. Talk about profiling"), the number "Red is Blue," performed by Ben Folds. Andy Dick also makes a good effort as the voice of a suspicious bunny.

But Hoodwinked can charitably be described as a big fat mess, horribly marred by tasteless animation that gives most characters a plasticene-doll look. Kids may have difficulty following the byzantine plot, and adults will rapidly cease caring. Too seldom clever, too often tiresomely busy, and wasteful of its voice cast, it's Hoodwinked that is the crime.

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