Hoodwinked!

Hoodwinked! is a 2005 American animated musical comedy film directed by Cory Edwards, who also co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Todd Edwards and Tony Leech from a story by the Edwards brothers. It retells the folktale "Little Red Riding Hood" as a police procedural, using backstories to show multiple characters' points of view. The film features the voices of Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers, Xzibit, Chazz Palminteri, and Andy Dick. Hoodwinked! was among the earliest computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. Working apart from a major studio allowed the filmmakers greater creative control, but also restrained them economically. Due to the film's low budget, its animation was produced in the Philippines with a stylized design inspired by stop motion films. The Weinstein Company did not sign on as the film's distributor until near the end of production, and while the company had several roles recast with higher-profile actors, it otherwise made few changes to the film. Structurally, the film was inspired by non-linear crime dramas, such as Rashomon and Pulp Fiction. It was released shortly after the first two installments in the successful Shrek series by DreamWorks Animation, which accentuated the fairy tale parody genre of which Hoodwinked! is a part. Hoodwinked!, however, intentionally deviated from the Shrek series in its style of humor and in certain plot elements. This was in part based on Cory Edwards' concerns over exposing children to the high level of cynicism often found in the genre. The film was released in Los Angeles and Philadelphia on December 16, 2005, for a one-week engagement, before expanding nationwide on January 13, 2006. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, who praised its clever script and voice acting but criticized its unusually low-budget computer animation....