Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil

Plot

Wolf (Patrick Warburton), Granny (Glenn Close), and Twitchy (Cory Edwards) are on a rescue mission to save Hansel and Gretel (Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) from an evil witch named Verushka (Joan Cusack). The plan goes wrong however and Granny is kidnapped as well. Meanwhile, Red (Hayden Panettiere) is in training with a mysterious group called the Sisters of the Hood where she learns that a secret all powerful truffle recipe has been stolen. She teams up with Wolf and Twitchy to find the recipe and save her grandma, but she and Wolf can't get along and the team splits up. Meanwhile, Verushka, who stole the truffle recipe, tries to force Granny into making it for her.

Granny escapes and finds Hansel and Gretel, but learns that they are actually the masterminds behind the plot. Granny is recaptured and learns that Verushka was an old classmate of hers when they were both in training with the Sisters of the Hood; Verushka was always second behind Granny's accomplishments. Eventually Red, Wolf, and Twitchy team back together and infiltrate Hansel and Gretel's base. Red accidentally reveals the final ingredient for the truffle recipe and the truffles are made.

Hansel and Gretel eat the truffles transforming into giants and go on a rampage through the city. Hansel and Gretel betray Verushka, whereupon Granny convinces her to join forces with her, Red, Wolf, and Twitchy. They trick Hansel and Gretel into eating more truffles which make them so obese that they can no longer move their arms and legs, before the two are arrested.

Development

Hoodwinked! was one of the first fully independently funded computer animated films, and was produced on a budget of under $8 million, considerably less than the budget of most studio produced animated films. The film was directed and written by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech, and distributed by The Weinstein Company, which did not sign on until near the end of production. It was released in December 2005 to mixed reviews, and financial success, earning over $110 million worldwide. In February 2006, Cory Edwards announced that he, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech were writing a sequel, though they would not return to direct. Cory Edwards cited many reasons for not returning as a director for the sequel. In addition to wanting to focus on other, particularly live-action films, so as not to be confined to animation, he explained that he had had a poor experience working on the first film, and felt that he had not been treated well. He also questioned the integrity of the fractured fairytale genre of which Hoodwinked is a part, calling it, "a trend I groaned about even as I finished the film." Initially, the film was going to be independently funded by Kanbar Entertainment, with the Weinstein Company distributing, as had been done with the previous film; however the two companies entered into a co-financing agreement, at the behest of The Weinstein Company.

In March 2007 it was announced that Mike Disa, who had long worked in the animation industry, would make his directorial debut on the film. While Disa had not seen the original film before being approached to direct the sequel, Cory Edwards expressed enthusiasm over his involvement, saying that he “has a real passion for the film and a devotion to maintaining the “Hoodwinked” world. He wants to do the sequel justice and he really gets what we’re trying to do.”

Casting

While most of the cast reprised their roles from the first film, Hayden Panettiere replaced Anne Hathaway in the role of Red, while Martin Short replaced Jim Belushi in the role of Kirk the Woodsman. Cory Edwards explained that the role of Red was recast due to the recent success of Hathaway's career, saying "It’s clear to me that her involvement in the first film was a nice favor for Harvey and the last of her “little girl roles.” ...You can see how a sequel to an animated film is not in her trajectory anymore." Regarding Belushi's departure from the series, Edwards explained, "he was never really comfortable with the accent for the Woodsman. He wanted to help us out and loved the film, but he kept saying, “I’m not an accent guy.” So he had a hard time connecting to that character."

Whereas in the first film, the voice of the character Twitchy was created simply by speeding up the recording by 50%, various speeds were used in this film and occasionally the dialogue was only pitched higher without being sped up at all. The difference in Twitchy's voice was immediately noticed by fans after the release of the film's trailer, causing Twitchy's voice actor Cory Edwards to relate that while he had explained to the new filmmakers how the voice was created in the first film and would remark on how the character sounded different when invited to screenings, "from the many blank stares and the end result, nobody really cared."

Animation

While the first film's animation was produced by a small group of independent animators in the Philippines, this film's animation was produced by Canadian animation and visual effects studio Arc Productions instead. However, like the first film, Maya software was used to create the film's animation. Rendering was done on Mental ray, compositing was done on Fusion, and matte paintings were created on Photoshop. The explosions featured in the film were created using Maya and Houdini.

Director Mike Disa explained that in designing the locations for the film they considered "the idea of a modern fairy tale in modern times" asking themselves, "what would a fairy tale city look like having evolved for hundreds of years? What would their buildings look like, how would they get around" and saying, "We sat down and worked out the technology and mythology of the world of Hoodwinked that they hadn’t really established in the first film."

Lawsuit

The film was originally going to be released January 15, 2010; however, in December 2009, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back to February at the earliest. A Weinstein Company executive stated that some of the reasons were so that the company could focus its resources on promoting Youth in Revolt which would be released January 8 of that year and so that they could perform some tweaks on the film's animation. He also stated that the Weinstein Company was in the final stages of a marketing deal with a fast food chain.

Burger King released toys for the film in January 2010, shortly after the film's initial release date had passed, even though a new release date had not yet been set.

In March 2010, it was revealed that Kanbar Entertainment was suing The Weinstein Company for delaying the film's release, for not making contributions to monthly production accounts after February 2009, and for not consulting them about a release strategy. Kanbar Entertainment also stated that The Weinstein Company did not respond to proposed changes to the film, even though Kanbar Entertainment had final authority on production decisions.

In February 2011 the first trailer and poster for the film were released and a new release date for April 29, 2011 was finally announced.

Soundtracks

Two soundtracks were released for Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. The Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) featured songs from the film, while the Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (Original Motion Picture Score) featured the film's instrumental tracks composed by Murray Gold.

Box office

Unlike its predecessor which was financially successful, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil was a box office bomb. The film placed number six at the box office for its opening weekend, during which it grossed $4,108,630 across 2,505 theatres, averaging $1,640 per venue. The film fell to number ten in the box office for its second weekend, declining 50.3%, and dropped out of the top ten for its third weekend. This paled in comparison to the first film which opened to $12,401,900, placing number three in the box office for its opening weekend, and ultimately placing in the top ten for a total of five weeks. Over the course of its theatrical run Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil took in $10,143,779 at the domestic box office, and $16,960,968 worldwide, earning back only about 50% of its budget, and falling short of its predecessor which earned $51,386,611 domestically, and $110,013,167 worldwide. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil followed a pattern of animated sequels released in 2011 financially underperforming in comparison to their predecessors.

Critical response

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil received very negative reviews. On the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, as of July 2016, the film has garnered a rating of 11% across 63 reviews, with the consensus statement being: "It may add 3D to the original, but Hoodwinked Too! is missing the first installment's wit and refreshingly low-budget charm." On Metacritic, another critics' aggregate site, it holds a Metascore of 20 out of 100, making the indication of 'generally negative reviews.'

Claudia Puig of USA Today said that "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is memorable for being one of the most obnoxious animated movies of recent years. If ever there was a movie that should have gone straight to video — or better yet, never have been made — this is it." Roger Moore writing for the Orlando Sentinel gave the film two stars out of four, criticizing the story as “nothing more than a series of martial-arts video-game 'levels' for small children”, though praising the voice work of Bill Hader and Amy Poehler whose casting as Hansel and Gretel he considered "inspired". Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter considered the film to be "one of the most obnoxious and least necessary animated films of the century thus far". Kyle Smith from the New York Post only gave the film half of a star and wrote, "Few were those who demanded a sequel to 2005's "Hoodwinked," and those few should have been ignored. "Hoodwinked Too" doesn't unreel so much as dump on the screen busted fairy-tale characters, dumb would-be jokes, rusty pop-culture references and inert action scenes."

Even many of the critics who enjoyed the first film were disappointed with the sequel. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one star and said it "leeches the fun clean out of the first Hoodwinked and Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post wrote that, "while the first film was lifted out of mediocrity by an utterly delightful storyline...the sequel is a flat, plodding and largely mirthless affair."

In sharp contrast with other reviews, Nell Minow of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Hoodwinked Too! three stars, praising the film's strong heroines and the script, stating "once again what we think we know about fairy-tale heroines, villains, mean girls, old ladies, witches and happy endings are deliciously turned upside down and inside out."

As with the first Hoodwinked film, many reviews were critical of the film's animation. In his review for The New York Times, Andy Webster criticized the film's animation, stating "the images don't remotely approach the nuance of, say, Ice Age, let alone anything from the mack daddy, Pixar. And while it seems there's no getting away from this marketing aesthetic, the resemblance at times to a video game is far, far too acute. The Shrek films — in visual terms — have done this kind of thing better." Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said that the film “suffer[s] from a stylistic stiffness" and called the characters “clunky and ungainly”.

In December 2011, Chris Knight of the National Post listed Hoodwinked Too! on his "worst 10 films of 2011".

Cory Edwards, who co-wrote the film, and directed and co-wrote the previous film, expressed disappointment with the final film, insinuating that it would not hold much appeal for anyone older than ten, and saying that it was “deflating to give this thing away and watch others run with it in ways I would not.” He also expressed disappointment with major edits that had been made to the original script. Patrick Warburton has voiced similar sentiments. He has said that the film has less of a "soul" than its predecessor, attributing this problem to the diminished involvement of the Edwards brothers and Tony Leech. "I feel like the original guys got screwed", he said, although he qualified this answer with an acknowledgement that he knows little of the film's behind-the-scenes struggles. Working on the sequel left such a weak impression on him, that only two years after the film's release, he owned to barely even remembering the production process.

Home media

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and a 3D Blu-ray combo pack on August 16, 2011.

Video game

An adventure game called Red's Escape which includes some of the characters from the movie was made for the iPhone and iPad and is centered on the heroine of the movie, Red. She must avoid enemies and score points as she climbs the different stages of the witch's tower. Red ascends the tower using her belt, which is used like a grappling hook to grab objects and swing her to new heights. Along the way various enemies and obstacles attempt to derail Red, from gun-toting piggies and sharp spikes to a maniacal witch. Chasing Red all the while is Gretel, a lederhosen-clad, pastry-fueled behemoth who wants nothing more than to crush the life out of her.