Only the youngest kids won't notice that the animation in Hoodwinked isn't up to par with with Pixar -- or DreamWorks, Fox, Disney and so on. It's more in line with your average episode of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, featuring a lineup of shiny-plastic characters complete with molded-dollop Big Boy hairstyles. Sure, the Wolf's fur looks realistic enough, but his mouth flaps open and shut like one of those animatronic Chuck E. Cheese robots.

However, big-studio pockets only go so far in the CG game, and disappointments like Shark Tale and Chicken Little that looked slick but fell slack more than prove the importance of a decent script. That's where the low-budget Hoodwinked redeems itself. The movie recognizes that no little girl in this day and age would fall for a big, bad wolf disguised as her grandmother. Using Little Red Riding Hood as its departure point, Hoodwinked veers off into wildly revisionist territory.

It seems that someone's been stealing all the recipes in the enchanted forest -- even "Red" and her kindly old Grandma Bucket are suspects. Hauled in for questioning, the four characters offer up their own version of events, each one with a few twists you're not likely to find mentioned in your nearest storybook: There are the two damsels in distress (voiced by Anne Hathaway and Glenn Close, neither one as innocent as she looks), the Wolf (too obvious to be guilty) and the Woodsman (who's really just an actor hawking Paul's Bunion Cream).

As the flashbacks begin, unspooling in the time-honored Rashomon tradition, the movie hits its rapid-fire stride. Director Cory Edwards and codirectors Todd Edwards (Cory's kid brother) and Tony Leech fire off pop-culture references with the speed and range of a good Simpsons episode, tossing in a few songs for good measure (most of the tunes are instantly forgettable, although I rather liked Ben Folds' "Red Is Blue").

Like an early Woody Allen film or a classic Marx brothers feature, more of Hoodwinked's gags flop than hit, but they come at such a steady rate, you hardly notice. It's all the audience can do to keep up with the shenanigans. I trust the variety of stimulation, if nothing else, will keep the kiddies entertained. At least the antics aren't so insipid that you'd mind the DVD running on constant repeat for the kids (the way they love to watch their favorite films).

Which brings us to the big question: Is Hoodwinked worth the $40 or so you'd spend on a family outing to the megaplex? Probably not. It's bound to disappoint grown-ups who've been spoiled by the Pixar polish, but it's certainly worth a gander down the road on DVD (after screening Hoodwinked on HDTV, I can assure you it suffers not at all on home video). The mystery keeps you guessing, the surprises keep you laughing and the animation keeps you wishing someone had given these funny guys a little more money.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]