Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” features an all-star cast providing the voices and the film does have its moments of laughter but it seemed more like a direct-to-video type of film rather than an animated feature film.  It was OK.

Images courtesy of ©2011 Starz Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil

FILM RELEASE DATE: 2011

DURATION: 87minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (widescreen 1:78:1), English 5.1 DTS-HD, Subtitles: Spanish

RATED: PG (Some Mild Rude Humor, Language and Action)

COMPANY: The Weinstein Company/Anchor Bay Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: August 16, 2011

Directed by Mike Disa

Written by Mike Disa, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech

Produced by Joan Collins Carey, Maurice Kanbar

Co-Producer: David Lovegren

Executive Producer: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein

Associate Producer: Rebecca Palatnik

Music by Murray Gold, Tom Kearne

Edited by Robert Anich Cole, Tom Sanders

Production Design by Ryan L. Carlson

Art Direction by Ryan L. Carlson

Featuring the voices of:

Glenn Close as Granny Puckett

Hayden Panettiere as Red Riding Hood

Cheech Marin as Mad Hog

Patrick Warburton as The Big Bad Wolf

Joan Cusack as Verushka the Witch

Bill Hader as Hansel

David Ogden Stiers as Nicky Flippers

Amy Poehler as Gretel

Cory Edwards as Twitchy

Martin Short as Kirk the Woodsman

Brad Garrett as The Giant

Andy Dick as Boingo the Bunny

David Alan Grier as Moss the Troll

Tomy Chong as Stone

Phil LaMarr as wood/Ernesto

Wayne Newton as Jimmy 10-Strings

The good… the bad… the Twitchy.  HOODWINKED TOO! HOOD VS. EVIL finds our heroine, Red (Hayden Panettiere), training with a mysterious covert group called the Sisters of the Hood.  But Red is forced to cut her training short when she gets an urgent call from Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers), the head of the super secret Happily Ever After Agency, aka the HEA.  A wicked witch (Joan Cusack) has abducted two innocent children, Hansel (Bill Hader) and Gretel (Amy Poehler), and Nicky needs the whole Hoodwinked gang – Red, Granny (Glenn Close), the ever-clueless Wolf (Patrick Warburton) and his over-caffeinated little partner, Twitchy (Cory Edwards) – for the search and rescue mission.

In 2005, the Weinstein Company released their animated film “Hoodwinked!” produced by Blue Yonder Films with Kanbar Entertainment which was a film that starred many all-star talent from Anne Hathaway, Glee Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton and more.

The film was successful as the film budgeted at $15 million (which is very low for an animated film), would go on to earn $110 million in the box office.

Looked at as an animated parody of “The Usual Suspects”, “Hoodwinked!” introduces us to Little Red Riding Hood, Granny, the Big Bad Wolf and Twitchy the Squirrel.  By the end of the film, the four are enlisted by Nicky Flippers to join the Happily Ever After Agency and take on crime.

Fast forward to 2011 and the sequel “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil” which was budgeted around $30 million unfortunately had a delayed release and instead of being released in January 2011 (which the Burger King promotion for the toys began), was released in April 2011 and unfortunately made only half of its budget in the box office.

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” now makes its appearance on Blu-ray with a Blu-ray + DVD release scheduled for an August 16, 2011 release.

Similar to the first film, many talent were used in the film.  Hayden Panettiere (“Heroes”) would become the new voice for Red Riding Hood, Patrick Warburton as the Big Bad Wolf, Glenn Close as Granny, Cory Edwards as Twitchy, Martin Short would be the Woodsman, Bill Hader and Amy Poehler as Hansel and Gretel, Joan Cusack as Verushka the Witch, Heidi Klum as Heidi, Brad Garrett as the Giant, Wayne Newton as Jimmy Ten Strings , David Alan Grier as Moss the Troll and Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong and Phil LaMarr as the Three Little Hench Pigs.

For the sequel, Wolf, Granny and Twitchy are sent by Nicky Flippers, leader of the Happily Ever After Agency to save Hansel & Gretel who were kidnapped by the Angry Witch.  But as usual, the Big Bad Wolf ends up botching the whole operation and the Angry Witch escapes with both Hansel and Gretel.

Meanwhile, Red Riding Hood is being trained and tested to become a member of the Sister of the Hood (which Granny is a member of).  Unfortunately, Red Riding Hood still has an anger problem and just as she is about to complete her testing, her anger gets the best of her and she fails the test.

Meanwhile, she is told about the Sister of the Hood and their biggest secret is a recipe for a truffle which has a secret ingredient which only the Sister of the Hood knows about.  The ingredient used on the Truffle can give a person tremendous powers and when the box of the truffle recipe is opened, the Sisters of the Hood start to panic as the recipe has been stolen.  Meanwhile, Red Riding Hood receives news that her granny, Hansel and Gretel have been kidnapped by the Angry Witch.

Meanwhile, as Granny is tied up, she finds out that the Angry Witch is actually Verushka the Witch, a former member of the Sister of the Hood, who quit because she kept getting second place against Granny in competitions. But now, Verushka wants revenge by getting the secret ingredient of the truffle in order to become powerful.

Meanwhile, Red Riding Hood, The Big Bad Wolf and Twitchy go on an adventure to find out who kidnapped Granny and where she is being held and that includes confronting a giant, Boingo the Bunny, The Three Little Hench Pigs and more!

Can they save Granny in time?  And who is the real mastermind that orchestrated the kidnapping?

VIDEO:

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” is presented in 1080p High Definition (widescreen 1:78:1).  Picture quality  is good.  Nice details on the objects and surroundings are good.  On the main characters, details are good but not as excessive as other big-budget animated films.  Because this film does feature its fair share of animals, you expect to see a lot of hair physics and really making the fur look realistic.  “Hoodwinked” is not one of those type of animated films.

In fact, at first I was wondering if the film was stop-motion because some of the characters look like models and are solid.  But “Hoodwinked” goes for its own style, its own look and it works.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.  The lossless audio is good but could have been better.  If anything, for an animated film with a lot of action sequences, you would expect to hear more robust surround usage but instead, it becomes more dialogue driven and sound from the front and center channels.  But for the dialogue, audio is clear and understandable.

Subtitles are in English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” comes with the following special features:

• Music Videos - Included are the following music videos “I Can Do It Alone” by Hayden Panettiere (3:34), “You Know It” by Lavay Cole (3:02) and “Perfect Two” by CeeJ (3:13).
• The Voices – (19:13) Interview with the celebrity cast of “Hoodwinked Too!” with Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Warburton, Heidi Klum, Wayne Newton and David Ogden.
• Storyboard Sequences– (4:29) Featuring the storyboard sequences for Bridge and HEA Invasion.
• Production Artwork – Using your remote, view the artwork from “Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil”.
• Hoodwinked Too! Video Game Teaser

EXTRAS:

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” comes with a Blu-ray and DVD version of the film.  The DVD is presented in 1:78:1 widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 plus a $10 off a $30 purchase of Dippin’ Dots merchandise coupon on the Dippin’ Dots website.

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” has its moments of fun and while one can say that fairy tale characters in a hero setting are not that interesting, the first film did very well in the box office.  But I feel that this sequel had some issues from its delayed release (which is never a good thing) and lost out on the kids meal tie-in (as the toys came out months before the movie was released).

Needless to say, “Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” unfortunately failed in the box office and whether or not it does well on Blu-ray and DVD, who knows.

Is it a family film?  I watched it with my eight-year-old and he enjoyed it as the film does have its funny moments.  But because it is rated PG, many parents may be wondering why the film is PG.

For one, you have the three little pigs who are trying to kill Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, you have the antagonists who want to destroy all living things and there are moments of crude humor.  Granted, nothing overly violent but for some parents, it may be too much for their little ones.  But for older kids, no problem.

But I figured that while I found the film to be fun and good, because the film quality-wise in animation and also story-wise was OK, I felt that perhaps maybe my 8-year-old would be a bit more upbeat about the film.

I asked my son about what he thought about the film and interesting thing is that he immediately talked about the first film and the kids meal toys (So, I guess the kids meal tie-in is very important for children) and in this case, he talked about how cool the Woodsman was in the first film (he is shown a few times later towards the end of the sequel).

He also mentioned that the characters of Red Riding Hood, Granny, the Big Bad Wolf are too boring for him.  So, I guess he didn’t like it much as I thought he did and for me, I enjoyed it a bit more.

As for the Blu-ray release, I felt the lossless audio could have been better, I felt there could have been more special features included (perhaps even a commentary track) and the picture quality, I felt the animation was good but for a feature film amongst the other competition out there, it’s like comparing apples to oranges and “Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” was more like a grape.

Overall, “Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil” was an OK animated film.  It’s not the best, nor is it the worst but it had a feel of a direct-to-video type of film rather than an animated feature.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

The best animated film in 2009 not made by Disney/Pixar.  Smart, humorous and fun, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” features solid performances by the talent, beautiful 3D animation, an immersive soundtrack, many special features… this is a magnificent Blu-ray release for the entire family!  Highly recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2009 Sony Pictures Animation Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs

DURATION: 90 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (2:35:1), English, French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 5.1, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

RATED: PG (For Brief Mild Language)

COMPANY: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: January 5, 2010

Based on a book by Judi Barrett, Ron Barrett

Directed by Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Screenplay by Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Executive Producer: Yair Landau

Producer: Pam Marsen

Co-Producer: Lydia Bottegoni, Chris Juen

Animation Executive Producer: Andrea Miloro

Music by Mark Mothersbaugh

Casting by Mary Hidalgo

Production Design by Justin Thompson

Art Direction by Michael Kurinsky

Featuring the voices of:

Bill Hader as Flint Lockwood

Anna Faris as Sam Sparks

James Caan as Tim Lockwood

Andy Samberg as “Baby” Brent

Bruce Campbell as Mayor Shelbourne

Mr. T as Earl Devereaux

Bobb’e J. Thompson as Cal Devereaux

Benjamin Bratt as Manny

Neil Patrick Harris as Steve

Al Roker as Patrick Patrickson

Lauren Graham as Fran Lockwood

Will Forte as Joe Towne

Max Neuwrith as Young Flint

When Flint Lockwood’s (Bill Hader) latest contraption accidentally destroys the town square and rockets up into the clouds, he thinks his inventing career is over. Then something amazing happens as delicious cheeseburgers start raining from the sky. His machine actually works! But when people greedily ask for more and more food, the machine starts to run amok, unleashing spaghetti tornadoes and giant meatballs that threaten the world! Now it’s up to Flint, with the help of weather girl Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) and Steve, his talking monkey assistant, to find some way to shut down the machine before the world is covered in super-sized meatballs!

In 2009, the animated film “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” was released in theaters.  Adapted from the popular book from 1978 by Judi Barrett and illustrations by Ron Barrett, CWACoM took three years to develop and feature animation by Sony Pictures Animation.

The film adaptation and direction is by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (both are executive producers of the popular CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” and also the MTV animated series “Clone High”).  Music is by Mark Mothersbaugh (“Fanboys”, “Mama’s Boy”, “Lords of Dogtown”) and the film is produced by Pam Marsden (producer of “Dinosaur” and “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas”).

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” received positive reviews from critics and debuted at #1 in the box office, raking in $180+ million worldwide.  Now the film gets its first Blu-ray release and includes the Blu-ray, the DVD and a digital copy (a code is provided to download a digital copy from the PlayStation Network) for those who own a Sony PSP or Playstation 3 System.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” begins with a boy named Flint Lockwood (voice by Bill Hader) who enjoys science and wanted to help kids with his new invention, to create spray-on shoes which seemed like a good idea until it was revealed that he couldn’t take them off.

With inspiration from his mother, Flint would go on to grow up and become a scientist.  Flash forward many years later, Flint is a grown up adult and has his own science lab above his parent’s home (his mother is deceased and his father Tim (voice by James Caan) works at the only town’s sardine and tackle shop).

Flint lives in a town called Swallow Falls, a town that has not been doing well since the world have deemed sardines as gross and sardines is what the town is known for exporting.  So, the citizens of Swallow Falls have been eating sardines primarily since no one but them are buying it and the town has been restless since.

Flint has tried to create several experiments which have not gone as well as he hoped.  Such as the rat birds (creating an actual species of rats with bird wings), a thought translation machine which he has used on his pet monkey Steve (voice by Neil Patrick Harris)  in order for them to communicate.  But it’s his new experiment that he hopes to change things for the people at Swallow Falls.

Flint has come up with an idea to find a way to convert water molecules and change them to popular foods.  He tries at first to turn the molecules to a cheeseburger but he fails due to the machine needing more power.

On the date the mayor of the town, Mayor Shelbourne (voice by Bruce Campbell) is about to unveil a new plan to bring people to Swallow Falls and revitalize its economy, Flint knows that in order to fully test his water molecule converting machine, he needs more power so he attempts to hook it up to power stations.

While Flint works on his project, a woman named Sam Sparks (voice by Anna Faris) gets her chance to become a “temporary” meteorologist and has her first break on television on the day of the mayor’s unveiling.

But Flint’s machine goes haywire and the unveiling of the mayor’s project has gone wrong due to Flint’s machine jetting through the area and being shot into the sky.  Even ruining Sam’s first day on the job by smashing her face right on the television camera.  Unfortunately, Flint has left parts of the town destroyed and the people of Swallow Falls are upset with him.

While Flint isolates himself at the dock, he and Sam have an exchange in words but suddenly out of nowhere, cheeseburgers start to fall from the sky.  Flint’s project has worked and as for Sam, she becomes the meteorologist to show the world of what is happening.

Flint’s experiment is so successful that now the mayor wants him to create more and more types of food in order to generate hype and bring people back to Swallow Falls, especially by renaming the town to “Chewandswallow”.

As Flint enjoys his success and everyone requesting for certain types of food to come from the sky, what Flint doesn’t know is the ramifications of overusing the machine and that is the food becoming larger and larger that it can cause destruction and mayhem.  Now, Flint and his friends must destroy the machine immediately.

AUDIO & VIDEO:

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is featured in 1080p High Definition and I know that Pixar and DreamWorks animation gets a lot of attention for their animated work but Sony Pictures Animation has done a remarkable job with this film.

The picture quality on HD is absolutely vibrant and colorful.  Water and liquid effects look absolutely terrific and realistic while the detail of the town Swallow Falls during its normal appearance of a seaside town to a town filled with food and sporting different scenery.

In fact, things look absolutely amazing during the second half as we see solid animation being utilized throughout the film.  From the outdoor mayhem to the overall details of the various foods (especially when larger) causing destruction around the town area, it looks absolutely great. Awesome picture quality for this Blu-ray release.

As for the accompanying DVD, the DVD is featured in 16×9 Full Screen (1:78:1) and also anamorphic widescreen (2:35:1).

As for audio, the Blu-ray is featured in English and French 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish 5.1.   Dialogue is clear and understandable through the front and center channel, music definitely sets the mood as it plays from the front channels but good use of special effects such as the clouds rumbling, the sound of thunder, flying vehicles flying through the clouds through the surround channels.  Good use of LFE for nice low rumbles coming from the subwoofer.

Fans of the film will enjoy the immersive soundtrack from this film as there is very good use of the various channels throughout the film, especially during the film’s latter half.

The accompanying DVD is presented in English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Subtitles are featured in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” features special features in High Definition and Standard Definition.  Audio is in English stereo and subtitles are in Spanish:

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is an enjoyable family film.  The children will love it and even the adults.  The film is well-written and Sony Pictures Animation really went all out in making sure this film looks visually appealing.  Artistically, the animation and artistic backgrounds are just spectacular.

As mentioned before, there is so much positive press for Pixar films and also DreamWorks animated films but Sony really pulled off an awesome 3D animated film with “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.  Definitely a unique presentation in terms of characters but it’s just the overall look of the film with its vibrant colors and look that gives a fresh feel for this film.

And on HD, the film looks and sounds incredible.  There are a good number of interactive special features and with the Blu-ray coming with the DVD and a digital copy of the film, that’s another plus as well.

It’s important to note that “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is not just visual and audio  eye candy, the film features a solid performance by the voice talent and most of all, a solid screenplay that remains faithful to the popular book.  A lot of humor (safe for children) and for the most part, a fantastic family film that both children and adults will enjoy.

This is possibly the best animated film not made by Disney/Pixar and if anything, Sony Pictures Animation did a wonderful job and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what film they will be animating next because what they did for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” looks magnificent.

Overall, this is a solid Blu-ray release that is just worth having in your collection and a release that is great for the entire family.  Highly recommended!

NOTE:  Sony announced that in conjunction with the release of their 3D hardware, they will be releasing a 3D version of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” on Blu-ray sometime in 2010.