Counter Culture

Directed by: Cory Edwards

Todd Edwards (co-director)

Rental/ Retail Release Date: 29th January

RRP: £19.99

Certification: UK:U / USA:PG (certificate #42224) / Finland:K-7 / Ireland:G / Canada:G (Ontario) / Norway:7 / Australia:G / Czech Republic:U / Germany:o.Al. / Singapore:G / Sweden:7 / Netherlands:AL / France:U

Running Time: 80 minsThis is the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood. But if you thought you were familiar with the story, forget it. This is told from four different perspectives Red (voice of Ann Hathaway), the Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton), Granny (Glenn Close) and a fairly dumb, axe-wielding woodsman (Jim Belushi).

It starts at the end of the tale with the arrest of the four. They are accused of stealing ‘goodie’ recipes and interrogated by a long-legged frog, Inspector Flippers (David Ogden Stiers). Each suspect tells a different story that somehow cleverly ties the whole event together. It’s similar in its use of different perspectives to Kurosawa’s classic “Rashomon” but produced by computer animators at the Weinstein Company.

The script is excellent. Adults will enjoy the puns. The kids will enjoy the many animal characters, such as pigs as policemen, a singing, hillbilly goat (Benjy Gaither), a squirrel on speed (director Edwards), a Huggy bear-type stool pigeon sheep (Chazz Palimeri) and a tricky little bunny, Boingo (Andy Dick). Having said that I really liked the hilbilly goat and his ‘Be Prepared’ song!

Hoodwinked is full of twists and turns and is a good film for adults to watch alongside the kids.

DVD Extras

Deleted and Extended Scenes

Critters Have Feelings Music Video

How to Make an Animated Film

Commentary with the Film Makers

Theatrical Trailer