Hoodwinked Too! hood vs. Evil Super Cap and the Turbo Grannies (2011)

Directed by: Mike Disa | 85 minutes | animation, comedy, family | Dutch voice cast: Linda Wagenmakers, Tony Neef, Laura Vlasblom, Walter Crommelin, Marjolein Algera, Thijs van Aken | Original voice cast: Hayden Panettiere, Bill Hader, Joan Cusack, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett, Amy Poehler, Glenn Close, Danny Pudi, Martin Short, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, David Ogden Stiers, Phil LaMarr, Andy Dick, David Alan Grier, Debra Wilson, Tress MacNeille, Cory Edwards, Mike Disa, Benjy Gaither, Lance J. Holt, Rebecca Andersen, Clarissa Jacobson

At the end of “Hoodwinked,” the leggy green frog asks Mr. Flippers, with whose help the mystery of the candy thief was solved, asks Red, Grandma Puckett and the wolf to join his secret organization that makes Happy Endings. The trio sees that. So it was already an established fact that there would be a second part. Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil’ appeared in Dutch cinemas only as ‘Superkapje en de Turbo-ommas’, but fortunately the original voice cast can be heard on DVD and Blu-ray. That alone is an improvement over the dubbing because of the duo Amy Poehler and Bill Hader as Hansel and Gretel and Patrick Warburton as the wolf. The film picks up where the original 2005 animated film left off. Unfortunately, there is no sign of any freshness here.

Red is now called Super Hood and is with the Hooded sisters for training. Her absence hits hard now that the other members of the HEA (the Happily Ever After Agency, somewhat awkwardly translated in Dutch as End well, All well) have to get their hands on the evil witch Veruschka. She kidnapped two chubby kids who ate from her candy house: who else but Hansel and Gretel? Something goes wrong with the rescue. Supercap grandma becomes number three on the list of abductees. Super cap is used by Mr. Flippers recalled, but not before discovering that the Muffin of the Muffins secret recipe (whoever eats it becomes unbeatable) has been stolen. Could that be the reason that Supercap’s extreme sports grandmother – who is also handy in the kitchen – was kidnapped?

What follows is a rather messy adventure, in which Supercap must join forces with the wolf in true buddy movie style to complete the mission. The two have completely opposite views of how to handle the matter. The wolf keeps coming with his disguises. But through a complicated plot it eventually comes to a denouement.

Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil’ is full of unnecessary references to other films, one (‘Shrek’, ‘Kill Bill’ and… deep sigh… ‘The Silence of the Lambs’) a bit more flashy than the other (‘Star Wars’, ‘Goodfellas’) and unfortunately only some visual or puns. Supercap’s search for the meaning of DCT does yield a few comic moments, as does the banjo-playing buck Japeth, who is less annoying here than in the original, but sings about his fate in a thread throughout the film. The creators of Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil’ failed to tell a story that the adult viewer would care about. For the smaller film buff, there will often be no strings attached due to the many bombastic action scenes. Despite the neater animation (aside from the totally redundant 3D), ‘Hoodwinked Too: Hood Vs. Evil’ is no improvement over the first part. The Real 3D version is preferable to the 3D version with the supplied paper glasses, but if you do not have the right equipment, the 2D version is more colorful and therefore recommended.