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Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review

4K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Lee Weber 
#1 ·


The Review at a Glance: ( max score: 5 )

Film:


Extras:


Audio/Video total rating:

( Max score: 100 )

84






Studio and Year: The Weinstein Company - 2011
MPAA Rating: PG
Feature running time: 87 minutes
Genre: Animation, Children


Disc Format: BD-25
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p/24


Audio Format(s): English DTSHD-MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Starring: Hayden Panettiere, Glenn Close, Joan Cusack, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Martin Short , Brad Garrett, Andy Dick, David Alan Grier, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Wayne Newton
Directed by: Mike Disa
Music by: Murray Gold & Tom Keane
Written by: Mike Disa, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech
Region Code: A

Blu-ray Disc release Date: August 16, 2011







"Not All Fairy Tales Go By the Book."



Film Synopsis:


The sequel finds our heroine, Red, 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, the head of the super secret Happily Ever After Agency, aka the HEA.




My Take:


In “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil”, the sequel to 2005's " Hoodwinked ", Red (Hayden Panettiere), a member of the order the Sisters of the Hood, is forced back into service by the secret "Happily Ever After Agency" when her Granny (Glenn Close) is kidnapped by an evil witch (Joan Cusack). This throws Red on a mission to uncover the truth to the kidnapping and to ultimately uncover a mole in the Sisters of the Hood. The original had a clever spin on the classic Red Riding Hood fairytale, where Red, Granny, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Woodsman, all face a Detective attempting to determine the events of the Little Red Riding Hood story. What worked for the original was its ties to a known story. “Hoodwinked Too! strays a bit further and is its own story all together. And a pretty silly boring story at that.


Jaded movie geek adults reviewing kids movies blows my mind (Ralph is an exception, easily seeing it the way it was meant---for kids), and “Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil” was no exception; it was not as terrible as all the reviews make it out to be. It's a kids flick, and we seem forget these are for the little guys, as we are spoiled with many amazing children's flicks that adults can enjoy without a child in tow. For the sake of fairness, and most likley a bit of a favorable slant to any animated thing (or any time in the theater), I brought in a ringer, my 4 year old son. He really enjoyed 'Hoodwinked Too! Hood VS. Evil', so much so that I had to go grab a copy of the original Hoodwinked!. The evil kidnapping witch freaked him out, and he is nervous to see it again because of her. There were a few moments where the language was a bit too risqué, thankfully it went over his head, though I can see a older child picking up a fer naughty things. The truth is that this one will bore adults, as its weirdly paced and too self conscious to just flow. It throws in pop culture reference after pop culture reference just to try to impress us. Unfortunately those references are the only bone for us adults and they wear thin quick. As far as animation goes, it's quite a letdown, never coming close to the heights of any Pixar flick, let alone Shrek or even an Ice Age. The good is that its just fun enough to kill an hour and a half with your little one, and even though I found it slow and pretty lackluster, its decent enough, especially for a rental.













Parental Guide:


Rated PG for some mild rude humor, language and action.




AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65

**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**


(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

Audio: 80


  • Dynamics:

  • Low frequency extension:

  • Surround Sound presentation:

  • Clarity/Detail:

  • Dialogue Reproduction:




Video: 88


  • Resolution/Clarity:

  • Black level/Shadow detail:

  • Color reproduction:

  • Fleshtones:

  • Compression:
'Hoodwinked Too! comes to Blu-ray Disc from Anchor Bay Home Entertainment featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 30.3 mbps and Dolby-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound that has an average bitrate of 3.8 mbps.

Anchor Bay delivers a faithful transfer of 'Hoodwinked Too!, even though its animation is not the most fluid and finely detailed. At times fine details were obvious where the animation dug deep enough, however, objects and people were flatter than we are used too in this day and age. This is not to say the movie doesn't have its moments visually, but it is not as constant as it could be. The colors are nicely saturated, with a warm feel, helping the lack of ultra computer animation detail still get a bit of a 3 dimensional pop. Combining that with blacks levels that are inky and shadow details that make the films many darker locations have nice definition, 'Hoodwinked Too! does manage to pull off being a very rewarding High Definition watch.


I cant say the same for the Dolby-HD MA 5.1 audio track. It could have been aggressive and fun, but it played a bit wimpy for my tastes. Dialouge was always upfront and easily discernible, focused on the center channel. The score was in the left and right channels, but it just never felt "wide" enough. The effects channels are used, but not nearly enough and the LFE could have used a shot of adrenaline. Fortunately my son didn't notice, but I certainly was disappointed.


*Note* there is also a 3D version available from Anchor Bay



Bonus Features:


  • (HD) Production Artwork

  • Video Game Teaser

  • Music Videos

  • The Voices

  • Storyboards

  • DVD Copy




Final Thoughts:


“Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil” is a good time for the little ones but pretty blah for the adults. The High Definition video is well above average but doesn't reach the heights of others in its genre, and the audio is a bit underwhelming. The extras are in 480p, and the only one of substance is "The Voices", clocking in at close to 20 minutes. Too bad it was boring and my son lost focus 5 minutes in. The good is that it's just fun enough to kill an hour and a half with your little one, and even though I found it slow and pretty lackluster, its decent enough, especially for a rental.













Lee Weber
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews




Reference Review System:



JVC DLA-X3 3D 1080p 3D High Definition Front Projector

Screen Innovations Solar HD 1.3 120" 2.40:1 CinemaScope Screen

Marantz AV7005 Pre/Pro

Sunfire Cinema Grand 5 200 Amplifier

Sony PS3 Slim Blu-ray Player (HDMI Audio/Video)

Sunfire Cinema Ribbon Trio On-Wall (5.1)

Sunfire True Subwoofer EQ Solitaire 10"
 
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#5 ·
Loved the original. I really wanted to see this because of it but never got the chance. Unfortunately it sounds like I should be thankful that I didn't spend the money on it.
 
#6 ·
Hey, Lee. I'm questioning your lack of LFE. We're (my girls and I) are watching this last right now on my family room system, which has a single Rythmik F12SE. To be fair, we're watching the blu-ray rip off of a HDD on my WDTV, so the DTS-MA soundtrack is downrezzed to the core DTS track. But my Rythmik is getting a very serious workout, and was close to bottoming out in at least 2 scenes. I'll try watching it in my theater at some point, using the disc in my Oppo BDP-83, where I've got quad subs (dual Epik Empires and Dual Rythmik F15s), and see how it sounds there. But I'm definitely getting a lot of LFE.


The scenes I remember the most LFE in were the troll fight on the bridge at the beginning; the 3 pigs blowing up Wolf's trailer and the following portion; and the final battle scene (not watching, just listening).


Anyway, just thought I'd throw that into the discussion. And FWIW, I like the first Hoodwinked better, but this isn't horrible; neither of them are up to par with Pixar and Dreamworks stuff, but it has its own charm.
 
#7 ·
Ill give those scenes another spin and report back.


Quote:
Originally Posted by schroedk /forum/post/20853411


Hey, Lee. I'm questioning your lack of LFE. We're (my girls and I) are watching this last right now on my family room system, which has a single Rythmik F12SE. To be fair, we're watching the blu-ray rip off of a HDD on my WDTV, so the DTS-MA soundtrack is downrezzed to the core DTS track. But my Rythmik is getting a very serious workout, and was close to bottoming out in at least 2 scenes. I'll try watching it in my theater at some point, using the disc in my Oppo BDP-83, where I've got quad subs (dual Epik Empires and Dual Rythmik F15s), and see how it sounds there. But I'm definitely getting a lot of LFE.


The scenes I remember the most LFE in were the troll fight on the bridge at the beginning; the 3 pigs blowing up Wolf's trailer and the following portion; and the final battle scene (not watching, just listening).


Anyway, just thought I'd throw that into the discussion. And FWIW, I like the first Hoodwinked better, but this isn't horrible; neither of them are up to par with Pixar and Dreamworks stuff, but it has its own charm.
 
#8 ·
Hey, Lee. I finally got around to checking the troll bridge scene and the 3 pigs blowing up the camper scene using the actual disc in my dedicated room (with 4 15" subs). I have to agree with you that the DTS-HD Master track must filter off the low end, since it definitely was not as impressive in the LFE department as when I listened to the BD rip on my WDTV with the DTS core with a single 15" sub. Since the DTS core was not a selectable option using my Oppo 83/Marantz AV7005 combo via HDMI, and I didn't want to switch over to an optical connection to force a down-rez, I think I'll just chalk it up to my above conclusion.


So, long story short, I agree with you that the DTS-HD Master had unimpressive LFE, but the DTS core seemed much better to me in this regard.
 
#9 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by schroedk /forum/post/20930252


Hey, Lee. I finally got around to checking the troll bridge scene and the 3 pigs blowing up the camper scene using the actual disc in my dedicated room (with 4 15" subs). I have to agree with you that the DTS-HD Master track must filter off the low end, since it definitely was not as impressive in the LFE department as when I listened to the BD rip on my WDTV with the DTS core with a single 15" sub. Since the DTS core was not a selectable option using my Oppo 83/Marantz AV7005 combo via HDMI, and I didn't want to switch over to an optical connection to force a down-rez, I think I'll just chalk it up to my above conclusion.


So, long story short, I agree with you that the DTS-HD Master had unimpressive LFE, but the DTS core seemed much better to me in this regard.

Good!



I lent it out and it has not come back, so I didn't get to re-check.


Thanks!
 
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