Hoodwinked Too: Hood VS Evil review

Hoodwinked Too: Hood VS Evil

*** (out of four)

Includes the voices of Hayden Panettiere, Patrick Warburton, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Joan Cusack, David Ogden Stiers and Cory Edwards. Directed by Mike Disa. Approximately 85 minutes. Playing in major theaters. Rated G.

About five years ago, an animated comedy called ``Hoodwinked''. It was a detective story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. It was pretty funny when I saw it. It included the voices of Anne Hathaway as Little Red Riding Hood and Patrick Warburton as the Big Bad Wolf.

Now, it's 2011 and Anne Hathaway is not playing Little Red Riding Hood anymore. It is Hayden Panettiere from the TV show ``Heroes''. Patrick Warburton is still the Big Bad Wolf. When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I didn't laugh once. It looked like one of the worst movies ever. Still, when I'd heard it had gotten a two and a half out of four in the Toronto Star, I thought I'd give it a chance.

Well, I'm glad I gave it a chance. I laughed quite a bit during the film. There might have been a few too many sentimental messages in the film, but I still enjoyed it a lot.

So, the plot of the movie is Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf and a squirrell named Twitchy (Cory Edwards) trying to save Hansel and Gretel (Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) from an evil witch named Verushka. The evil witch wishes for a recipe for a chocolate truffle that will make you powerful and she kidnaps Little Red Riding Hood's butt-kicking granny (Glenn Close) so she can make the truffle.

In my opinion, I think that this is a movie that kids will adore because it has humor that will probably appeal to them. Also, I think that the adults might enjoy some of the humor in it, too. Anyways, my point is that ``Hoodwinked Too: Hood VS Evil'' is a good movie and I think it's worth seeing.

Rio review

Rio

*** (out of four)

Includes the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Tracy Morgan, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, Will.iam and Jamie Foxx. Directed by Carlos Saldanha. Approximately 96 minutes. Playing at major theaters. Rated G.

Back in June, I had seen a trailer for an upcoming animated film called ``Rio''. From what I saw of the trailer, I thought it looked pretty lame. Then, when December came around, I saw a different trailer for it. Was I satisfied? Nope. When March came around, I saw another trailer for it. Again, I was not satisfied.

When April came around, I read the reviews for ``Rio'' and they were pretty positive. The Globe and Mail had given it two and a half out of four. The Toronto Star had given it three out of four. I was okay with those reviews. I decided to give the film a try. This was sort of the case with two other animated movies I had seen in 2011. They were ``Rango'' and ``Mars Needs Moms''. In my opinion, both of them looked terrible. Yet, I still saw them. They were pretty good.

So, I should probably explain the plot of ``Rio'' to you readers. Okay, so really it's about a bird who can't fly named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) who was born in Rio De Janeiro, but kidnapped by poachers as a baby. He's taken through Minnesota in a truck, but the crate he's in falls out of the back of the truck. He is found by a little girl named Linda (voiced as an adult by Leslie Mann) and is taken care of by her.

Fast forward 15 years later and Linda is a bookstore owner. One day, an ornithologist named Tulio comes into her shop and tells her that Blu is the last male of his kind and that in order to prevent his species from becoming extinct, he must mate with another bird of his kind named Jewel (Anne Hathaway).

So, Tulio, Linda and Blu travel to Rio De Janeiro so Blu can meet Jewel. However, along the way, Blu and Jewel are kidnapped by some poachers who have a bird companion named Nigel (Jemaine Clement).

Jewel and Blu escape from the poachers and try and find Linda. Along the way, Blu tries to learn how to fly and meets some other animals such as a Toco Toucan named Rafael (George Lopez), a Cardinal named Pedro (Will.iam), a bulldog named Luiz (Tracy Morgan) and a Canary named Nico (Jamie Foxx).

The animation in this movie, in my opinion, is beautiful. I know that Rio De Janeiro is a place with a lot of slums, but the animation in this film makes it look beautiful. There is one scene where they circle the Christ the Redeemer statue and it looks absolutely beautiful. Plus, some of the writing is pretty funny. I really enjoyed the bulldog Luiz who has a medical condition that makes him drool all the time. This is a great movie for kids and I think that adults will enjoy it, too.

Movies Coming Out On September 30th, 2011.

Anonymous

Dream House

50/50

What's Your Number

Courageous

Movies Coming Out On September 23rd, 2011.

Abduction

Dolphin Tale

Moneyball

Movies Coming Out On September 16th, 2011.

Drive

Straw Dogs

Johnny English Reborn

I Don't Know How She Does It

Movies Coming Out On September 9th, 2011.

Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star

Warrior

Movies Coming Out On September 2nd, 2011.

Shark Night 3D

Colombiana

Movies Coming Out On August 26th, 2011.

Don't Be Afraid Of the Dark

Final Destination 5

My Idiot Brother

Movies Coming Out On August 19th, 2011.

Spy Kids 4: All the Time In the World

Conan the Barbarian

Fright Night

Movies Coming Out On August 12th, 2011.

The Help

30 Minutes Or Less

Movies Coming Out On August 5th, 2011.

Rise Of the Planet Of the Apes

The Change-Up

Movies Coming Out On July 29th, 2011.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Cowboys & Aliens

The Smurfs

Movies Coming Out On July 22nd, 2011.

Another Earth

Captain America: The First Avenger

Friends With Benefits

Movies Coming Out On July 15th, 2011.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Winnie the Pooh

Movies Coming Out On July 8th, 2011.

Horrible Bosses

One Day

Zookeeper

Movies Coming Out On July 1st, 2011.

Transformers: Dark Of the Moon

Monte Carlo

Larry Crowne

The Perfect Host

Movies Coming Out On June 24th, 2011.

Bad Teacher

Cars 2

A Better Life

Movies Coming Out On June 17th, 2011.

The Green Lantern

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Homework

Movies Coming Out On June 10th, 2011.

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer

Super 8

Movies Coming Out On June 3rd, 2011.

X-Men: First Class

Beginners

Movies Coming Out On May 27th, 2011.

The Tree Of Life

Movies Coming Out On May 26th, 2011.

Kung Fu Panda 2

The Hangover: Part II

Movies Coming Out On May 20th, 2011.

Midnight In Paris

The Beaver

The Lion Of Judah

The Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Movies Coming Out On May 13th, 2011.

Bridesmaids

Priest

Movies Coming Out On May 6th, 2011.

Thor

Something Borrowed

Jumping the Broom

Mother's Day

Top 10 Movies In Canada (Third Week Of April)

1. Rio

Total gross: $40.0M

2. Scream 4

Total gross: $19.3M

3. Hop

Total gross: $82.6M

4. Soul Surfer

Total gross: $20.0M

5. Hanna

Total gross: $23.3M

6. Arthur

Total gross: $22.4M

7. Insidious

Total gross: $36.0M

8. Soul Surfer

Total gross: $37.0M

9. The Conspirator

Total gross: $3.9M

10. Your Highness

Total gross: $16.0M

Top 10 Movies In Canada (Third Week Of April)

1. Hop

Total gross: $68.15M

2. Arthur

Total gross: $12.61M

3. Hanna

Total gross: $12.32M

4. Soul Surfer

Total gross: $11.1M

5. Insidious

Total gross: $27.1M

6. Your Highness

Total gross: $9.52M

7. Source Code

Total gross: $28.62M

8. Limitless

Total gross: $64.38M

9. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Total gross: $45.46M

10. The Lincoln Lawyer

Total gross: $46.45M

Top 10 Movies In Canada (Second Week Of April)

1. Hop

Total gross: $38.19M

2. Source Code

Total gross: $15.05M

3. Insidious

Total gross: $13.5M

4. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Total gross: $38.36M

5. Limitless

Total gross: $55.6M

6. The Lincoln Lawyer

Total gross: $39.64M

7. Sucker Punch

Total gross: $29.88M

8. Rango

Total gross: $113.78M

9. Paul

Total gross: $31.93M

10. Battle: Los Angeles

Total gross: $78.47M

Hop movie review

Hop

** 1/2 (out of four)

Starring James Marsden, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Kaley Cuoco and including the voices of Russell Brand, Hugh Laurie and Hank Azaria. Directed by Tim Hill. Approximately 95 minutes. Rated G.

Quite a while ago, I saw a trailer for this new animated movie called ``Hop''. I didn't really know what it was about. In the trailer, it just shows a bunny playing ``Song 2'' by Blur. I read what it was about. It was about the Easter Bunny (Russell Brand) and he gets hit by a car and the driver, Fred (James Marsden), has to take care of him. Then, I saw another trailer online for it months later. I wasn't sure what to think of the look of it. It didn't look like the greatest movie.

But, a month later, I saw another trailer for the movie and I have to say, it was a better trailer than the other one. So, on April 2nd, 2011, I went to a 2:20 showing of the movie. When I walked in, the theater was packed. I took my seat and watched the 95 minute kids comedy. When I walked out of the theater, I thought my experience of seeing ``Hop'' was satisfactory.

So, really the plot of the movie is that the present Easter Bunny (Hugh Laurie) wants his son (Russell Brand) to become the Easter Bunny. However, the son wants to be a drummer, not the Easter Bunny. So, he runs away from home and travels to Hollywood to pursue his dream. However, he gets hit by a car. The driver Fred (James Marsden) is a slacker who lives with his parents and has no job. When he was a kid, he saw the Easter Bunny, but no one believed him. He is supposed to be housesitting for this really rich guy and he decides to take car of the rabbit, but he turns out to be a terrible guest. He overflows a jacuzzi and trashes a fancy room. Fred tries to get rid of him, but when he finds out who he actually is, he starts to like him a bit more. Then, when he finds out that the rabbit doesn't want the job of being the Easter Bunny, Fred gets an idea: He can be the Easter Bunny.

Meanwhile, back at the home of the Easter Bunny, a grumpy Easter Chick named Carlos (Hank Azaria) is wanting to get rid of all the rabbits and become the Easter Bunny and all the other Easter Chicks will be in charge of Easter.

In the ads for this movie, they say: From the creators of ``Despicable Me''. This movie is not as good as ``Despicable Me''. In ``Despicable Me'', the super-villain Gru was not a very nice guy, but he was still funny. Yet, in ``Hop'', the Easter Bunny's son is annoying, irresponsible and he doesn't get as many laughs from me as much as I did from Gru.

Fred isn't too likable, either. He is pretty irresponsible. He can't get a job and he doesn't seem to think any job is good enough for him. Also, he lives with his parents.

The best part of the movie is Carlos and his companion Phil (also voiced by Hank Azaria). They are funny. Carlos is the bad guy, but he's funny and Phil is kind and funny. Everyone else is only okay.

But this may not be the movie for older kids and adults. If you are a really little kid, you will probably think this is the greatest film ever. In the theater, there were a lot of kids and they seemed to be loving it. In one scene, the song ``I Want Candy'' is played and there was one kid who was dancing to it. Also, after the scene was over, one kid said, ``I want candy!''

So, if you are a pre-teen, teenager or an adult, this will probably not be the best movie for you. But if you are a little kid that is 5 or 6 years old, it is most likely that you will like this movie a lot.