Back at it again with the truth on retelling fairytales! Last week I decided to take on the task of figuring out what makes my two favorite animated movies good and bad. I realized that Happily N’ever After is a terrible movie, and Hoodwinked is a great one. If you want to read the first part of this series click here. It’s a good read, I promise. Now onto part two, where my reasons get a little weirder, but just as honest.
3. They both have Patrick Warburton
This is the weirdest point I have, but it’s a great one. So, as some of you may know, Patrick Warburton plays Lemony Snicket in Netflix’s Series of Unfortunate Events. He is in both of these movies, and when I found that out I was really blown away. I immediately realized that he played the wolf, and it’s a great role for him, honestly. The wolf is a rugged, mysterious, awesome character that Warburton was made for. In Happily N’ever After… he plays Prince Charming. Now, I have nothing against this except that Warburton has a voice that was made for intelligence, and let me tell you, the Prince is not smart. He’s a gosh darn idiot who almost dies and carries his horse up a mountain for absolutely no reason. When I finally read the cast members mentioned on the DVD, I had the hardest time figuring out who Warburton was supposed to be. I thought he might’ve been one of the wizards side-kicks, but their voices are too nasally. And then, when I finally watched the movie and I wasn’t looking at the screen when the Prince was talking, I was shook. It was a bad choice for poor Warburton to play that character.
4. You know who the villain is early on
This may seem weird because it is normal to know who a villain is pretty early on in a movie, but I have a point here. However, I will not spoil the villains because that’s rude. I will say that the villain in Happily N’ever After is introduced in the very first scene. You can probably guess who it is, honestly. And that’s the thing. If you’re going to remake Cinderella, why would you keep the storyline so much the same as the original? I know, they diverge drastically, but in this instance it just feels like lazy writing. The villain doesn’t even really have a backstory because they’re banking on the fact that we already know these characters so that they don’t need to be explained. It’s stupid. Plus, considering this is a kids movie, the villain is very… promiscuous in a weird way, and I don’t appreciate it because it’s just used to show how evil they are. Stupid. The villain in Hoodwinked is a surprise. However, if you pay attention to the movie, you get a sneaking suspicion very early on. It’s just the facial expression of one character, but it makes you question everything for the entire movie until it’s revealed that they are indeed the villain! I love it, if you couldn’t tell.
5. They both have sequels
I think there’s a biased way of thinking when it comes to movies that are only supposed to be one movie, not a sequel. When one-off movies come out with a sequel it’s assumed that the movie will be a lot worse than the original, and that’s usually the case. In Happily N’ever After 2, the story follows Snow White, and once again they really didn’t do all too much to change the storyline from the original. It’s supposed to come after the first movie, but the writing was so bad that the creators didn’t realize the huge hole in the timeline they set up for it. The dwarves already know Snow White in the first one, but in the second one they meet her for the first time. Bad writing. Also, the whole movie is just terrible. They chose different actors, and let me tell you, the acting is bad; and that’s really sad since it’s an animated movie. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is an amazing sequel. It continues to follow the storyline of Little Red, the Wolf, and Granny as they now all work together, and it shows how tough partnerships are. It’s honestly really moving, and the bad guy(s) is crazy, the reveal for that one is one of the funniest things ever. I highly recommend watching both of the Hoodwinked movies since they’re both on Netflix.
Next week I’ll finish up with my final reasons. Until then, find time to relax and watch some Netflix.