Here it is, the conclusion you’ve all been waiting for. These are my last two reasons why Hoodwinked and Happily N’ever After are basically the same movie, but Hoodwinked is about a billion times better. Thank you for sticking with me through this journey; this has been my favorite topic to write about.
6. They both try really hard to be funny
Obviously, both of these movies are meant to be part comedy, but where Hoodwinked succeeds, Happily N’ever After drastically fails. I think it all comes down to who is telling the jokes. In Happily N’ever After, it’s mostly the sidekicks, Munk and Mambo, who do the joking. Okay, it’s mostly Mambo, and he’s not very good at it. The best joke I think he gives is when he’s flipping through the fairytales and lands on Sleeping Beauty. He says “Someone get her a double espresso, please, and get me a triple.” The rest of his jokes, and really all of the jokes in the movie, are making fun of people. Mambo makes fun of Munk, the villain, and the fairy godmother. Actually, I take it back; the funniest joke in the movie is when the fairy godmother calls Cinderella “Mozzarella.” Comedy gold, right there. Other than that, the jokes are weird, ill-timed, and just not funny.
I think the majority of the jokes in Hoodwinked are a success because they mostly come from the Wolf in the form of a sassy answer. Like when he says “you’re right, I’m actually a poodle” in that dry tone, I just about die laughing. And one other joke that is just really funny is when the police chief says, “This guy’s a loon.” and his bird partner says, “Watch it chief, my mama’s half-loon” and for some reason, all of the jokes are just told in this great kind of voice/tone. It’s perfect for me because I absolutely love dry humor, but honestly, the jokes were just thought through really well. I’m impressed with how much I love them, honestly.
7. They both say the title during the movie/break the fourth wall
This is a very good point, as I will explain, and it’s a good one to end on as well. Usually, movies that mention their own title are mocked because it’s never timed well, and you can tell they’re forcing it to try to be funny and give a nod to the audience. Happily N’ever After is mentioned in the first minute I think, by the villain. It’s not necessarily a bad moment, it’s just very dramatized. They’re just yelling it to an audience, there’s no better way to introduce a story, am I right? Except the villain isn’t the one introducing us to the story, and right after they say it, the narrator cuts in and asks for happier music. First off, if you’re going to break the fourth wall, as Happily N’ever After attempts to do, try to do it well. Also, the only time the narrator breaks the fourth wall is in the beginning, and that’s only to introduce the story and the characters and to push the love story between him and Cinderella really reeallllyy early in the movie before the audience knows anything about the characters at all.
Now, Hoodwinked is also said by the villain, but it’s during their musical number, and it’s incredibly comical. Plus, in a mystery movie, it’s much easier to make the word hoodwinked sound realistic. Instead of trying to force a fourth-wall break, they just have the villain stare into the camera (a.k.a. Red’s eyes) and sing “You’ve been hoodwinked, baby!” at the end of their song. It’s perfectly timed, and it’s actually a well-placed nod to the audience who has already watched basically the entire movie. Plus, if the audience is just finding out along with Red that this character is the bad guy, then they really can tell us that we’ve been hoodwinked because we didn’t believe it was them until their well-choreographed musical number (if you’ve seen the movie, you get why I say that).
As my three-part essay comes to a close, I’m sure I’ve persuaded you to – if not watch Hoodwinked – at least believe that it is better than the trash that is Happily N’ever After. If you want to fight me on this, follow me on Instagram (shameless plug: @bookworm4399). Until next time, friends!