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Rodrigo Beltran
Professor Lewis
English 114B
February 25, 2014

Hoodwinked

You think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, but you do not. Nothing
is what is seems to be and no one is as we know them from the original story, everything
is turned upside-down, inside-out and has become a computer-animated comedy that at
last solves the crime behind the legend. We hear about how Red, Granny, The
Woodsman and the Wolf, all came together as criminal suspects in a case that was the
most exciting case in the woods at that time. With incredible storytelling, the filmmakers
Cory Leech, Todd Robertson, and Tony Leech bring to the screen a story for the young at
heart and everyone in between. Growing up I have read many fairy tales to learn about
the morals that society is trying to teach us. After reading most of the fairy tales I believe
that all have them have similar themes. The stories Thumbelina and The Ugly
Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen share the same moral that can be linked to the
movie and it can be tied down to the old clich, do not judge a book by its cover.
Hoodwinked begins at the end of the tale and then it goes back in time. It all
begins at Grannys house, which has become a crime scene and a feathered and furry
assortment of cops and detectives turn up. At first it looks like another open-and-shut
case where a woodsman; who, was assaulting a wolf who, was impersonating a granny,
and intending to eat a little girl. The charges included breaking and entering, intent to eat
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and wielding an axe without a license. But looks can be deceiving. Detective Nicky
Flippers, Police Chief Grizzly and fellow police officer Bill Stork question the slippery
suspects to hear their sides of the story and they discover each one has a completely
different, yet equally wild and woolly, story to tell.
Not only that, but it seems that this crime has ties to the unknown "Goody Bandit"
who has been ravaging the woods by stealing the valuable recipes that keep the forest
alive. None of the group is exactly what they seem, and each has their own deep, deep
secrets and crazy deceptions. The detective soon uncovers that the innocent Red as we
know her is extremely wise; she has been so wise that the big, bad Wolf has been terribly
misunderstood and another thing is that Granny has a secret life that no one could have
imagined. The insecure Woodsman, whose brawn just might outweigh, has some
surprising ambitions of his own, like trying to be a movie star. Also everybody would
think that the wolf would have been evil but actually the detective recognized him
because he was a reporter who was trying to find out who is the goody bandit. Nobody
would of thought that the detective Nicky Flippers would have been a disco dancer. After
the detective hearing everybodys stories he comes to the conclusion that the rabbit has to
be the goody bandit. Who would of ever thought that the rabbit could be so evil? We all
know that rabbits are so nice, but not this one. This rabbit was evil and very intelligent.
Every character in the movie deceived us all, each of them was the opposite of what they
look like.
The fairy tale Thumbelina by Hans Christian Andersen, is about a girl no bigger
than her mothers thumb, who feels all alone in the world knowing she is the only person
her size. Her wish of companionship at last comes true when the prince of the fairies
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arrives at her windowsill. However, the nave Thumbelinas life goes downward from
there when a toad kidnaps her so that she can marry the toads son. As she escaped on a
lily pad Thumbelina encountered many animals and went through different trials. As she
encountered beetles, who judged her by her appearance because they have not seen
someone like her and since she is different from they think she is ugly. She wonders off
to the forest and it is freezing. She ends up at Ms. Fields Mouse house where she is
welcomed to stay. Soon she has a visitor, which is a mole, but the mole is blind and after
being introduced to Thumbelina he hears her sing. After hearing Thumbelina sing the
mole believes that she is beautiful. After reading the story I believe that one theme can be
do not judge a person by their looks rather by their personality, which can also be
connected with, Hoodwinkeds moral because none of the characters seem what they look
like.
The fairy tale The Ugly duckling by Hans Christian Anderson is another story that
has a similar life message like Thumbelina and it can also be linked to Hoodwinkeds
concept of do not judge a book by its cover. In the fairy tale a swan, born into a family of
ducks, who is cast out of the pond because the ducks believe that such an ugly duckling
does not belong with them. The ducks rejected the poor swan because he was different
than them. Wherever he went the ugly duckling encountered animals that shun him for
the same reason. Upon encountering a group of elegant white birds, the ugly duckling
aspires one day be as beautiful as them. After a dreadfully cold and lonely winter, the
ugly duckling sees his reflection in the water and realizes that he was not a duck. After all
he grew to be the most beautiful swan in the pond. The swan was being judged by his
appearance, in which can intertwine with both Thumbelina and Hoodwinked because all
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of the characters were some how criticized by their looks and also share the similar life
lesson.
Overall, after reading both stories and seeing the movie Hoodwinked one can say
that most fairy tales share similar ideologies. Both of these stories correlate with the
movie Hoodwinked because they share the same ideology of dont judge a person on
their appearance, get to know the person first. Granny, Wolf, Red, Boing rabbit,
Kirk the woodsman, Thumbelina and the Ugly Duckling are all examples of
characters that were being misunderstood by their appearance. Dont judge a book
by its cover try to read the book the first.









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Works Cited
Andersen, Hans Christian. "SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Annotated Thumbelina."
SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Annotated Thumbelina. Zvi Har' El, 2007. Web. 2 Feb.
2014.
--- "SurLaLune Fairy Tales: SurLaLune Fairy Tales: The Annotated Ugly Duckling. Zvi
Har' El, 2007. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
Hoosdwinked! Dir. Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech. Per. Anne Hathaway,
Glenn Close, and James Belushi. The Weinstein Company, 2005. DVD.