DVD Release Date: August 16, 2011  
Theatrical Release Date: April 29, 2011
Rating: PG (for some mild rude humor, language and action)
Genre: Comedy, Animation, Family
Run Time: 88 min.
Director: Mike Disa
Actors: Voices of Hayden Panettiere, Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton, Joan Cusack, Cheech Marin, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Cory Edwards, David Ogden Stiers

For the animated-film audience, it always seems to be feast or famine.

Through the 1980s and ’90s, Disney would open its latest animated movie head-to-head against another animated title. That business tactic was ruthless but effective: Disney’s films were usually superior, and given a choice, audiences flocked to films with the Disney brand over those from lesser-known competitors like Don Bluth (All Dogs Go to Heaven, An American Tail).

It was a turf war, with the well-established Disney trying to knock off any potential rivals before they could establish a foothold in catering to the same audience. With animated films costly to make, Disney knew that an expensive failure had the potential to sink a studio. But that didn’t stop potential competitors from churning out animated films, hoping to reap the significant upside to a successful animated family film being a huge theatrical, home-video and other ancillary profits for years.

As studios found success in the animation game, family-friendly films began to proliferate—and so did the release dates. No longer did such films open only on select summer or holiday weekends. Instead, studios began to spread their titles across the calendar as they discovered that the intended audience could turn well-made films into huge hits at any point during the calendar year.

That strategy is evident again in 2011. Rango scored with audiences earlier in the year, and with Easter just behind us and spring break rolling out around the country, audiences have turned out for the latest animated offerings of Rio and Hop. Now The Weinstein Company is betting there’s enough demand for another animated title to join those recent releases: Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil.

An all-star cast lends its voices to this sequel to writer/director Cory Edwards’ 2005 surprising success story, Hoodwinked, which extended the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The film rode a wave of Shrek-powered goodwill toward stories that updated and winked at classic fairy tales. But three Shrek movies later, has that type of story run its course?

This time, Mike Disa has taken over as director, while Edwards is credited as co-writer of the script. He also still lends his voice to the character of Twitchy, the over-caffeinated squirrel from the first Hoodwinked and one of a number of returning characters for the sequel.