Despite its aspirations, "Hoodwinked" lacks the comprehensive world-building of "Shrek" and the heart of "The Incredibles." Its chaotic, rather incoherent action translates into a raw, gleeful energy that's so infectious and loony, kids will flash gap-toothed grins while wondering what the heck is going on.

The collaborative effort of writer/directors Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech ambitiously attempts to retell the Red Riding Hood folk tale "Rashomon"-style. Taking a bit of license with the timeworn story, all the four principal players at Grandma's house -- Red, Granny, the Wolf and the Woodsman -- are taken in for questioning regarding a rash of recipes stolen by the "Goody Bandit."

The freshman filmmakers make a few crucial missteps when it comes to their young audience. The premise about nabbed recipes is hardly compelling, and the four stories told by each of the characters will require some clarification by parents to explain how they're parallel accounts of the same event.

The most lamentable fault, however, is that the personality-challenged Red (voiced by "Princess Diaries'" Anne Hathaway) is supposed to be the protagonist, but is upstaged by every single creature/person on screen. She's given generic spunk, ho-hum martial arts moves and a boring identity crisis -- all token, but unsuccessful attempts to inflate the flat character into three dimensions. And she's not even cute. Red's big eyes try to capitalize on the Western appreciation of anime characters but only succeeds in making her appear bug-eyed. Her design is clunky at best, and the few times she appears sans her signature hood is just wrong.

Granny (Glenn Close) is marginally better. Although she leads an intriguing double life as an extreme sports competitor, her strained, hip-hop lingo is anything but cool. Note to all screenwriters: Snoop Dogg has had his day, so please let "fo' shizzle" rest.

The forest critters save the film with their silly, colorful personalities and voices to match. The Wolf ("The Tick's" Patrick Warburton) is a too-cool-for-school investigative reporter who fancies himself a master of disguise -- literally donning sheep's clothing to meet a mutton-headed informant in a meadow. There's also The Wolf's hyper squirrel sidekick Twitchy and the strange, dandified detective Nicky Flippers.

My favorite character by far is just so random and screwy, he's inspired. Japeth the mountain goat (Benjy Gaither) has been cursed by a witch so he can only sing, not talk. Like a badge-wearing Boy Scout, he's always prepared thanks to his interchangeable horns. He doesn't have a real function in the film, except to entertain, but that's enough.

The catchy, eclectic soundtrack isn't half bad and ranges from the bluesy "Red Is Blue" and bubble gum "Schnitzel Song" to the rap/hip-hop "Living Like a Bandit" and "The Real G." Todd Edwards wrote nine of the songs, one of which he performed in the film as a woodchuck.

Overall, this first effort by Kanbar Animation is a good start at happily ever after even though it's sometimes too pleased by its own cleverness and not clever enough at pleasing its young audience.