Redux Riding Hood

Plot synopsis:
5 years after his attempt to eat Red Riding Hood (Lacey Chabert) was thwarted by a passing Woodsman (Fabio), the Wolf (Michael Richards) has settled down with his wife (a sheep!) named Doris (Mia Farrow).However, his dreams are being plagued by remembrances of his failure, and it even begins to interfere with his everyday life. Doris attempts to help him calm down, but nothing seems to help. Sadly, she even has second thoughts about having married the wolf, remembering how a nerdish fox named Leonard (Adam West) wanted to marry her after high school, promising to make her happy. However, Doris was enthralled by the Wolf instead, and turned down Leonard's proposal.Doris tells the Wolf that he needs to find a way to move on, and Leonard then spends two days building a time machine. Telling Doris that this will solve his problems, he goes back in time, and has his past self help him. With the main Wolf in bed, the past Wolf takes down the Woodsman when he shows up, and it seems the two have succeeded...until Grandma emerges from the nearby closet, which just happned to be her 'ammo closet.'After the two wolves are chased out of the house by gunfire, they return to the present day. Doris tells the two that maybe they aren't meant to get Red Riding Hood. However, the two decide that they just need to try again.Going back in time, the two get the past wolf (making the group of 3) to help them. It looks like they have taken care of the Woodsman and keeping Grandma from getting to the ammo, when the lead Wolf joyously tells Red to scream all she wants. Red takes a deep breath, and her scream shatters all the windows, and the glass on an 'in case of fire' box. This causes numerous, faceless firemen to appear, blasting the wolves out of the house with their high-pressure water hoses.The group of three wolves returns to the present, and attempt to hatch a new plan, with Doris once again asking them to forget about it.As expected, they go back in time, but something else happens. Each time they fail, they bring another past wolf back to the present, to formulate what went wrong. Each time they think they've compensated for all possibilities something else goes wrong. At one point, police show up. Another time, Grandma runs them out of her home in a tank, and at one point, a nuclear explosion decimates the house.Doris quietly serves multiple cups of coffee to the wolves, but suddenly vanishes with the time machine.Taking it back in time, she appears before Leonard Fox, and this time, accepts his proposal.In the end, Doris lives happily ever after with Leonard, while the numerous wolves still keep bickering and arguing about their past failures, leaving the main Wolf (who brought this on himself), to quietly call himself a 'moron.'

Tags: psychedelic, flashback

Review:
Great take on the Red Riding Hood fairy tale, courtesy of Disney. This short was most deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead: This is the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale on steroids, with a nod or two to Looney Toons and Tex Avery. It tells the aftermath of the wolf's attempt to eat Red. The Wolf has obsessed over his failure ever since, much to the dismay of his long-suffering wife (a sheep named Doris). Most of the short is taken up by the Wolf using a time machine to try to change the outcome.The ensuing unfolding disaster is hilarious, with each succeeding iteration upping the ante on the poor Wolf's lousy hand in life. Needless to say, the Wolf's attempts fall flat, because he's essentially incompetent and it isn't his story. His life falls apart because he can't just let things go and get on with his life.The voice work is great, with Michael Richards and Mia Farrow doing excellent work as the Wolf and Doris, Fabio a scream as the Woodsman ("bunny rabbit") and June Foray priceless as Grandma. Lacey Chabert is unrecognizable as Red.It's too bad that Disney hasn't chosen to release this on DVD. It's well worth the time and effort to find and watch. Most recommended.. I saw Redux Riding Hood - My review. I Saw Redux Red Riding Hood when it was screened in NYC in 1997 at SVA, the very last 2 minutes were unfinished back then though, it was the most funniest cartoon I've ever seen to this day, So Edgey, quick and funny, Fabio is in it as the woodsman, the best, he runs in to save the day and his perfect hair never moves, just sits there on his head frozen in perfectness! The Wolf is sick of being a loser and cant stand his wife and goes back in time using a machine he built to correct his mistake and get Red! Best toon follow up ever! I'm talking ground breaking writing and cool animation style, I cant stand that no one has posted it that I can find, I would love to show it to my students. If ANYONE should ever find it, please email me from my web site at www dot beyondcomics dot TV (replace the dot with a .) thanks. G-