Over the Hedge

Review by Jason Donner

It never ceases to amaze me. Just when I get on a rage about Hollywood making animated movies out of a bunch of pop culture references and interchangeable and dated gags, one of the biggest offenders - the people behind Shark Tale and the Shrek movies - go and make a simple animated tale out of a cute story with little or no pop culture. This is the kind of stuff that kids will be watching in ten years, this is the kind of stuff that will hold up.

It's Over the Hedge, a big screen CGI update of a pretty cute comic strip revolving around suburban encroachment into the habitat of a bunch of little talking woodland creatures.

In the movie version of the comic strip, RJ the Raccoon is a con-man of sorts and after he tries to steal and accidentally destroys the food stash of a grumpy hibernating bear. So, the bear gives RJ a choice: get the food back in one week or get eaten.

Meanwhile, Vern the Turtle and his friends wake up from their hibernation to discover that their wilderness has suddenly found itself smack dab in the middle of suburban America and their native food supply is no more.

So what's a group of animals that wants to gather food and a lone raccoon con-man... uh... con-raccoon who needs to gather food to do? Naturally, the con is on. RJ shows the naive woodland creatures the joys of eating complete garbage with all intentions of swindling the poor stupid animals out of their hard earned gatherings.

But what are these new feelings that RJ suddenly develops for this strange new family he's found himself in? How will the little woodland animals survive community life... when the community leader calls in the exterminator? How in the hell did I enjoy a non-Pixar animated movie this much?

The thing about Over the Hedge... it starts out cute and funny at the beginning, stays cute and funny through the middle and, at the end, becomes completely knee-slapping hilarious.

Over the Hedge is the kind of movie that you think that studios have forgotten to make. It's light-hearted, it's got a simple story, and it's not going to be stupidly dated in five years. It's a God-send!

The voice acting is great too. Back when I suffered through The Wild I remarked about what a great voice actor William Shatner is and he does it again in this movie with warmth and even a little jolly horseplay making fun of his own rampant overacting.

But everyone's great! Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Wanda Sykes, Thomas Hayden Church, and even Nick Nolte... there's not a person in this movie that did a half-assed job. Special super-props go out of Steve Carrell because I think Hammy is probably the funniest animated character I've seen in years.

I loved it. Cute, funny, and the story has just enough maniac energy and sweetness to get it through the first hour before things really get going for the impressive final act. By all means, see this movie now!