Over the Hedge

Rating

Director

Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick

Screenplay

Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, Karey Kirkpatrick, Michael Fry, T. Lewis

Length

83 min.

Starring

Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, Allison Janney, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Avril Lavigne, Omid Djalili

MPAA Rating

PG (For some rude humor and mild comic action)

Review

Churning out a dozen computer animated projects a year, production companies have begun relying heavily on the medium to prop up its box office. With such a trend comes an obvious erosion of quality that has characterized most of this year’s productions. One of the minor exceptions to this trend is DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge,a simple comedy about the encroachment of human civilization on the forest and how its denizens must adapt.

The impetus for this story is a frustrated raccoon named RJ (Bruce Willis) who, in his hunger, attempted to steal food from the maniacal bear Vincent (Nick Nolte). In the ensuing conflict, Vincent’s entire winter’s stash is decimated by a semi. RJ must replace everything lost before the full moon or RJ will become the food.

Wandering about trying to decide how to proceed, RJ uncovers a group of gathering animals whose home has been isolated into a small tract of land cut off from the rest of the forest by a massive development that popped up over the winter. He uses them to secretly help recuperate the losses in the guise of helping them forage for the next winter.

As is wont to happen in these kinds of situations, RJ’s lies soon begin to backfire on him and reveal him for the phony he is.

Over the Hedge features a stereotypical array of animal characters whose originality is steeped in the vocal talents of their portrayers. Garry Shandling tones down his typical self-centered neuroticism to voice the patriarchal Verne, a turtle whose tail tingles when bad things are happening. He and RJ are the only lead characters in the production, the rest relegated to bit parts that, while humorous serve only niche segments of the plot.

The most memorable of the characters is the hyperactive squirrel Hammy (Steve Carell). Carell’s vocal talents are perfect, and after hearing him here, I realize that it’s his physical humor that frustrates me. No one in the pic fails to stand out. William Shatner fits the role of the overly-dramatic play-dead possum well and Wanda Sykes is captivating as the malcontent skunk Stella (and no, the film can’t avoid the clichéd howl).

Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara are, as always, in the background as loving porcupine parents. Still, their distinctive vocal styles are easily recognized. Even the frustratingly timeworn villain played by Nick Nolte can be identified. There is no stretch of talent here and there is no stretch of originality.

Nonetheless, Over the Hedge is a great deal of fun and rarely stops in its parody of humanity. One particularly outstanding segment involves RJ describing the human obsession with food. Explaining to his compeers how human lives revolve around food, brings to the forefront a staggeringly succinct appraisal of Homo sapiens. It just goes to show that there are still aspects of society that deserve ridicule.

Rarely does animation branch out and tackle overly political topics. The main reason is that the target demographic for this type of filmmaking is children. Nevertheless, adults are a byproduct target of the genre, often having to accompany their kids to the movies. Thus it is that most animated films must provide material for adults to digest. Over the Hedge has a great deal of humor that adults can respond to as long as they retain their child-at-heart. There isn’t much of a social commentary here but one can easily enjoy the fun and diversion that the film has to offer.

Review Written

September 15, 2006