Check Out the Trailer

For the most part, DreamWorks animated features have been well animated and fun films, if not a bit disposable at times. OVER THE HEDGE keeps with that tradition.

RJ (Bruce Willis, LOOK WHO’S TALKING) is a raccoon who accidentally destroys Vincent the bear’s stash of food while in the process of trying to steal it. In the process, RJ wakes Vincent (Nick Nolte, THE HULK) from his hibernation. Vincent wants to kill RJ, however when the raccoon promises to replace at the food, the burly bear only gives him till the full moon to accomplish the task, which is about a week.

Verne the turtle (Garry Shandling, IT’S THE GARRY SHANDLING SHOW) has just awoken from hibernation with his family of various animals, which includes hyped-up squirrel Hammy (Steve Carell, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE), skunk Stella (Wanda Sykes, MONSTER-IN-LAW), older, dramatic possum Ozzie (William Shatner, STAR TREK), Ozzie’s teenage daughter Heather (singer Avril Lavigne), Canadian porcupine couple Lou (Eugene Levy, AMERICAN PIE) and Penny (Catherine O’Hara, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN) and their three tech savvy sons Bucky (Sami Kirkpatrick), Spike (Shane Baumel, THE ANT BULLY) and Quillo (Madison Davenport). The mixed family of animals discovers that while they were asleep a huge strange object that stretches as far as the eye can see has popped up in their forest.

RJ shows up and explains to them that it is a hedge and that on the other side is suburbia where they can find all the food they could ever need. With the other animals help, RJ plans to collect everything that he owes Vincent in no time. However, Verne is reluctant to take risks and Gladys (Allison Janney, TV’s WEST WING), the president of the home owners’ association, hates anything that puts her perfect world out of place and hires Dwayne (Thomas Haden Church, SIDEWAYS) to kill the vermin.

The core story about family is sappy at times and predictable, but I liked the sly digs at suburban life. The characterizations are fun and the voice casting is perfect. Willis is a very good voice actor and brings the right tone to RJ. The same can be said of Shandling’s work as Verne, who admits that he is so cautious that there are places in his shell he still hasn’t gone. It was stroke of genius to cast Nick Nolte as a bear and Shatner as a possum that performs over-dramatic death scenes. Additionally, Carell makes the hyper Hammy irresistibly likable. The scene where Hammy drinks caffeine for the first time is hilarious because it plays out in a way that wasn’t expected.

All the animal character designs are appealing, however Gladys is pretty awful. But in some way her hideous design matches her character. The animators bring great performances to their creations. Always fun and often funny, OVER THE HEDGE really does fit the bill as solid family entertainment, containing enough for both adults and kids to enjoy.

As a side note, DreamWorks head Jeffery Katzenberg recently said the company was adding another year of development to their features because in the past some films’ stories suffered from being rushed. With more time, I would have liked to see if the suburban satire could have been sharper and the family theme less preachy and on-the-nose. Nonetheless, this is still good popcorn entertainment that succeeds by putting compelling characters at its center instead of just trying to copy the style of DreamWorks’ mega-hit SHREK.