The latest entry in the wave of computer animated films started by Toy Story, Over The Hedge is a cute, if shallow film.
The plot centers on RJ (voiced by Bruce Willis) a raccoon who must gather a mound of food to replace what he was caught attempting to steal from Vincent (voiced by Nick Nolte) a Black Bear who is very, very cranky not only over the loss of his food but also over having been awoken a week early from his hibernation.
RJ’s quest to replace Vincent’s beloved “Spuddies” (read: Pringles) among other junk food and hard goods (Vincent’s demand that RJ replace his blue cooler and his little red wagon prime among them) leads the racoon to the primary source of junk food for any scavenging animal: the suburbs, suburbs that didn’t exist when Verne (a turtle, voiced by Gary Shandling) and his motley family consisting of Hammy (Steve Carell), a hyperactive squirrel (is there any other kind in animated films?), Stella (Wanda Sykes), a skunk with a body image problem, Ozzie (William Shatner) and Heather (Avril Lavigne), possum father and daughter who can’t agree on the value of “playing dead,” and Lou (Eugene Levy) and Penny (Catherine O’Hara), the mother and father head of a family of porcupines.
The suburb that is the target of RJ’s quest was built on the other side of the titular hedge while Verne and company were hibernating for the winter. Its existence, and the presence of the humans, houses, and all the things that we soft pink creatures bring with us is a shock to the cautious little turtle and his family of foragers.
The rest of the plot – RJ’s indoctrination of the foragers into the ways of humans and the joys of junk food, the lure of television, and everything the suburbs mean, and the animals unavoidable conflict with that worst of the soft pink ones: the suburban matron – is really immaterial. The theme of this film boils down to: the new vs. the old; the slick vs. the tried and tested; risk taking vs. cautious planning.
While Over The Hedge is not as nuanced as Shrek 2 or some of its predecessors, it’s still an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. For that, for a riotously funny sequence that begins with a dog who just wants to play, and for the unique way this film handles the inevitable “give the caffeine to the already hyped up squirrel” sequence, I’m giving this film 3 popcorns out of 5.
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