Several new animated movies are released each year, some of which are much better than others. I still tend to enjoy most animated movies so I end up seeing most of the new animated movies at some point. I thought that Over the Hedge looked like it would be cute from the trailers I saw.
RJ the racoon was driven by his hunger to raid the food stash of Vincent, a hibernating bear. RJ was almost out of the cave when Vincent woke up. Things didn’t go well and the food was lost, which made Vincent very unhappy. RJ said that he could replace the food in a week to save his life and headed off to a housing development. In a small wooded area in the middle of the development, several animals were waking up from their hibernation. The animals were looking to Verne, a turtle, for guidance when they realized that most of the woods were gone. Verne went through the hedge and ended up in several dangerous situations in the development. RJ saw the animals and decided that he could use them to gather all the food he needed to repay Vincent and set out to convince them to venture over the hedge.
Over the Hedge had a fairly simple and straightforward plot, something that many animated movies have in common. Some animated movies end up having weaker plots than others. Pixar has excelled at making animated movies that also had strong plots. The movie did have a good idea for the plot. It seemed like it could have been handled a little bit better. Any opportunities for surprises were eliminated in this movie because it was very predictable. I did enjoy the movie and thought it was entertaining. It just sort of felt like the story needed a little more development. The movie was missing something that I think keeps it from being a truly great animated movie. It didn’t have any heart like the better Disney animated movies and the Pixar movies have had. There was an attempt to put in a message about families sticking together but it seemed like it was only added to meet some list of plot points the writers thought they needed to hit. That aspect probably would have worked better if the characters had been developed a bit more.
Over the Hedge did have several funny moments that made me laugh throughout the movie. There were a few jokes that relied on gross humor, like when Hammy the squirrel said he could burp the alphabet and then proceeded to demonstrate. There were a few bathroom related jokes, as well as a few jokes related to Stella the skunk stinking out an area. Those jokes were funny and worked in the movie. A couple of the jokes were a tad racy for a movie aimed at children, though the racy parts probably went over the heads of the children in the theater. Several sequences included slap stick type humor which might get old for some parents. I thought it worked for this movie. The movie was silly in places, usually in relation to something that Hammy was doing. I expected the silliness before seeing the movie and I wasn’t bothered by it. The movie moved along at a fast pace, racing from joke to joke.
The animals were shocked when they woke up and discovered that most of the woods were gone. That was going to seriously impact their food supply and how they would be able to gather enough food for the next winter. Verne was trying to keep everyone calm when RJ arrived and started talking about all the food they could find on the other side of the hedge. RJ claimed they could gather enough food in only a week and offered to help them. He didn’t bother to clue the others in that he needed the food to pay back Vincent so they wouldn’t really be gathering food for the winter. All of the animals except for Verne were dazzled by RJ and the food available on the other side of the hedge. The animals seemed to be having fun racing around stealing food. Humans, Gladys in particular, were made out to be the villains of the movie because they didn’t want wild animals rummaging through the trash or invading their homes. Gladys was obsessed with having everything in the development perfect and she did go overboard in the way she was going to deal with the animals. She called in an exterminator and made it clear she wanted all the animals dead. That part of the movie might be a bit upsetting to some children.
Over the Hedge is the newest computer animated movie released by Dreamworks. The studio has released many very successful animated movies. I have seen and enjoyed most of them, though I don’t love them as much as many people do. Too often it seems like Dreamworks has rushed to get a movie out by a certain time which has made the animation and even the plots of some of the movies suffer. Shark Tale had several things that bothered me even though I enjoyed it overall. It will never be one of my favorite animated movies. Madagascar was only slightly better in my opinion. I did like Over the Hedge better than those two movies. Dreamworks has made some entertaining animated movies. I just don’t think they are as good as the best of Disney or Pixar - and yes that includes the Shrek movies. Some of the ads for Over the Hedge have been calling it the best animated movie since Shrek. I don’t agree with that at all. Just from this year, I think Ice Age: The Meltdown and The Wild are better animated movies. Over the Hedge was entertaining but it was not up to the level of Finding Nemo or The Incredibles.
Well done computer animation can be stunningly beautiful, as Pixar has shown in several of their movies. Dreamworks has been able to do some very good computer animation. It just hasn’t been quite as good as what Pixar has accomplished. The computer animation in Over the Hedge was well done. The animals did look and move realistically and the backgrounds looked good. The people looked a little strange and the movements for them looked jerky at times. Individual hairs were visible on some of the animals, like RJ, though the hairs didn’t move that much. The hairs and even the grass seemed to stay in place for the majority of the movie. The movement of individual hairs was amazing in Monsters, Inc. from Pixar. I don’t think that any computer animated movie from any other studio has done as well with animating the movement of hairs. Pixar continues to strive to improve computer animation in each of their movies. It doesn’t look like Dreamworks has been trying to do the same thing. Since Shrek 2, it sort of seems like Dreamworks hasn’t been putting the same time and care into their animation.
RJ was the first character introduced in Over the Hedge. His stealing food from Vincent the bear set the rest of the movie in motion since he was desperate to replace the food. RJ was deceitful throughout the movie, not sharing his true motives for helping the others gather the food. That did make it harder to like him, at least for me. He did eventually show some redeeming qualities. Bruce Willis provided the voice for RJ. He’s been more known for being in action movies. Verne the turtle seemed to act as a leader for the group of animals. Verne was very cautious and didn’t want anything to do with what was on the other side of the hedge. He got jealous of all the attention that RJ received. Gary Shandling’s voice went well with the character.
RJ and Verne probably were the most developed and even they didn’t receive that much development. That did make it harder to care about the characters and what they were going through. Hammy was a hyperactive squirrel that wasn’t the smartest animal in the woods. Steve Carell did fine with the voice. William Shatner did the voice for Ozzie, a opossum and Avril Lavigne did the voice for his daughter Heather. I did like the voice Wanda Sykes did for Stella the skunk. She did have a bit of an attitude, though she struck up an unlikely relationship with Tiger the cat. Vincent the bear was focused on getting his food back and he wasn’t very friendly. Nick Nolte’s voice sounded like it belonged to a grumpy bear.
Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara did the voices for Lou and Penny. I think they were the porcupine parents. Thomas Hayden Church did the voice of Dwayne. I think that was the exterminator that Gladys called in. The guy was obsessed with catching animals and had all sorts of nasty traps to use. He and Gladys were really the only human characters that had much to do and neither of them seemed that nice. Gladys was very flat and just concerned with having everything around her look perfect. Alison Janney provided a voice that sounded like it went with the character. A few other humans, like the girls delivering cookies, were also shown though they weren’t important characters.
Voice Talent
Steve Carell - Hammy
Thomas Hayden Church - Dwayne
Omid Djalili - Tiger
Alison Janney - Gladys
Avril Lavigne - Heather
Eugene Levy - Lou
NIck Nolte - Vincent
Catherine O’Hara - Penny
Gary Shandling - Verne
William Shatner - Ozzie
Wanda Sykes - Stella
Directors - Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
Over the Hedge was an entertaining animated movie that is worth seeing. I just didn’t feel like it lived up to the hype it has received or that it was as good as some other computer animated movies. This is a good movie for families. People that enjoy animated movies will probably find something to enjoy in it.
This is one that I would have rated three and a half stars if I had that option. Since I didn’t, I’m rounding up to four stars.
In DreamWorks smash-hit comedy, these hungry critters go over the hedge to take a bite out of Suburbia. Plus, check out the All-New Mini-Movie, Hammy ...More at Buy.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.