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Over the Hedge
May 19, 2006
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 and his extended woodland family — which includes bug-eyed,<br />
hyperactive squirrel Hammy (voiced by Steve Carell), melodramatic<br />
thespian possum Ozzie (voiced by William Shatner), porcupine couple<br />
Penny and Lou (voiced by Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy) and sassy<br />
skunk Stella (voiced by Wanda Sykes) — awaken from their season-long<br />
slumber, <b>they find their homeland fenced in by a thick, green bramble</b>.<br />
On the other side are humans, with which Verne and his friends have<br />
little knowledge or experience. </p>
<p>The interloper who wanders into the midst of this little unit is RJ<br />
(voiced by Bruce Willis), <b>a rascally, self-centered raccoon</b> who’s run<br />
afoul of a bear, Vincent (voiced by Nick Nolte), by accidentally<br />
destroying his stockpile of food during a botched attempt to boost it.<br />
Given one week to replenish said supply in exacting detail — right down<br />
to the blue cooler and specific can of potato chips — <b>the manipulative<br />
RJ sees opportunity and a bunch of free labor in the naïve faces of the<br />
woodland brood</b>. While Verne preaches isolationism, RJ insists that the<br />
world beyond the hedge is in fact a gateway to the good life.<br />
Introducing Hammy and the others to the sugar rush of processed food,<br />
RJ argues humans’ excesses and surpluses are ripe for exploitation and<br />
free plucking. </p>
<p>On the other side of that hedge, however, the high-strung president<br />
of the local homeowners’ association, Gladys (voiced by Allison<br />
Janney), isn’t about to see her neighborhood overrun by wildlife. She<br />
hires Dwayne (voiced by Thomas Haden Church), an equally dogmatic<br />
pest-control man who calls himself “the Verminator,” to rid the area of<br />
our forest critters. A showdown ensues, and <b>unlikely friendships are<br />
forged and reconsidered as RJ’s duplicity is dragged out into the light<br />
of day</b>. </p>
<p>The movie features its small share of incongruities, sure. Turtles<br />
don’t hibernate, and Verne and company awaken to accumulate more food<br />
for the next long winter, while Vincent is… storing the bulk of his<br />
stash <i>until</i> he wakes up? Still, as co-directed by Tim Johnson (<i>Antz</i>) and Karey Kirkpatrick (the screenwriter of <i>Chicken Run</i> and <i>The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i>), <i>Over the Hedge</i><br />
is <b>a bright, vibrant treat</b>. The animation, <b>full of canted perspective<br />
shots to highlight the animals’ disorientation</b> in a human world, is<br />
confident and sure of itself, and if not packed with the same sort of<br />
background-detail jokes to which adult audiences of the <i>Shrek</i> and <i>Toy Story</i> films might have grown accustomed, then no less involving for the distinction. </p>
<p>The biggest reason for that is the script, credited to Kirkpatrick<br />
and three others. <b>There’s plenty of physical humor</b> — an extended<br />
sequence in which Verne first apprehensively explores the other side of<br />
the hedge, and is met with crazy slapstick consequences — <b>but some<br />
smart dialogue too</b>, embodied by a funny, manic homily from RJ on human<br />
over-consumption. Loveable chatterbox Hammy is an easy-to-spot audience<br />
favorite much in the mold of <i>Shrek</i>’s Donkey, but <b>there are full<br />
arcs and recognizable motivations for no less than four characters, and<br />
it’s this healthy three-dimensionality that most benefits the movie</b>.<br />
Few do roguish better than Willis, who turns in some superlative voice<br />
work, and even though you <i>know</i> RJ’s lessons learned will<br />
contribute to an eventual change of heart, the movie scores points for<br />
forestalling this as long as possible, and still finding some ways to<br />
surprise you. </p>
<p>Peerless pop-song stylist <b>Ben Folds provides a number of ditties</b> that solidly feed <i>Over the Hedge</i>’s<br />
emotional track, and even <b>reworks his funky “Rockin’ the Suburbs”</b> for<br />
the end credits. As an added bonus for select Los Angeles and New York<br />
audiences, the film will also play with a new computer-animated short, <i>First Flight</i>, that, in the tradition of Pixar’s <i>Birds</i>,<br />
lovingly, and without dialogue, charts a fastidiously organized<br />
businessman who gets an adjustment in perspective courtesy of an<br />
encounter with a baby bluebird. Enjoying <i>Over the Hedge</i> might provide a similarly refreshing experience. <b>(DreamWorks/Paramount, PG, 96 mins.)<br /></b></p>
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