Over the Hedge (2006)
Directed by Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick
Written by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring Steve Carell, Bruce Willis, Nick Nolte, Wanda Sykes, Garry Shandling
Release Date May 19th, 2006
Published May 18th, 2006
The daily newspaper comic Over The Hedge is a smart, self aware, culturally savvy cartoon starring woodland creatures and their incisive observations of humans in suburbia. Though the 3 panel brains of Over The Hedge, Michael Fry and T. Lewis may not be ideal for the too often soft headed children's animation market, Over The Hedge does have the built in cuteness factor of talking animals that all children love. Leave your brains, and the brains of the comics themselves, at the door - Over The Hedge is the latest cute but forgettable CG tune from DreamWorks animation.
Bruce Willis stars as the voice of R.J, a mischievous raccoon with a bit of a self-destructive side. While foraging for some food R.J gets the brilliant idea to rob a hibernating bear. In the process of stealing the bear's entire store of mostly human snacks, R.J manages to wake the not surprisingly cranky bear and destroy the whole supply of food.
The bear, voiced with gruff annoyance by Nick Nolte, is not supposed to come out of hibernation for another week so being tired he cuts a deal with R.J, restore the food supply in one week or becomes part of the food supply. R.J is lucky to make it out with his hide but where will he get all of these mostly human snacks, chips, pop, candy and such. Luck smiles on R.J when he discovers a brand new human enclave that has sprung up over the winter, a brand new suburban subdivision has cut the forest in half.
This comes as a surprise not just to R.J but also to the hibernating creatures who have made this forest their home for years. Having spent months in hibernation, Vern the turtle (Gary Shandling), Hammy the squirrel (Steve Carell) and Stella the skunk (Wanda Sykes) - amongst a large star filled ensemble- find their forest cut in half and the potential food supply nearly gone.
Enter R.J who sees this clan of woodland pals as his chance to get some help in replenishing the bear's stock. All he has to do is lead the gang into suburbia where they can help him raid homes and garbage cans for the needed supplies and once he has what he needs simply steal it all away to the bear. What R.J could not count on with this group is finding the family he never had and never knew he wanted.
I gagged a little as I wrote that last line. That type of treacle is what most Hollywood studios think you must have in all family cartoons. That warm-hearted easily digested family friendly message is a prerequisite of the genre to most studios no matter how clumsily such a simplistic message is incorporated into the film.
The fun loving creatures of Over The Hedge chafe against the constrictions of this genre required plot strand. Not that the cute characters of Over The Hedge don't lend themselves to a simpleminded family friendly message. The characters are cute and cuddly like your average family cartoon character, and such the problem is really just a lack of subtlety. The film hammers home its homespun wisdom in thuddingly obvious dialogue.
Family friendly messages are certainly not a bad thing. Both Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, a pair of Pixar animated classics, deliver family friendly messages couched in terrifically funny adventure plots. There is a way to make it family friendly without pounding the message into the ground. It's just that only Pixar seems to understand the formula.
When not forced by genre convention to blast home a message, Over The Hedge has some inspired moments of humor and insight. A funny montage in which R.J introduces the gang to the various ways humans obtain and consume food is a terrifically funny and biting commentary. Another scene in which R.J shows insight beyond his animal nature is when he introduces the gang to an SUV. Vern asks how many humans can fit such a huge vehicle, R.J's snappy reply "Usually... just one".
Those good moments are surrounded by a strong adventure plot as the gang works to obtain food while avoiding an evil exterminator voiced by Thomas Haden Church and a witchy suburban resident voiced by Allison Janney. The film gets good mileage out of both these villainous characters.
Over The Hedge is a pretty good movie but in the genre of CG animation pretty good is not often good enough. The Pixar company has set the bar so high in this genre that non-Pixar films simply cannot compete. Pixar's lovely candy colored animation is one of the great artistic creations of the past century and while other company's have attempted to match it no one has come close.
As I say a lot in reference to CG animated films, Over The Hedge is good but it's not Pixar good. I am recommending the film but with reluctance. Over The Hedge is good but not great family entertainment.
