Movie Title: Over the Hedge
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8/10)
Year: 2006
Over the Hedge official site: http://www.overthehedgemovie.com/
Okay… yet another 3D animation movie featuring cute and cuddly animals. Yes.. the trend is on, SO BRING IT UP babe~ Everyone just love cute and cuddly stuffs. Well… can’t deny, first impressions does matter and well.. that is why I never mind being labelled as a cutie… hahaha.. just that I am not. Okay…
Let’s get things started, this animation is based on a comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. I was actually thrilled and has been waiting for this movie to come along as I have watch some rather not that interesting 3D recently. Yes.. about animals and so on…. which makes me put much more anticipation and expectations to this one. I am glad to say, my expectation is simply met and well… I wasn’t disappointed with it both script wise and animation wise. Even the storyline is simply more funny and exciting that what I expect it to be.
It’s basically a simple story… RJ (Bruce Willis) is a racoon who is in great trouble when he is caught by Vincent (Nick Nolte) the bear for stealing his food supply… bad things happen when the food supply accidently fall of the hill and got ran over by a big truck… No doubt, RJ will be killed… ripped to pieces if he failed to restock Vincent’s food before the full moon, which is practically in a weeks time.
RJ is set to find and replace the food stock when he accidently found this new suburban area. Yes… a place just nice for him to restock everything he took from the bear. RJ then finds a family of animals lead by Verne (Garry Shandling) the turtle. They weren’t aware that half the forest has been taken down and had been replaced with this new suburban area. RJ then takes this opportunity to used them to find food that he needs. The family was so naïve to believe RJ is actually helping them gather food to fill up their log before the next winter comes.
RJ then teaches them about the people and the food they have. Verne wasn’t really thrilled as he somehow felt the world over the hedge wasn’t meant to be intruded by them. The rest of the family was so blown away with the fact that they can gather food to fill up the logs in just weeks while in previous times, they need months.
In the movie it was so cool, how the animals learn to use the new technologies like cable TV, Sony PSP, digital cameras and stuff. Ah… things went wrong when the humans alerted the exterminator as they find the animals rather disturbing. Verne decides to return everything to the humans hoping that everything will return to it’s past. Yeap, things went wrong from there onwards and the food they gathered is all gone. And it’s just a day away before RJ is being eaten by the bear.
RJ then have a plan to take everything back when he overhead the humans saying they will have a great big party. This time along Verne supports the idea as he felt guilty that he lost the foods. Everything goes on fine and their plan was a perfect happening until RJ saw a can of Spuddies and refuse to leave without it. Yes, the ugly truth soon spills out and RJ manage to run away with the food while the rest of the poor family got caught.
It was really an enjoyable movie with great moral vales being nicely placed beneath the surface. The messages about equal treatment, honesty, trust, and friendship are present without being heavy handed. The information about America’s consumer driven economy(particularly in the food industry) is relevant, refreshing, and intelligent. The best part of the message it sends about humans encroaching on animal habitats and how it affects the balance of nature.
Well… the voice was simply superb unlike Madagascar where they over-used Ben Stiller’s voice. Over here… everyone have quite a bit of time to show out their talents. Besides Bruce Willis and Gary Shandling, Steve Carrell also stands out as the absolutely insane Hammy the squirrel. William Shatner as Ozzie the possum. Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara as parents of hedgehogs, Wanda Sykes as a skunk, Thomas Hayden Church as an exterminator. Even Avril Lavigne is making an attempt to do voice acting taking up the role as Shatner’s daughter Heather.
It’s just so cool. Brilliant animation, lovable characters and simple yet clever plot. What more can I ask for. Now I felt like a 5 year old kids who wants to watch it all over again. And for those who plan to refuse me, I will roll on the floor and cry!