Movie Review: OVER THE HEDGE Author: Bill Ramey Saturday, May 20, 2005 U.S. Release Date: May 19, 2006 Distributor: Dreamworks Director: Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick Writing Credits: Karey Kirkpatrick and Len Blum Cast: Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Eugene Levy, Nick Nolte, Catherine O'Hara, William Shatner, et al MPAA Rating: PG OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.overthehedgemovie.com TRAILERS: www.apple.com./trailers OVER THE HEDGE is a story of a man’s -- well, a raccoon’s -- redemption. Really. It is also a story about the importance of family. More on that in a bit. I enjoy a good animated film. For example, I’m a big fan of the TOY STORY and SHRECK films which are the standard of the genre in my opinion. One of my favorite films of all time is THE IRON GIANT. And while OVER THE HEDGE is not on the same level as those films, it’s still a decent little flick and worth investing a little over an hour of one’s time. I didn’t see this film early, as I promised my youngest son that I’d take him to see it Saturday morning. So we headed down to our local 24 screen movie complex and checked it out. OTH starts out a bit slow. In fact, I was wondering if I was going to make it through the thing without falling asleep. However, it gradually picks up steam and by the end, I found myself completely enjoying the story. So what is the “story” of OTH? Well, as I’m sure you know, it involves animals crossing over “Steve” - that’s the hedge’s name by the way - into the world of suburbia. And just why are they doing this pray tell? Well the aforementioned raccoon, R.J. (Bruce Willis), must replace a multitude of items that he destroyed to the owner of said items. This owner just happens to be a bear (Nick Nolte) who has given R.J. a week to collect the items. And where are these things to be found? You guessed it - over the hedge. Now this R. J. is a somewhat of a despicable character. He’s selfish and he’s a thief as well. It seems that he only cares about himself. When he runs across a “family” of foraging animals, he decides to sucker this group into helping him get the items he needs. The head of the family is a turtle named Verne (Gary Shandling). Verne is skeptical of R.J. from the get-go. The rest of the group is not - they fall hook, line, and sinker. In due time, R.J. has worked the family and has them in the palm of his hand. So who besides the turtle makes up the family? Well, there is a super-hyper squirrel named Hammy (Steve Carell); a female skunk with an attitude named Stella (Wanda Sykes); a family of Minnesota porcupines headed up by Penny and Lou (Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara); and finally there’s Ozzy the possum (William Shatner) and his daughter Heather (Avril Lavigne). And there are humans in the story as well as vermin. Thomas Haden Church is the voice of “The Verminator,” an animal exterminator hired to rid suburbia of it’s “animal problem.” And then there’s Gladys (Allison Janney) the president of the local homeowners’ association who doesn’t want to see these animals overrun the neighborhood. They, along with the bear, are “the bad guys” of the story. As far as the critical analysis, let’s start with the animation. Nothing earth shattering here -- not that it is poor or anything. It’s sort of has an “already seen it” feel to it if that makes sense. I found the voice-over work quite good. Thomas Haden Church stole the show for me as “The Verminator.” He had one line in there that made me laugh my ass off. I absolutely loved Levy and O’Hara’s work too. If you noticed, I said that their porcupine characters were from Minnesota. They nailed the accent as if they had been watching FARGO and/or hanging out in Brainerd just before production. Of course my wife, who is from Minnesota and will role her eyes when she reads this, will blast me, but they were spot on. You betcha! I was half expecting them to serve up a hotdish at some point during the film. Steve Carell is virtually unrecognizable as Hammy the squirrel and does a nice job as well. The remainder of the cast are all OK - nothing stands out. Willis and Shandling are the leads, but are certainly no “Buzz and Woody” or “Shreck and Donkey” if you know what I mean. As mentioned earlier, the story starts off slow, but picks up the pace rather rapidly. I went from being bored to entertained very quickly. Remember, OTH is a story of the importance of family and one raccoon’s personal redemption. It’s a nice message, although a bit predictable and clichéd, but one that makes you feel good nonetheless. All in all, OVER THE HEDGE is a cute and entertaining film. Your kids are going to like it, trust me. My son thinks it should win “Best Picture” this year. Of course, he thinks that about every movie he watches. Hey, you’ll enjoy it as well. Even if you find yourself looking at your watch constantly during the first few minutes of the film, hang in there. JETT’S GRADE: B- "Jett" is the founder and editor-in-chief of ON-FILM.NET and BATMAN-ON-FILM.COM.