Plot
A scheming raccoon fools a mismatched family of forest creatures into helping him repay a debt of food, by invading the new suburban sprawl that popped up while they were hibernating...and learns a lesson about family himself.
Release Year: 2006
Rating: 6.9/10 (56,093 voted)
Critic's Score: 67/100
Director:
Tim Johnson
Stars: Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell
Storyline Traveling raccoon con artist, RJ, arrives in a woods outside a human city in the Midwest, excited about the wonders that living near humans can bring hungry animals. What he finds, however, is an Amish-like community that is deathly afraid of humans, after their leader, Vern the tortoise (Shandling), has an encounter with human boys that terrifies him. Encouraged by RJ, however, the animals slowly venture over the hedge that separates them from the brand new suburban development that appeared over the winter while they were sleeping, and what RJ shows them is a whole new world where humans leave tin cans full of fish and other food in big canisters, ripe for the taking. As they get closer and closer to humans, however, their comfortable lives in the woods appears to be threatened...
Writers: Len Blum, Lorne Cameron
Cast: Bruce Willis
-
RJ
(voice)
Garry Shandling
-
Verne
(voice)
Steve Carell
-
Hammy
(voice)
Wanda Sykes
-
Stella
(voice)
William Shatner
-
Ozzie
(voice)
Nick Nolte
-
Vincent
(voice)
Thomas Haden Church
-
Dwayne
(voice)
Allison Janney
-
Gladys
(voice)
Eugene Levy
-
Lou
(voice)
Catherine O'Hara
-
Penny
(voice)
Avril Lavigne
-
Heather
(voice)
Omid Djalili
-
Tiger
(voice)
Sami Kirkpatrick
-
Bucky
(voice)
Shane Baumel
-
Spike
(voice)
Madison Davenport
-
Quillo
(voice)
Opening Weekend: $38,457,003
(USA)
(21 May 2006)
(4059 Screens)
Gross: $336,002,996
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Based on "Over the Hedge", a syndicated comic strip written and drawn by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon named RJ and a turtle named Verne who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over by suburbia, trying to survive the increasing flow of humanity and technology while becoming enticed by it at the same time. Four collections have been published: Over The Hedge, Over The Hedge 2, Over The Hedge 3: Knights of the Picnic Table and Over The Hedge: Stuffed Animals.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When Verne is trying to return the food to "its rightful owners" and pushes RJ into the ground, there are no toys near. Yet, in the following scene Verne appears, the two toys appear 2 inches from his feet.
Quotes:
[first lines]
[RJ is trying to get a snack from the snack machine and it breaks]
RJ:
No! Come on!
User Review
A fun movie that thoroughly demolished my low expectations
Rating: 8/10
Let me say up front, I had low expectations going into the film.
Although I like animation a lot, I wasn't too impressed with previous
Dreamworks attempts. I tend to regard cutesy previews with suspicion,
and was mostly just going along to have a potentially positive
movie-going experience with my family. Things got a little worse when
we arrived at the theatre, and both the ticket-tearing guy (if cinemas
have a technical name for that role, I don't know what it is) and some
poor sap from the commissary tried to pressure-sell the "fresh" soda
and popcorn. We had to go out of our way to avoid an extra ad-hoc kiosk
the food vendors established smack in the middle of the lobby. I hope
that doesn't become standard practice. The twenty-odd minutes of
previews were similarly underwhelming, and I was starting to get a
little nervous -- is it going to be one of those days I'll want to
forget? Then, at long last, Over the Hedge starts. Now I'm not an avid
follower of the comic, partly because I don't get to read newspapers
very often. The Over the Hedge strip is kind of a latecoming competitor
to affections reserved for the beloved Bloom County of my childhood, so
I'm not exactly salivating at the potential content. However, I gotta
say, I was blown away from the start.
Over the Hedge is a neat movie. Granted, there are points where plot
development is pure formula, and some of the dialog seems forced or
weakly delivered, but these are minor snits. I was laughing out loud,
along with most of the audience, which was well distributed agewise. I
won't offer any spoilers, but I have to hand it to the screenwriters
for seamlessly integrating action-based slapstick with some very
cunning dialog, dialog that flies fast and furious enough that you'd
better keep both ears wide open.
Messagewise, there are a few worth noting. I have not seen such a
cutting indictment of suburbia since Edward Scissorhands. Some
audiences may find the humor cuts a bit too close to home -- literally.
Human eating habits are intensely scrutinized, for obvious reasons.
Vanity and self-serving hubris are duly repudiated. Plenty of clever
asides will appeal to a wholesome sort of cultural nostalgia, without
ever seeming derivative or repetitive. There are both heartwarming and
chilling references to the importance of family, especially a family
under external pressures from a society that they do not understand, a
culture that considers them vermin. But the messages aren't overplayed,
and mesh well with the rest of this utterly hilarious movie.
There's more, of course, but the bottom line is entertainment, and this
movie did not disappoint. Even the extended slapstick, which I seldom
enjoy in movies, was so outrageous and excessive that it punched
through to my funny bone and had me slapping my knee along with my
family. Oh yeah, my family -- they liked the movie too, they liked it a
lot. Over the Hedge is one of those solid films to which parents can
bring children and everyone has an unreserved good time. That puts it
in some pretty esteemed company -- right up there with Toy Story,
Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, et al. Highly enjoyable, highly
recommended, 8/10.
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