OVER THE HEDGE

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: mild crude humor, thematic elements

Rated:

Skunks and raccoons are nothing new to me. I grew up in the country and used to watch them playing on our patio under the full moon at night. I will never look at a charming critter quite the same way again. It has certainly given me a newfound love for the insane squirrel in my backyard.

RJ (voiced by Bruce Willis) has something of a problem. He's a little too greedy for his own good. After unsuccessfully attempting to rob the final bag of chips out of a vending machine outside the local forest rest stop, he decides to abscond some of a bear's winter provisions. Just taking a couple chip bags isn't good enough for this furry raccoon. He wants the whole kit and caboodle. Then the bear wakes up. Everything is okay, RJ assures him, since the food hasn't exactly left the cave yet... Oops. The little red wagon piled high with goodies goes smashing into the road, where it is obliterated by a passing semi. Rather than be eaten, RJ assures the bear he can return everything that was destroyed before the rise of the full moon... a week away. If he doesn't, he's as good as road kill.

Verne (Garry Shandling) the Tortoise has just awoken his "family" from hibernation. The long summer months are going to be spent collecting food to last them through the next winter. Something of an obsessive-compulsive worrywart, Verne attempts to keep his merry little band of critters in tow. There's the two possums, the family of hedgehogs, the skunk, and the dizzy squirrel. Hammy (Steve Carell) then points out The Hedge. It has mysteriously appeared during hibernation, separating them from a new metropolis full of human beings, dogs, and fast food. Appraising their clueless fear of The Hedge and all that lies beyond, RJ decides to involve them in his plan to pay back the bear.

What follows is a grand adventure in which RJ battles feelings of kinship and acceptance and the others remain clueless that he intends to leave them holding the bag. In the meantime, Verne suspects the raccoon is up to something, and fears the human world they must invade in order to steal mountains of junk food. There is a lot to like about this darling little film. First, it is absolutely adorable. I sat there throughout with a smile permanently affixed to my face, attempting to repress my girlish instinct to squee "cute!" The characters are all very likable (minus the bear, and the rabid humans that become the enemy in the second half) and there are many lessons about family, forgiveness, acceptance, and honesty. RJ takes them all for a ride but more than redeems himself by risking life and limb to save them from a terrible fate.

Small children might be frightened by many scenes in the film, in which our little band of heroes are chased by humans, dogs, and other dangerous "things" (lawnmowers, SUV's). A vermin exterminator rolls into the neighborhood and laces a lawn with traps intended to kill "vermin." He uses rubber bunny rabbits as test-animals, frying them to a crisp. There is a bit of crude humor -- Hammy is rather fond of belching, and much is made of Stella's smell (she's the skunk, and whenever she gets mad, threatens to spray her disapproval). She fumigates a house and everything in it. Verne loses his shell a couple of times, and we see part of his bare backside. There's a joke made about humans worshipping food, when they are shown praying over dinner.

What I found the most amusing is the digs at mankind's fascination with television and food. Everything the animals see pertains in some way to food, whether it's the pizza delivery boy or the commercials on television. It's rather a humorously cynical view of the fast food fetish that has swept the nation. I also enjoyed some of the slyer jokes aimed at adults. Dr. Phil's voice is heard in one scene, beating down someone on his television show, and one of the animals quips, "Is he even really a doctor?" It's cute, it's harmless, and you should get great enjoyment out of it, whether or not you take your little sister.