Movie Review: Over the Hedge

To othercott The DaVinci Code, I went to see Over the Hedge this evening. It was a surprisingly entertaining and enjoyable film.

The animated film begins with RJ (Bruce Willis), a racoon driven by hunger stealing most of the goodies from hibernating bear Vincent's (Nick Nolte) stockpile of munchies. When Vincent is stirred from his slumber, he catches RJ midtheft, but his stash is destroyed in the process. Vincent gives RJ one week to recover the stockpile or else he becomes Vincent's next meal.

When a blended family of woodland foragers, led by a turtle named Vern (Gary Shandling), awaken in the spring after a long winter's nap, they discover that a suburban development has gone up all around them, and they are literally hedged in on all sides.

Enter their new neighbor, RJ, who gives them a crash course in suburban life. The raccoon explains that the world beyond the hedge is the "gateway to the good life" where peculiar creatures called humans live to eat, rather than eat to live.

Suspicious and even a little jealous of RJ, the ever-cautious patriarch,Verne, wants to keep his family on the safe side of the hedge. But, proving the adage that one man's garbage is another man's—or rather animal's—treasure, the opportunistic RJ convinces the woodland family that there is little to fear and everything to gain from their over-indulgent new neighbors.

Over the Hedge was a cute, clever, and lively film that had me and most of the movie theatre audience laughing out loud. It is a fable with a meaningful message as well as a witty and charming movie.

My rating: *** B

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