Over the Hedge (2006)

Raccoon RJ (Bruce Willis) is always on the hunt for food. He steals the entire store of food from hibernating bear Vincent (Nick Nolte). When Vincent wakes up just in time to see his entire stash of food destroyed by a passing truck, he gives RJ an ultimatum: return his food by the time his hibernation ends in a week, or he will be killed.

Meanwhile, a whole group of foraging creatures are waking up from their own hibernation: turtle Verne (Garry Shandling), squirrel Hammy (Steve Carell), skunk Stella (Wanda Sykes), possums Ozzie (William Shatner) and Heather (Avril Lavigne) and hedgehogs Lou (Eugene Levy) and Penny (Catherine O’Hara). They only have 274 days before the next winter to gather enough food to fill their log that will keep them fed throughout their hibernation.

Hammy remembers somewhere he had left some nuts, and he goes to find them. Instead, he finds that, while they were asleep, a massive hedge has been built in the middle of their habitat. Not only that, but on the other side of that hedge, an enormous housing estate has been built where there used to be forest.

It is at this point that RJ tells this entire ‘family’ of creatures that the humans on the other side of the hedge are not to be feared, but that they have massive stores of food, most of which they don’t eat and end up throwing out.

He tries to recruit them (without telling them the real reason, of course) to get enough food to return to Vincent, to save his own skin.

But it isn’t going to be as simple as that. President of the Housing Association Gladys (Allison Janney) and her cat Tiger (Omid Djalili) are standing in their way.

The script, by Len Blum and Lorne Cameron & David Hoselton and Karey Kirkpatrick, is very clever, and, like a lot of animated films from recent years, is filled with plenty of clever puns and jokes for older viewers such as parents of children made to sit through these films. As I have said before, I think it’s smart of the filmmakers to include these kinds of jokes, knowing that audiences will be made up not only of children, but just as many parents and other adults.

Composer Rupert Gregson-Williams has given us an excellent score that, unlike a lot of other animated films, does not run for the entire length of the film. But when music is used, it is done incredibly well, with just enough ‘accompaniment’ to support what is happening on-screen.

The performances of all the cast are fantastic, in particular Garry Shandling and Wanda Sykes, whose voices are full of so much expression, they fill their respective characters with so much life.

Directors Tim Johnson & Karey Kirkpatrick have done an amazing job in bringing this film to the screen. Even though I have seen this film many times already, I know I will watch it many more times before tiring of it; there is just so much enjoyment to be had on every single viewing.

7 1/2 out of 10.