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Over the Hedge

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Over the Hedge
File:Over the Hedge DVD.jpg
DVD cover artwork for Over the Hedge
Directed byTim Johnson,
Karey Kirkpatrick
Written byMichael Fry
T. Lewis
Len Blum
Produced byBonnie Arnold
StarringBruce Willis
Garry Shandling
Thomas Haden Church
Steve Carell
Avril Lavigne
William Shatner
Wanda Sykes
Eugene Levy
Distributed byDreamWorks SKG (USA)
Paramount Pictures
UIP (non-USA, theatrical)
Columbia Pictures (Philippines, theatrical)
Warner Bros. (Mexico, theatrical)
Release dates
May 19, 2006 (USA)
Running time
1 hr. 23 min.
LanguageEnglish

Over the Hedge is a computer-animated film based on the United Media comic strip of the same name. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick and produced by Bonnie Arnold, it was released in the U.S. on May 19, 2006.

Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures (due to Viacom's -- the parent of Paramount -- acquisition of its former parent company DreamWorks SKG), the film was rated PG by the MPAA for some rude humor and mild comic action. The movie was made in Glendale, California.

Summary

RJ the Raccoon, (voiced by Bruce Willis), after unsuccessfully trying to get a snack item from a vending machine, ventures into the cave of the hibernating bear Vincent (Nick Nolte). While attempting to steal Vincent's cache of goods, as well as his red wagon and blue cooler, RJ accidentally wakes Vincent, who after realizing what RJ is doing, attempts to scare him into giving his stuff back. When RJ says that the stuff is still in the cave and therefore not stolen, the stuff begins rolling out of the cave. It stops in the street and is run over by a truck and destroyed. The furious Vincent gives RJ an ultimatum: replace everything within a week, or get eaten.

RJ finds the new suburban development El Rancho Camelot Estates in western Indiana where he can steal all the replacement items he needs. There, a community of foragers led by the practical turtle, Verne (Garry Shandling), awakens from hibernation. Verne immediately directs his charges — Hammy (RJ during the film calls him "Hamilton") the cookie-addicted, hyperactive squirrel (Steve Carell); Stella the skunk with attitude (Wanda Sykes); Ozzie the Shakespearian opossum (William Shatner) and his 16-year-old frequently embarrassed daughter Heather (Avril Lavigne); and Minnesota-accented porcupine Lou (Eugene Levy) and his Canadian-accented wife Penny (Catherine O'Hara), and their young offsprings Spike, Bucky, and Quillo — to start their yearly search for food to store.

To their surprise and trepidation, they discover a hedge, which they call 'Steve' until RJ directs them otherwise. RJ, coming onto the scene, prompts them to scavenge for the food treasures he promises they'll find beyond it, while Verne fears for what traps or predators also await. Yet a determined and desperate RJ gets the woodland creatures to explore. Using a combination of con artistry and caper movie antics, they successfully snatch a wagon full of Girl Scout-like cookies (which begins Hammy's addiction). Seeing this, the whole group except Verne joins in and begins to steal other foods from the neighborhood of overfed, SUV-driving humans, along with other items on the list RJ secretly keeps.

File:Over the hedge promoshot.jpg
RJ the racoon leads Verne the turtle and his woodland family on a chase through the neighborhood with their stolen goods, much to the horror of the homeowner association president Gladys Sharp.

All this prompts the ire of home-owner association president Gladys Sharp (Allison Janney), who hires a pest-control specialist Dwayne LaFontant, who calls himself The Verminator (Thomas Haden Church). Seeing this, and realizing that they might be in danger, Verne tries to return everything they've stolen as a bargain to the humans to spare their lives — leading to an action set-piece involving himself and RJ, a chasing, "play"-spouting dog, a wagon piled high with goods and goodies, a canister of barbecue propane, and a backyard slide that launches the wagon, Verne and RJ into the sky. The sequence ends with the two animals falling, unhurt, to earth, while the errant, ad hoc rocket crashes in a stylized, mushroom-cloud fireball. When RJ and Verne are rocketed back over the hedge, RJ and the other animals get mad at Verne. While trying to warn the others of RJ's plan to use them, Verne turns on RJ, and claims that "You are only interested in taking advantage of them because they are too stupid and naїve to know any better!" Verne then tries to take back what he said, but the damage has already been done, and circumstances get worse as Verne tries to come up with a less hurtful description, and says ignorant. But no one is more heartbroken than Hammy, as Verne's hand was unintentionally pointing at him during his outburst. Hammy tearfully says "I'm not stupid", and takes the comment seriously with him being very hyperactive, somewhat childlike, and fitting Verne's description. Angry and hurt, Verne's friends leave him, and the turtle left is all alone. Verne is then by himself, as he wonders what is truly best for his family and whether he belongs in it any more. However, Verne isn't the only one with problems.

During his time with the foragers, RJ can't resist but having a growing affection for all of them. They're so kind and soft, and even gave him a spot for himself so he wouldn't need to sleep up in a tree. He slowly realizes that he shouldn't be using them for his own selfish needs, and wonders if he should blurt out his secret and break their hearts.

RJ then goes to Verne, cools down and cheers him up. With RJ's help, Verne apologizes to his reluctant friends, and they welcome him back. Now, RJ stages the biggest heist yet, from the supplies of the big "welcome to the neighborhood" party Gladys plans for the following day. The plot involves shutting down a laser-guided security system on the lawn that traps animals in a cage. RJ and Hammy manage to do so by sending Hammy over the roof of the house, after which RJ guides him with a red laser to the security controls, which are then shut off. With Stella disguised as a cat in order to distract the haughty guard-cat Tiger, the others then raid her kitchen. They're almost in the clear when RJ spies a can of Spuddies, Vincent's favorite food, and the last item on the list. In trying to retrieve it, the Verminator catches all except RJ, who escapes with the wagon of Vincent's replacement goods.

As the caged others are driven away, RJ meets Vincent in the woods, where the bear congratulates RJ on successfully "conning the suckers" and getting what he needed. He tells RJ that some day he will end up just like him: having everything he ever wanted. "But I already had that," RJ says sadly. Despite Vincent trying to convince him that he doesn't need Verne and his family, RJ realises he does and now they really needed him. So he steals from Vincent once again, and sends the piled-high wagon crashing into the Verminator's van, launching a rescue attempt. The enraged Vincent goes after RJ, determined to kill him. While being chased by the bear, the young porcupines direct the Verminator's van into the home of Gladys Sharp at over hundred miles per hour (160.9 kilometers per hour), much to her annoyance. Vincent is donked by a hammer, pricked by Penny, and is finally sent flying with a balloon. All of the animals pull out of the van as the Verminator regains consciousness.

Vincent lands on the animal's side of the hedge, where he begins to claw furiously to get RJ, while the Verminator activates his electric wand and attempts to poke out the animals, determined to finish the job. Gladys also joins in, clicking on a weed whacker and begins to swing furiously at the hedge Trapped between Vincent and the humans, RJ and Verne quickly concoct a plan. They give a caffeine-packed energy drink to the already adrenaline-rushing Hammy (notorious throughout the film for his ridiculously high levels of speed and uncontrolled energy[1]), leading to a scene (reminiscent of others from U.S. TV's The Twilight Zone, Episode 70 of Futurama (Three Hundred Big Boys) and the DC Comics character The Flash) where his perceptions and motion are so sped up that the world appears to stand still, as if time has stopped. Hammy, strolling along but at super-speed with his power to travel through time itself, adjusts the trap controls (and collects one of his beloved cookies on the way). As time appears to speed back up again, RJ and Verne's plan succeeds. The three get fried and caged by the Depelter Turbo, creating a laser powerful enough to go through outer space very quickly (destroying a satellite) and can be seen from outside the Milky Way Galaxy. This causes Vincent to be trapped and set to be shipped to the Rockies, Gladys to fight with the authorities and be arrested not only for the illegal animal trap she arranged, but also for assaulting a police officer. The Verminator tiptoes away from the scene, only to be bitten by the playful dog from before. RJ, now a hero to the other animals in deed as well as in word, settles down and agrees to be a father figure to the animal community. They in turn explain that if they had been truthfully told about RJ's predicament in the beginning, they would have helped him settle his debt, "...because that’s what families do", says Verne. It is then revealed that before Hammy returned to normal speed, he filled their log with the acorns he'd hid the previous year.

After the credits, the characters return to the vending machine RJ visited during the opening scene, now fully stocked. The entire vending machine is emptied in one shot to the delight of all, but the PUSH bar cannot be moved and no food can be retrieved. Hammy comments, "Kinda anti-climactic."

Voice cast

Reception

The film's opening weekend grossed $38,457,003 in 4,093 theaters. As of February 25, 2007, the film had earned $335,076,977 worldwide.[2] Critical reaction was mostly positive with the film being rated 73% on the Rotten Tomatoes movie review aggregate site. Critic Frank Lovece of Film Journal International found that, "DreamWorks' slapstick animated adaptation of the philosophically satiric comic strip ... is a lot of laughs and boasts a much tighter story than most animated features"[3] Ken Fox of TVGuide.com called it "a sly satire of American 'enough is never enough' consumerism and blind progress at the expense of the environment. It's also very funny, and the little woodland critters that make up the cast are a kiddie-pleasing bunch".The users on IMDB rated it 7.2 .[4] Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper of "Ebert & Roeper" gave the animated movie a "two thumbs up".[5][6]

Audio

A soundtrack, "Over the Hedge", featuring music by Ben Folds, was released by Epic Records and Sony Music.

Inaccuracies

  • Box Turtles, Red Squirrels, Striped Skunks and Virginia Opossums do not hibernate.
  • Most modern turtles do not have teeth.
  • Turtles are unable to remove their shells as they are born with them. It is implied that Verne's shell is broken as commented by RJ's line, "Don't you ever fix this shell!"
  • Verne should be called a tortoise as turtles must live in habitats of mostly water to survive. However, there is actually a small pond near the hedge.
  • Skunks are not able to "explode" and create a fog of stink, they just aim their stink at predators to just make a smoke-like mist to frighten them.

Cultural references made in the film

Dwayne LaFondont as 'the Verminator' is a spoof of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. The Verminator even says "Buenos Dias, reptile" (Hasta La Vista, Baby) and wears glasses (the Terminator's shades).

Ozzie the possum is referred to once as 'The Oz-man' The three porcupines then salute with 'the horns', which is a clear reference to Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne.

The film has certain similarities to the Isao Takahata movie Pom Poko. Over the Hedge does not, however, develop the themes of environmentalism or anti-urbanization, and focuses on the animals' harmless preying on the bumbling humans, making the similarities between the two films contextual rather than substantive. As the critic for Film Journal International suggested (link under "References"), a closer comparison might be to Meredith Willson's The Music Man, which also centers on a slick con artist redeemed by his marks, and finding a surrogate family. The commentary track on the DVD confirms that the movie version of RJ (right down to his habit of carrying a bag) was partially inspired by Professor Harold Hill.

Among the TV series spoofed in the scene of RJ. flipping TV channels in the forest are Dr. Phil and All My Children. After the TV parody scene, RJ can be seen huffing out of a bag of OH-NO's brand chips to quell his anxiety. "OH NOES!" is a sarcastic expression of despair in internet slang.

During the scene where Ozzie plays dead, he spies a rose bush and mutters, "Rosebud". That is a reference to Citizen Kane in which Charles Foster Kane mutters a cryptic "Rosebud" before he passes away.

During the rolling end credits, the Over the Hedge comic strip can be seen three times - once, the porcupine kids are being taught to read with one; Hammy paints a portrait of RJ and Verne as Grant Wood's famous American Gothic in the style of the strip, and finally, RJ shows three panels of a strip, and Vern, reluctantly, displays the final frame on his back. Also during the credits, Hammy references Khan Noonien Singh's plot against Captain Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (which was also distributed by Paramount Pictures and also stars William Shatner, as Kirk).

As Stella runs away from Tiger during the chaotic escape scene from Gladys's home, he cries "Stella, Stella!", a clear reference to Marlon Brando/Alec Baldwin's famous line from A Streetcar Named Desire.

Followups


See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ RJ calls Hammy "Hamilton". In classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, the Hamiltonian, named after William Rowan Hamilton, represents a system's energy.
  2. ^ Box Office Mojo: Over the Hedge
  3. ^ Film Journal Internationl: Over the Hedge review by Frank Lovece
  4. ^ TV Guide Online Over the Hedge review by Ken Fox
  5. ^ RogerEbert.com: Chicago Sun-Times (May 19, 2006): Over the Hedge review by Roger Ebert
  6. ^ Rottentomatoes.com: Richard Roeper

References

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