Friday, May 19, 2006

Over the Hedge (***)


 A comical comic-strip adaptation about the not-always peaceful co-existence between animals and suburban humans.

This Dreamworks movie is an adaptation of a syndicated comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis. The viewpoint is that of the non-domestic animals who live around the suburbs. To partake of purloined pizzas and other amenities of modern life or to rough it? RJ the raccoon, voiced by Bruce Willis, represents the new way of thinking. Unfortunately, this has gotten him in trouble with a hibernating bear whose sleep he interrupted and whose food he’s stolen. Verne the turtle (Garry Shandling) is strictly old school, and quietly fumes as the crafty RJ charms his way into the lives of the other woodsy creatures. These others sound like William Shatner, Avril Lavigne, Steve Carrell, Allison Janney, and so forth, but only Wanda Sykes’s skunk made much of an impression on me. Which was still okay. Judging by the mixed-age preview audience around me, this should get a good reaction in theaters. There were a number of funny scenes, usually involving some scrapes with the local humans, wrapped around a message about friendship. Adults should find some of this entertaining. The movie has a bit of an attitude without resorting to cheap sexual innuendo or phony hip slang.


IMDb link

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