Cheap Over the Hedge (Full Screen Edition) (DVD) (Karey Kirkpatrick, Tim Johnson) Price

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Customer Reviews of Over the Hedge (Full Screen Edition)

A family of misfits
I liked the story of how a group of misfits, "sand lot", character unit into a family. The humour lacked "ice age" whittism. Most of the humour was sarcastic. "Over the hedge" reminds me of Lion kings 2 1/2: a squirrel, a pig, and lion verse a squirrel, raccoon, and turtle.

"I am a crazy, rabid squirrel! I want my cookies!"
When raccoon RJ (Bruce Willis) attempts to steal a cache of nourishment from mean bear Vincent (Nick Nolte), he is forced into a predicament: get replacement food before the next full moon or RJ is good replacement. He runs into a motley crew of animals: Verne the turtle (Garry Shandling), Hammy the squirrel (Steve Carrell), Stella the skunk (Wanda Sykes), porcupine couple Lou (Eugene Levy) and Penny (Catherine O'Hara), and father/daughter duo Ozzie (William Shatner) and Heather (Avril Lavigne). RJ convinces them to steal food for themselves, them being unaware of what the raccoon is up to. Meanwhile, the animals' every attempt enrages the neighbors (Allison Janney and Debra Wilson), who eventually call upon exterminator Dwayne (Thomas Haden Church) to help weed out the problem. <
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>2006 saw the return of Dreamworks SKG, once again churning out animated comedies for the tykes. First off was "Ice Age 2," which was - and still is - gangbusters at the cineplex (as I speak, it has raked in $594M in box office numbers). Understandably, unlike the releases from the Weinsteins ("Doogal" and "Hoodwinked"), "IA2" didn't rely heavily on pop culture references overtaking character/plot development and authentic humor. As a matter of fact, the same follows with "Over the Hedge," directed by "Ants" helmer Tim Johnson. While it may not produce big belly laughs, nor does it have the raunchier wit of his earlier work, don't think for a minute you'll be bored. <
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>Sure, it's safe to say that "OTH" is another "Shrek" clone looking to cop off some success: big named stars (fact: Jim Carrey was supposed to voice RJ, but lost to Bruce Willis), montages set to hip music from a popular band ("Shrek": Smash Mouth; "Over the Hedge": Ben Folds Five), and a twist of irreverence for the adults to enjoy. Mind you, this isn't a bad thing, because a majority of the movie is funny. Johnson sidesteps some clichýs (while Avril Lavigne is a punk-rock gal, her character is nothing but), throws in some pratfalls (many of them owned by Steve Carrell's Hammy, including one scene where he literally slows down time after drinking some caffeine soda), and moves at a breezy 90 minutes without being boring. <
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>The only problem I had? Well, for some reason, TJ is looking to cop some Disney success and pull heartstrings. Much like in "Finding Nemo," the main character lost his family, members and wonders what it's like to have a family (often highlighted by corny alternative rock). I have no problem if Johnson wants to do this, but with a lot of crazy stuff going on - from Hammy belching his ABC's to Ozzie playing dead (Bill Shatner even pokes fun at his Captain Kirk image, as well as snag a line from "Citizen Kane") - the time for family bonding moments don't genuinely work. Oh, and "Ice Age 2" sort of set a pattern of not having heartwarming moments, yet garner a lot of money around the world. <
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>Johnson gets extra mileage out of his cast. As I mentioned, Steve Carrell steals the show when playing Hammy (and I already mentioned some of his good scenes). Comedienne Wanda Sykes joins in on the fun with hilarious monologues, which makes up for her underused performance in "Monster-In-Law." Thomas Haden Church makes for a hilarious, and often threatening, villain. Too bad Johnson didn't get garner better performances for some of the other characters (Bruce Willis' sense of humor is weighed down by the pathos; Christopher Guest affiliates Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara might as well play concerned parents in future movies; and the same, surprisingly, goes for "MadTV" comedienne Debra Wilson). <
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>Still with a couple quibbles about unnecessary Disney-quality family-friendly moments and cast snafus, "Over the Hedge" is definitely not a lame movie. Of course, it might lose against "The Da Vinci Code" in the box office (unless moviegoers are wise to the critics' harsh reviews), but look at it this way: "OTH" is everything Ron Howard's movie isn't.