Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1142 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-04
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The manicured lawns and overstuffed garbage cans of suburbia become a buffet for woodland creatures in Over the Hedge. A self-centered raccoon named RJ (voiced by Bruce Willis, Die Hard) steals and accidentally destroys the hoard of an angry bear (Nick Nolte, 48 Hours), who gives the raccoon a week to replace it. RJ despairs--until he meets an odd gang of foragers, ranging from a turtle named Verne (Garry Shandling, The Larry Sanders Show), a father/daughter duo of opossums (the bizarre pairing of William Shatner and pop singer Avril Lavigne), a family of porcupines (with A Mighty Wind's Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as the parents), and a hyperactive squirrel named Hammy (Steve Carell, The 40 Year Old Virgin).

By convincing these friendly beasts that the suburban homesteads on the other side of a recently erected hedge are a mother-lode of cast-off food, RJ hopes to dupe them into doing his gathering. But when the suburban residents realise they've been invaded by woodland pests, an exterminator is called to take care of the problem. The overarching storyline of Over the Hedge is pure formula--your basic "family matters more than anything" lesson--but moment to moment, the movie is delightfully crisp and clever. The animation is topnotch, the acting is excellent (other voices include those of Allison Janney, The West Wing, and Thomas Haden Church, Sideways), and the satirical jabs at consumerism are actually funny. An above-average animated movie. --Bret Fetzer

Synopsis
Based on a comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis, OVER THE HEDGE sees a ragtag group of forest critters awaken from hibernation to find that their forest has been turned into a suburban housing development. The only thing standing between them and the humans is a great, towering hedge where their forest used to be. This is bad news for the furry friends, who are just about to start their annual forage for food. Overhearing the critters' concerns, a crafty, streetwise raccoon named RJ (Bruce Willis) moves in with the promise of a cornucopia of mouth-watering delights... just over the hedge. But what Verne and his pals don't know is that RJ's intentions are less than honourable: he plans to let his new friends do all the legwork, gathering the food at great risk to their own lives, so that he can repay a debt to a rather large, angry bear. Meanwhile, on the other side of the hedge, the uptight president of the neighbourhood homeowner's committee has enlisted the services of the Verminator (think: Rentokil meets Arnie), to rid the area of its 'pests'. It's all-out war as the animals infiltrate the world of humans, dodging traps and angry canines just to get their paws on the tasty stuff. Will the loving woodland family emerge victorious, or will the spoils of suburbia run them out of the small patch of land they have left? And will RJ stick by his new family, or just keep looking out for himself? OVER THE HEDGE features top-notch animation, a delightfully witty script that deals with the perils of suburbanisation without being preachy, an all-star line-up of vocal talent (including Gary Shandling, Wanda Sykes, Steve Carrell, William Shatner, and Eugene Levy), and music by Ben Folds.

Customer Reviews

Funny!
Fun for old and young alike. Some laugh out loud bits, and some jokes just for us bigger kids. Buy and enjoy.*****

Pretty good, actually.
I must have watched this about 6 times now with my 3 year old boy. He loves it, and to be honest, so do I. The animation is great (as to be expected), the story line straight forward enough, with a pretty interesting "consumerism is rubbish" subtext for the cynical parents watching, like me. The characters are really likeable too (especially Hammy the over the top squirrel)- and the fantastic music of Ben Folds really tops it all off.
Recommended!

It's okay, but it's no Shrek
Obviously this isn't aimed primarily at the adult audience, but it is by the people who made Shrek (and advertised this way), so there's a hope that the story is multifaceted and would, like Shrek, appeal to both adults and children alike. Unfortunately this just isn't the case.

The animation is superb, something we've come to expect in todays computer animated movies. The voice actors play their roles well. It's a nice enough story but it's not a "great" film. Unlike Shrek where you can watch it again and again and get something new from it, Over the Hedge is just not as sophisticated.

Okay so I shouldn't really go on comparing this film with Shrek, so I'll say this - it's a nice little film, fun for the family but doesn't quite make it as a really good film. The kids will probably love it and let's face it, that's really the main thing for this sort of film.