Over the Hedge is Over the Top Wonderful

RJ, voiced by none other then Bruce Willis is a traveling raccoon con artist who gets himself into some trouble in the Dreamworks animated movie "Over the Hedge." He stole and accidentally destroyed a hibernating bear's stash of food, much to the ire of said bear (Nick Nolte). Mr. Bear gives RJ a week to replace the food and other sundry but sentimental objects that were also destroyed.

RJ makes his way to suburbia, where he teams up with a pair of possums (voiced by Avril Lavigne and William Shatner), a hyperactive raccoon (voiced by Steve Carell), a turtle (voiced by Gary Shandling), a family of porcupines (headed by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) and a skunk (voiced by Wanda Sykes). This motley crue attempts to get all of the food back in a quick eighty three minutes.

The target of their plot is the president of the local homeowner's association, voiced by none other than Allison Janey. When the homeowner association president realizes that she is under attack by local foragers, she contacts an exterminator to have them taken care of. No one and nothing can ruin her perfect community!

I did not see this movie; I saw the DVD version in the comforts of my own home with my husband while eating pizza. It was entertaining and parts of it made me giggle, though not belly-laugh. The story line is very simple as is the basic message of the movie - family means more than anything else that may come up in your life.

The best jokes in the film were early on. The writers, through RJ, poked fun at the lifestyles of many Americans, focusing specifically on their eating and exercise habits. I also particularly enjoyed the scene where time is at a stand still for all of the characters, except for the hyperactive squirrel Hammy. Hammy, who has just consumed a caffeine drink, is going about his normal business while everyone else is seemingly frozen in time. Without giving too much away, I was amazed at how much he accomplished in the seconds that went by.

The movie is a short eighty-three minutes. The characters undergo the stereotypical changes that one would expect in an animated film of this length and genre. There are no major surprises or plot twists. It is a movie that the entire family can enjoy while watching it together. All in all, it was a pretty decent movie.