Category: Animation - Children - Family - Feature Film Family
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.99 Our Price: $16.99YOU SAVE $13!
Buy it
DVD Over the Hedge (Full Screen Edition)
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 realize 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
Stills from Over the Hedge (click for larger image)
Review(s): DVD Over the Hedge (Full Screen Edition)
4 1/2 STARS = Much better than Madagascar
If you love a bunch of good animated films -- especially the ones made by Dreamworks -- then you would be completely satisfied with Over the Hedge. I was satisfied with it and the movie made me laugh and blew me away. Over the Hedge tells a story of woodland creatures who see a hedge in their forest and they go pass it to sneak into people's houses for food. They get to know the world by their new fabulous leader racoon, RJ. Like all Dreamworks animated films, Over the Hedge has quite a bunch of good names in it such as Bruce Willis, as the funny, willing RJ, Garry Shandling as the overreacted turtle Verne, William Shatner as the father possum and Steve Carrell as the hyper-active squirrell, Hammy. I really think that Steve Carrell is a hilarious person. The animation was unique and stylized. Over the Hedge is sharper than Shark Tale, wilder than Madagascar. It's known as the first excellent CGI animated film made by Dreamworks that doesn't involve the big green ogre.
Delightfully Nutty
Watching 'Over the Hedge' I thought I was getting another paint-by-numbers Pixar movie. We have the usual suspects for a formula caper, including forrest animals who are waging war against the suburban villain, a female real estate developer, who wishes to squash the critters during their quest to "squirrel" food away from the greedy humans. It really surprised me for being so fresh and innovative. There is slap-stick and hijinx galore with an animal control "Verminator" and a colorful group of animal characters. 'Over the Hedge' makes one feel like a chucklehead--or at least laugh like one. This movie kept vending laughs like few movies in memory. They really did not hold onto a formula.
It all starts when possum RJ (Bruce Willis) steals the cache of vending goods from a sleeping bear in his den. He gets lucky until his greed rouses the bear, who forces RJ to return the booty destroyed by highway traffic or face a fatal mauling. RJ is able to con his forest allies to horde a feast, especially from the erst mentioned suburban land developer who lives "over the hedge". She's a driven realtor who won't stop at anything to vanquish the poor critters. Included in her arsenal is a ridiculous laser lawn zapper, which she says, "I don't care if it violates the Geneva Convention."
The lines and slap-stick are non-stop, and Wanda Sykes is great as the sexy skunk, Stella, a nice update to Pepe' Le Pew, and the one who needs to charm the lady's cat and detour the animal takeover. One funny development is when they use a nearby "See-and-say" toy to convice the cat that Stella is a vixen cat. They misfire and Hammy squirrel (Carrell) says, "I hope the cat likes a cow." The overall effect is a refreshing arcade with witty lines and a non-stop delivery. 'Over the Hedge' is delightfully nutty fun. (Voice talents by Steve Carrell, Gary Shandling, Nick Nolte, Thomas Hayden Church, William Shatner, as well as those mentioned, make this film a worthy movie outing.)
The squirrel alone deserves his own movie
"Over the Hedge" will not replace "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" as an animated heavyweight, but this is an enjoyable romp for the children and their parents. Like the "Shrek" and "Ice Age" films, "Over the Hedge" relies heavily on the ability of colorful characters to perform, with pitched perfect energy, in silly situations, even ones that defy gravity. I'm usually not looking for seriousness in an animated film. I'm surprised when I see it, but I do not preconceive it when I rent a DVD. I'm glad I found what I was looking for here.
Voiced by talented actors not necessarily in the vocal-variety, such as Garry Shandling, William Shatner, and Bruce Willis, "Over the Hedge" reminded me more of the old "Looney Tunes" cartoon shorts than it did the Pixar movies. Maybe that is needed after Pixar's fumble with "Cars," in which this movie is its infinite superior. The nonstop energy precedes any necessity to lecture the audience or an attempt to moralize them with battered life lessons. This PDI-DreamWorks feature does nothing but entertain and doesn't try to enlighten, which is what "Cars" tried to do yet failed. The makers of "Looney Tunes" wouldn't object that much to it, I'm sure.
Occasionally, there are the trademark observations and pop culture references that tend to dominate disposable entertainment, particularly animated entertainment. For example, RJ the Raccoon (voiced by Bruce Willis) explains to his new woodland creatures that an SUV holds "usually only one" passenger. But the movie balances the physical comedy well with cuteness, especially with Hammy the Squirrel (voiced by Steve Carell). No recent animated character this side of "Finding Nemo's" Dory managed to make me burst out in tears and laughter the way Hammy did.
This is a safe-bet of the kids, and the adults will laugh too.
Related DVD's Over the Hedge (Full Screen Edition)
There's an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar's vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film's high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It's odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?). Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who's directing for the first time since Toy Story... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 07 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.99 Your Price: $16.99YOU SAVE $13!
Buy it
The love life of a woolly mammoth--handled with G-rated delicacy--drives this sequel to the first computer-animated romp in the age of prehistoric mammals. While the first Ice Age took a delightful premise and suffocated it with a formulaic plot--in which a mammoth named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano, Everyone Loves Raymond), a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo, Moulin Rouge!), and a sabre-tooth tiger named Diego (Denis Leary, Rescue Me) helped an abandoned human infant return to its tribe (basically, Three Mammals and a Baby)--the sequel takes the now-familiar setting, gives it a shapeless, episodic storyline, and yet somehow becomes pretty... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.98 Your Price: $16.99YOU SAVE $12.99!
Buy it
A cuddly koala who wants to be fierce, a squirrel in love with a sarcastic giraffe, an addle-pated anaconda, and a lion with a secret set off from their cozy zoo to rescue the lion's adolescent cub from an accidental kidnapping. After braving the dangers of the big city and stealing a boat, they find themselves in the African jungle, where a renegade herd of wildebeest have decided they want to change their position on the food chain (understandable, really). The Wild is hodgepodge--it's never clear why these mismatched creatures are friends and plot elements seem haphazardly plucked from Finding Nemo, Madagascar, and Ice Age: The Meltdown (though the latter two were made at the same time as The Wild, so it's just unfortunate for this movie that they... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 12 September 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.99 Your Price: $19.99YOU SAVE $10!
Buy it
Take the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, add a dash of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and a lot more rum. Shake well and you'll have something resembling Dead Man's Chest, a bombastic sequel that's enjoyable as long as you don't think too hard about it. The film opens with the interrupted wedding of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), both of whom are arrested for aiding in the escape of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in the first film. Their freedom can only be obtained by getting Captain Jack's compass, which is linked to a key that's linked to a chest belonging to Davy Jones, an undead pirate with a tentacle face and in possession of a lot of people's souls. If you're already confused, don't worry--plot is definitely not the... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 05 December 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $34.99 Your Price: $19.99YOU SAVE $15!
Buy it
Critics and controversy aside, The Da Vinci Code is a verifiable blockbuster. Combine the film's huge worldwide box-office take with over 100 million copies of Dan Brown's book sold, and The Da Vinci Code has clearly made the leap from pop-culture hit to a certifiable franchise. The leap for any story making the move from book to big screen, however, is always more perilous. In the case of The Da Vinci Code, the plot is concocted of such a preposterous formula of elements that you wouldn’t envy screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the man tasked with making this story filmable. The script follows Dan Brown’s book as closely as possible while incorporating a few needed changes, including a better ending. And if you’re like most of the world, by now you’ve... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Ron Howard DVD Release Date: Released the 14 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $29.96 Your Price: $16.99YOU SAVE $12.97!
Buy it
The love life of a woolly mammoth--handled with G-rated delicacy--drives this sequel to the first computer-animated romp in the age of prehistoric mammals. While the first Ice Age took a delightful premise and suffocated it with a formulaic plot--in which a mammoth named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano, Everyone Loves Raymond), a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo, Moulin Rouge!), and a sabre-tooth tiger named Diego (Denis Leary, Rescue Me) helped an abandoned human infant return to its tribe (basically, Three Mammals and a Baby)--the sequel takes the now-familiar setting, gives it a shapeless, episodic storyline, and yet somehow becomes pretty... 