| Bruce Willis | …. | RJ (voice) |
| Garry Shandling | …. | Verne (voice) |
| Steve Carell | …. | Hammy (voice) |
| Wanda Sykes | …. | Stella (voice) |
| William Shatner | …. | Ozzie (voice) |
| Nick Nolte | …. | Vincent (voice) |
| Thomas Haden Church | …. | Dwayne (voice) |
| Allison Janney | …. | Gladys (voice) |
| Eugene Levy | …. | Lou (voice) |
| Catherine O'Hara | …. | Penny (voice) |
| Avril Lavigne | …. | Heather (voice) |
| Omid Djalili | …. | Tiger (voice) |
| Sami Kirkpatrick | …. | Bucky (voice) |
| Shane Baumel | …. | Spike (voice) |
| Madison Davenport | …. | Quillo (voice) |
Memorable quotes:
Tiger (the cat): "My father's face was so flat that he could barely breathe."
Dwayne: [after shooting the head off a plastic flamingo] "Arrrgh! Not again! Those things are so lifelike! Curse you, plastic moldsmen."
After a rained out attempt at the Shakespeare Festival, I ended up at the movies. Well, there was not much to choose from. So, I opted for Over the Hedge, the recent multi animal concotion by Dreamworks.
I expected very little going in. It seems with the popularity of Shrek (an excellent film), there have been a number of recent animation movies with talking animals and I honestly can barely tell one from another. It only seemed worse once I saw four (4) previews for animated movies before the film.
This is the tale of RJ, a raccoon (Bruce Willis), who runs into a bit of a bind with a bear named Vincent (Nick Nolte). RJ must fix his mistake and has but one week to do so. He soon falls upon a family of different animals led by Verne the turtle (Garry Shandling). RJ promises to make the animals work of forraging for food all year long for the winter months a thing of the past. While the family of animals has slept, a hedge has been built dividing their home from a brand new subdivision. RJ teaches the group about the wonders of the human life and human food. Soon, the animals are aiding RJ in collecting food, despite the protests of Verne, the safe leader. Once the animals' presence is known, the president of the neighborhood association (Alison Janney) is devising a plan to dispose the suburban bliss of the nasty vermin.
I really enjoyed the film. There were some total laugh at loud moments. One in the beginning was when RJ is attempting to get a bag of nacho chips from a vending machine and enlists the aid of a "grabber" that he has in his little golf bag. I laughed for a good five minutes on that one. Thomas Haden Church is hilarious as the exterminator Dwayne and Steven Carrell is a total stitch as Hammy. The movie's explanation of humans is so spot on, that its scary. I think that the film is making a small political statement about how humans behave and after how the animals behave after getting a taste of the human's food. If you have children, I highly recommend. You will all enjoy it.
There are some animation movies superior and I will see some of the movies that I saw on the previews.
Overall grade: B-
