Product Description

The pack strikes back! In DreamWorks' smash hit comedy, a band of hungry forest critters goes "over the hedge" to take a bite out of Suburbia. Plus, check out the All-New Mini-Movie, Hammy's Boomerang Adventure only on the Over the Hedge DVD… It's the funniest, furriest, four minutes you'll see this year!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2072 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2006-10-17
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.com
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)

Customer Reviews

Pure Summer Fun
"Over the Hedge" is funny. Pure summer fun, the kind of movie a car full of seventh grade boys see with a car full of seventh grade girls. While it was only released in May, it has all the makings of a summer movie, like the old Peanuts movies. Nothing here is too complicated to understand, most of it is pretty silly, and all of it is safe for the entire family.

When movies are made, they intend an audience, and an audience reaction. Here, the bar was not set to be compared to the sentimental depth of "Finding Nemo," or the abject, hyperactive hilarity of "Aladdin." Here, "Over the Hedge" has a basic plot, and a basic conflict, and does the job it sets out to do.

RJ the Raccoon owes a very angry bear a wagon load of snacks, and realizes the new human suburb is packed with these snacks. He meets up with a friendly, but not too smart neighborhood of small forest animals, led by a careful-thinking turtle named Vern.

The characters are strong, each is distinguished from the other, with distinctive personalities, unlike the overblown homogeny found in some cartoons. This matters especially here, as there are more animals than some younger children will be familiar with.

Can RJ persuade the animals to help him steal the snacks from the humans? Will Vern remain the sensible leader, and help them avoid the 'Verminator' and his viscous animal killing tools?

For me, the funniest scene is an almost Matrix-like action sequence when the ordinarily hyper Hammy drinks a caffeine drink and goes in on a mission. Time stops, but not for Hammy.

The animation is good enough, and the story is told straight-ahead, without catchy songs. No one will leave the theater thinking, "That's incredible production value!" They will leave laughing, with an original story.

The structure of the movie is the reverse of Man vs his environment. As the humans take over former forest, there are fewer places for the animals to find food. Naturally, the animals smell potato chips and want more. Naturally, also, the humans want to retain a hedge between the woods and their home.

Messages about Man encroaching on his environment are throughout, but these do not overtake the movie. It might leave a few suburban moms and dads feeling a little sheepish, but everyone will laugh too much to really have a guilt trip.

I fully recommend "Over the Hedge."

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Over the hedge is over the top
A very funny and well executed new animated feature. The story is well written and the voices are well cast. The script is full of fun poking at current day society. When asked how many people normally travel in a SUV, Bruce Willis replies one. There are swipes at video games and high end consumer goods. The most fun is poked at food and the eating habits of the average American. The kids should like the animals and the grown ups should like the humor. There is something here for everybody. This is fun, try it.

FANTASTIC.............
This movie was very very funny. The Story was great, how the animals worked together even were they where being decieved. The kids in the movie were very well done, so were the animals. I do not think that they could have done a better job!!! I highly recommend this movie to everyone. Well Done.