MOVIE REVIEW : OVER THE HEDGE (Fanti Agustin Tresna Putri)

When opportunistic raccoon RJ (Bruce Willis) attempt to make off with the junk food stockpile of slumbering bear Vincent (Nick Nolte) he ends up biting off more than he can chew. Accidentally destroying everything – including the carnivore’s prized ruby-red wagon – the rapacious robber has one week to restore everything to Vincent’s den or else he’ll be the animal’s first post-hibernation snack.

Enter ever-cautious turtle Verne (Garry Shandling) and his extended family of woodland critters, hyperactive squirrel Hammy (Steve Carell), sassy skunk Stella (Wanda Sykes), melodramatic possum Ozzie (William Shatner), his exasperated teenage daughter Heather (Avril Lavigne) and homley porcupines Penny (Catherine O’Hara) and Lou (Eugene Levy) whose energetic three children bubble with manic energy. This group has just woken up from their own winter nap to a big surprise. Their habitat has been invaded by a monstrous green menace none has ever seen before. It’s a strange new visitor, a monstrous hedge seemingly extending into infinity hiding a world more exciting, more mysterious, more dangerous than any they’ve ever known: Suburbia.

RJ knows an opportunity when he sees one, quickly making friends with this jovial group of foragers and helping them explore the land on the other side of the hedge. Verne is suspicious of this supposed new addition to his flock, insisting to no avail that the raccoon’s motivations are not as they appear. And he’s right, RJ’s intention are less than pure, but when the entire group starts giving him their friendship, inviting the raccoon into their family with open arms, betraying them might be the one selfish act this sneaky mammal just can’t do.

Based on the popular comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis, the Dreamworks computer animated comedy “Over the Hedge” is a fast-paced family friendly delight. It is an exuberantly entertaining cartoon confection sure to delight children of all shapes and sizes. While it isn’t quite the same laugh out loud experience for adults as it is for their kids, the smiles it produces and the giggles it creates are still infectious enough it's easy to overlook the flaws.

This is a relief, because for a little while there I was starting to have my doubts. After a perfectly delightful opening featuring RJ and an uncooperative vending machine, this movie goes downhill, literally, fast. It was everything I hate about family entertainment; loud, obnoxious, an assault on the senses, the movie revels in bathroom humor. Nothing works for about fifteen long, almost nauseating minutes, and for the record I was stealing myself to having to sit through 90-plus minutes of hell.

Then the miraculous happens and “Over the Hedge,” thanks to RJ’s peppy prodding, turns into a frothy bit of effervescent fun. The woodland creatures spring to the other side of the hedge, thankfully bringing this movie to life the same moment they do so. Vern and his friends discover humanity and, in doing so, uncover a blissfully entertaining motion picture. The whole thing is a clash of species and cultures, an effortlessly winning menagerie of fur and fury so detailed and imaginative it was hard to believe the same people who made the turgid opening were responsible for the rest of it.

In a way, I almost couldn’t help but think this success was a direct results of the producers good fortune in bringing “Chicken Run” and “James and the Giant Peach” co-writer Kerry Kirkpatrick onboard. Making his directorial debut (alongside “Antz” veteran Tim Johnson), “Over the Hedge” has much of the same wit and acerbic ironic whimsy of that aforementioned Claymation feathered escape fantasy. While it doesn’t share the sheer abundance of laughs his poultry flavored “Great Escape” did, that’s okay, it’s still fun, and with so many family films unable to achieve even a smile this has to be considered nothing less than a minor miracle.

On the woodland side, the vocal actors really take to their animals, running with them gleefully and bringing a timely winsomeness that’s surprisingly touching. Sykes and Shatner are particular wonderful, while the giftedly dry Shandling nearly steals every scene he’s in. Only the human characters come up short, both Allison Janney (as the neurotic head of the homeowner’s association) and Thomas Haden Church (playing the Rambo of animal control professionals) not given near enough material to make their characters anything more than a couple of hyperventilating annoyances.

Yet the movie works. While it doesn’t have the subtle observational tenacity of the popular strip, the genuinely touching familial warmth remains intact, and watching RJ and Vern travel the road to friendship is admittedly priceless. Willis and Shandling are a great Mutt and Jeff team, their voices combining perfectly with the stupendous animation to form a beauteous symmetry that’s truly a joy.

Not that I didn’t want more then what the filmmakers ultimately delivered. These characters are so rapturously engaging I can’t help but feel they deserved a better story than the frenetic hokum they were given. But I had fun, and I certainly wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t make sure to say so. Kids will love it, and their parents aren’t going to regret watching it with them, making “Over the Hedge” an animated comedy worth scavenging the Cineplex trashcan for.

 

the character

-RJ ,A raccoon con artist, RJ takes pride in being extremely lazy. He apparently envisions himself as an intellectual; however, his "facts" are obviously false. He loves to ransack human homes, as well as watch them and their televisions through the windows. While he enjoys commenting on human life, most of his statements are false as well, although he has studied humans and knows their ways of getting food, and even has slightly imprinted on them.

-Verne, he had a serious dislike for RJ, but eventually, he becomes his best friend and partner in crime. A sensitive, philosophizing, lactose abhorrent turtle who is reflective and prone to allergies. Verne is a true renaissance-turtle, a cautious and critical observer with a deep spiritual side and a tingling feeling in his tail when something is not right. He is one of the most intelligent characters , but he sometimes lacks a basic common sense. His proudest achievement is gathering all of the air conditioners out of Suburbia, and shouting, "LET THE GLOBAL COOLING COMMENCE!!!".
 

-Hammu,A hyperactive squirrel, Hammy is the least intelligent, though also the most lovable character in the strip, spouting random comments at random moments. His comments usually state an unusually short lecture on a topic of little interest to the other characters. The character started the strip as "Hammy," but the character was replaced by "Sammy." The character was known for some time thereafter as "Sammy", until he swapped places with his duplicate, also named "Hammy," from the other side of a mirror.

-Stella, a short-tempered, sassy striped skunk who is constantly being told by the other foragers that she needs a man in her life.  

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 Ozzie and Heather, a Virginia opossum father and daughter who see the world from different points of view; Ozzie often embarrasses Heather when he feigns death to get away from danger. -Lou, a north American porcupine  father and family patriarch with an overly talkative and optimistic attitude.  

-Penny, the porcupine family matriarch and optimistic mother; she serves as a ground between their family and the other animals. 

-Spike, Bucky and Quillo, Lou and Penny's three identical sons. They're big on video games (unlike their actual size) and are the most enthusiastic about exploring the world beyond the hedge.  

-Tiger, a Persian cat whose sense of smell has faded to nothing after years of his "beautiful" evolution; his Persian name is "Prince TigeriusMahmoud Shaboz." He falls in love with Stella and comes to live with her at the end of the movie. 

-Vincent, a massive American black bear  whose ruthless behavior intimidates RJ and later, the other animals


My Favorite part of the movie:

when RJ realize that the real happiness things are have a family  

i like the movie because it very interesting