Over The Hedge
By: Arsalan
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I'm sitting here at the Las Vegas airport and I have this terrible feeling inside that my flight may be delayed. I've spent the past 5 days just standing around. I've stood and waiting for planes to land and take off. For events to begin. Or for buses to move. And each time, I've had nothing to do (I need an Ipod). Not willing to put up with another round of boredom, I have decided to risk arthritis pain in my fingers, pick up my pen and paper and review 'Over The Hedge'. As I don't have all my material on me, I apologize in advance for not remembering the names of the different animals in the film and referring to them simply as 'the squirrel' or 'the skunk'. NO WAIT! I remember the name of the skunk. A hilarious scene in the film ensures that a viewer never forgets her name.
Before the film started, we were introduced to Jeffrey Katzenberg who invited some of the more prominent people in charge of the production and animation of the film on stage. We were informed that the cut we were about to see was only 85% complete. It didn't matter much as the scenes that weren't complete at least had all its sound and animation there so there was no break at all when watching the film.
When the film opens, we are introduced to the raccoon, the central character in the film. It is almost the end of winter and our raccoon friend who has figured that smooching off human settlements is a more efficient way to grab a bite is not having much luck today. After trying some creative and amusing ways to grab a bag of tortilla chips from a vending machine and failing, he ignored the voices of wisdom in his head and decides to steal from the local bear who is in his last few days of hibernation. Getting a bit too greedy, he accidentally wakes up the bear and in a moment of panic, drops all the food onto a highway. Little survives once a truck runs over it. The bear, feeling generous, gives the raccoon 10 days to gather the food or ELSE!
Enter our band of merry friends; lead by a turtle, who informs us that they only have 284 days till winter so they better start collecting food. The rest of the team comprises of a lovable yet not so bright squirrel with a heart of gold and a body that one would think is on over drive. We have a family of hedgehogs where the kids are expert gamers, a skunk (Stella) looking for a mate with no sense of smell and a father/daughter team of weasels, the father being an over dramatic Shakespearean weasel obsessed with death. In order to grab all the food for the bear, the raccoon cons these animals into helping him. Needless to say, over time, the raccoon has a change of heart.
'Over the Hedge' is one of the cutest films I've ever seen. I feel special that I caught 'Cars' and now this in a span of one week. While at the end of the day, Cars is the more quality and superior film, Over the Hedge is much more adorable and funnier. At times, the film is so over the top, it reminds me a little of Family Guy without the raunchy humor and a whole lot more innocence. However, much like all Dreamworks Animation films, there is a heavy reliance on pop culture references, though lesser than the previous flicks. It makes for hilarity but kills any chance of longevity.
Hedge also has some great and memorable sequences but a few of them really stick out. The first encounter of the animals with 'The Hedge' or as they initially name it, 'Steve' is priceless. Even more so are the raccoon's interpretation of human beings and their activities and his national geographic summary of man's obsession with food. Of course, every scene involving the squirrel is an instant winner, drawing lots of awws for the adorability factor and laughs for absurdity (as witnessed in a scene where he chases a laser light being used to control his movement). There is a scene, which I believe was a complete rip off of an episode of Futurama where Fry is caffeinated and saves everyone from a burning building. Quite the similar thing happens here. While I hate rip offs, the ridiculous smile and the look of ignorance on the face of the squirrel made all my anger go away.
Over the Hedge is a must see movie not just for families or animation lovers but for everyone. Just remember to brush up on your pop culture so you get all the jokes.
Grade: A
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