#VERNE OVER THE HEDGE CODE#
Now you may be saying to yourself as you sit down to decide whether to see this film or see The Da Vinci Code for the third time, “Haven’t I seen this story before?” The answer is most likely a yes, as the story is not incredibly unique. That is until the day that RJ, the raccoon with the hidden agenda voiced by Bruce Willis, comes wandering into their lives with a plan to steal food from the humans and ultimately relieve himself of a very large debt owed to a very large and vicious bear, voiced by Nick Nolte (Nick Nolte?! He is still alive?) And of course, from there they get into all kinds of trouble, find comic relief and ultimately come to a great moral lesson through conflict… Get the point? Good.
Led by the wise, but extremely mild mannered turtle Verne, voiced by Gary Shandling, this group of foragers have long been comfortable in their routine of gathering food for winter. Such is the case with the story of a hibernating family of animals who awakes to find that their home-sweet-forest has being transformed into a concrete jungle of suburbia almost overnight. But some rise above the level of “mild” entertainment and become something much more… These movies are fun for kids, well animated, and include enough subtle sarcasm to keep any adult mildly entertained. We have seen it all before, the likes of Shrek, Ice Age, and most recently the subtly successful Hoodwinked.
#VERNE OVER THE HEDGE MOVIE#
In the great big world of Movie Marketing, this type of film is a derivative of a simple equation: you take a few well known actors (Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell), mix them with some recognizable and likable voices from other slightly less popular actors/musicians who can’t get parts other than voice-overs (Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Eugene Levy, and Avril Lavigne), add a cute story for the kids and WHAM!, you have a film that can easily bust out $100 million at the box office. Your prize is the privilege of reading this review… Gotcha! What do you get when you throw a hyperactive squirrel, an overly conservative turtle, and a shifty raccoon with an agenda into a film together and add a little bit of adult wit to an otherwise fluffy children’s flick? If you guessed that you get Dreamworks’ latest animated release Over the Hedge, then you are the winner.