by Everett Jensen

Created on: March 26, 2009   Last Updated: March 27, 2009

Over the Hedge directed by Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick written by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, Karey Kirkpatrick starring Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carrell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Haden Church, Allison Janney, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Avril Lavigne

Over the Hedge is a Dreamworks Animated feature length film featuring the voices of Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, Steve Carrell and Wanda Sykes.

In this deft critique of American consumerist excess, a band of animals struggle to gather enough food to take them through the winter.

R.J. (Willis) is a raccoon with a nose for trouble. While traipsing about one day he apprehends a bear named Vincent (Nolte) hibernating in his lair. Behind him is a wheelbarrow filled with food. R.J. attempts to steal it but is caught but not before the carriage rolls down a hill and is destroyed by a semi-truck and other passing cars.. He makes a deal with Vincent that he will replace the contents within one week and proceeds to make good on his promise. He comes across a band of woodland animals who are waking up for their own hibernation. They discover that a giant hedge has been put up to keep them separate from the humans who have built a massive community around the area where the animals reside.

The film is tightly woven around the duplicitous nature of R.J. He pretends that he is helping the other animals when all he's doing is helping himself avoid instant death at the hands of Vincent. After a considerable struggle he convinces them to forge for food amongst the human's waste. Verne (Shandling), the box turtle, is apprehensive from the beginning and doesn't fully trust R.J. while the other animals fall in line. What follows is an epic adventure to gather as much food as possible and the film is filled with many delightful moments and intelligent writing.

The characters are richly drawn and each of them have a distinctive personality. They are enjoyable on many fronts and their behaviors are generally endearing. The story itself is fraught with enough complications to keep the youngsters in the audience on their toes throughout. The messages of community and selflessness are certainly necessary and presented in a vital and thoroughly engaging manner.

The story relates a community of animals who begin to pose a problem for a community of one. R.J. has elevated himself above all other concerns and initially has no intentions on allowing the other animals to reap the benefits from

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