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Animal magic with Bruce
Over the Hedge
Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
Certificate U
JUST when it looked like Wallace And Gromit had buried the opposition, Dreamworks come out with a corker of a cartoon that should run well into the summer holidays.
Not only is it cute to look at, but the voices are superbly cast: Bruce Willis takes the lead role, and is ably backed up by the likes of William Shatner, Nick Nolte and singer Avril Lavigne.
This is about how the ‘burbs’ – as the Americans like to call them – have slowly encroached on the wilderness, and the wilderness starting to bite back.
They are a motley crew of raccoons, skunks and squirrels with cute faces and voices enabling them to squeak their way through some set-piece song routines, all with an underlying message of loving your neighbour.
In the other corner is humanity, represented by some one I don’t want to speak for me: Gladys (Allison Janey) is a brilliant caricature of such satirical awfulness. Intent of waging war on the varmints in her vicinity, she is like a harsher version of Tom’s mistress in Tom and Jerry.
The story rotates around a Berlin Wall of a hedge: it’s what keeps our hippie-like animals out of sight from the nasty consumerist world of their human neighbours.
Central to the plot, it is what the hero racoon RJ (Willis) must sneak over, under or through in order to repay a debt to a grumpy bear (Nick Nolte).
It’s loaded with slapstick humour, has a strong moral sense which is not overtly cheesy, and above all has some good looking characters younger audiences will warm to. |
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