Bringing his characters to three-dimensional life presented many challenges for the animation team, but most daunting of all was designing convincing fur. Co-directors Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick reveal the roots of the story in an eco-minded comic strip by T Lewis. It harvested $155m in international ticket sales - which is good, but small potatoes compared to Shrek 2's haul of $436m.ДЄ small cluster of featurettes accompanies the film on this Special Edition DVD, including Behind The Hedge. Critics were satisfied more than bowled over by DreamWorks' formulaic approach, but the film scored highly with moviegoers. (See /issues/dispatch//screens_feature3.html for more on the film.Bruce Willis voices a wily racoon in Over The Hedge, a ' frothy but entertaining' toon caper about woodland creatures in an endangered habitat. With more attention to the fundamentals of narrative, Over the Hedge wouldnвЂ™t be so over the top. Three songs by Ben Folds (including a reworked version of вЂњRockinвЂ™ the SuburbsвЂќ) neither add to nor detract from the project, which could be the faintest praise ever.

Unfortunately, the script (by no fewer than four writers) is more dialogue than story, and it confuses mayhem with action, like too many family entertainments ( Chicken Little, IвЂ™m looking in your direction). Carell has a knack for investing cartoonish characterizations with undeniable heart, and HammyвЂ™s addle-brained innocence is a perfect fit. The cast is uniformly good, but Carell steals it as Hammy, the stripвЂ™s lovable dingbat. explains.) The film retains most of the stripвЂ™s charm when it slows down to a cute, fuzzy satire of human foibles, and the animation technology allows a wonderful funhouse view of suburban living in the expository scenes. (вЂњHumans ride around in it because theyвЂ™re slowly losing their ability to walk,вЂќ R.J. Everyone needs to eat, so the animals broach the hedge and discover chips, Dr.

ThereвЂ™s even places in my shell IвЂ™ve never been,вЂќ Shandling moans.) Verne and the gang вЂ“ squirrel Hammy (Carell), skunk Stella (Sykes), possums Ozzie and Heather (Shatner and Lavigne, sadly less compelling as a father-daughter combination than you might expect), and a family of sweetly Midwestern porcupines (Levy and OвЂ™Hara) вЂ“ awaken from their hibernal slumber to find their woods entirely surrounded by a massive hedge, beyond which lie acres of McMansions guarded by a hysterical homeownersвЂ™ president (Janney). (Willis) wanders into the master-planned bubble of El Rancho Camelot вЂ“ вЂњYour gateway to the good lifeвЂќ вЂ“ in search of junk food, but he finds something more: a surrogate family of gentle wilderness creatures shepherded by Verne (Shandling), a cautious and put-upon turtle.

IвЂ™m also sad to report that what the MPAA calls вЂњmild comic actionвЂќ is a sort of Acme-Laboratories slapstick violence, and thereвЂ™s a scaryass bear (voiced by Nolte) who may terrify small-fries by growling, вЂњAnd donвЂ™t even think about running away because I will hunt you down and kill you.вЂќ Yet DreamWorksвЂ™ entry in the cartoon-blockbuster sweepstakes (alongside FoxвЂ™s Ice Age: The Meltdown and PixarвЂ™s upcoming Cars) has its pleasures вЂ“ if you can roll with ursine death threats and an exterminator (Church) jonesing for critter blood. Lewis) extra appeal for grownups, but like a lot of animated fare, itвЂ™s overly busy, lacking the comicвЂ™s gentle, contemplative air. Canny casting and a sly anti-consumerist message give this splashy big-screen treatment of the eponymous comic strip (by Austinite Michael Fry and former Texan T.

Squirrel from over the hedge