Over The Hedge - Review Thread
 

Caught Over the Hedge after DaVinci today. This was definitely a lot better than the last few Dreamworks efforts. I thought Shark Tale was OK but didn't like much of Madagascar at all. Finally they go more for overall story and character, rather than just throwing together a bunch of celeb voices and cramming as many pop culture riffs as possible into 80minutes.

I thought the animation was some of the best CG in recent memory and was the first real Dreamworks/PDI movie that gives Pixar a run for it's money in the visuals. A few of the jokes pandered to the younger audience members and a few story points don't work as well as they could, but overall, it was a fun and brisk movie. Steve Carell really stole the movie as Hammy. Of course, he was the main reason I went to see the flick, so I'm clearly biased, but I think his fans won't be disappointed. My only criticism is he wasn't in the movie enough, although his final big scene (which is very similar to a scene in Hoodwinked) was great.

Overall it's a decent family film that kids are sure to love and isn't nearly as obnoxious as some of the recent crop of CG flicks.

Any thoughts?

MATT

Saw it last night (My friends father owns a movie theater so he screened it for us). Really enjoyed it. You're right about Hammy stealing the show. Espesially the last 15 minutes. When I was in tears from laughter. Really enjoyed it. ****/*****

Yeah, i'd give it a 4/5 too. Really enjoyable and not too much of that pop reference shit like Shrek. The last 15 were funny, but I was rotfl when RJ was explaining humans and food.

I really enjoyed it! The characters were extremely cute, and I loved Hammy! :)

Good to hear. Hopefully gonna check it out.

Went to see this and I have not laughed so hard in a long, long time. This is probably the best American animated movie since Toy Story 2. I can't wait to see this one again.

Had a great time with the cast of characters, and the energy level of the film is infectious and makes it fun to watch. The animation is on the level of the previous Shrek films, but there are some really entertaining sequences in the mix as well. Kids will love it, and most adults will find it pretty entertaining.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.

This was probably DreamWorks Animation's best film to date.

Like last week's Poseidon, the best thing about the film is it's frantic pace. Everything is set-up within the first ten minutes leaving the remaining seventy minutes to be a total blast. Funny, very energetic, and an animated film that contains heart with a slice of social commentary to boot. The kids and the adults in the theater both seemed to dig the flick.

:thumbsup:

And Hammy deserves his own short film at least.

Saw it today, wasnt too impressed. It was watchable for sure, but it just felt stale. Hammy was pretty cool but he wasnt anything like say the pengiuns from madagascar which 100% stole the show. Those pengiuns are so freakin funny its unreal. But yah, i give it a 2.5 out of 5.

good movie for the kids and funny... i liked it

Different strokes I guess. Loved Hammy, HATED the penguins.

MATT

I thought Over The Hedge was a work of sheer genius. I was sitting in a group of adult parents with grown-up teenagers who nearly fell off their seats laughing and high-fiving each other. It's got great animation that cannot help calling attention to itself and it's a good portrait of contemporary suburban consumer mores (in all other languages, the title is "Our Neighbours, the Humans") with a nice subtext, great writing and superb voice-work. The "cosmic" jokes were especially hilarious. The cultural references were many and I don't know how many caught the one about "Grand Theft Auto". I think it pretty much erases the low-level humour of "Madagascar" where a kick in the crotch was the end-all of all comedy. I even forgave the fact that there was another hyper caffeine-addled squirrel in the not-bad "Hoodwinked". It is also a pleasant diversion after seeing the extremely-depressing-for-all-the-wrong-reasons "Da Vinci Code"...

It came with a delightful short animation film from Dreamworks, called "First Flight", which put everybody in a good mood.

Oh I hope so, that would be AWESOME... this is the first animated movie I've seen in years where I'm actually HOPING for a sequel. :)

Like I said in the other thread about this movie, this movie was much better than I'd hoped (some of the recent animated movies have been pretty disappointing, and I haven't been a big dreamworks CGI movies fan). I thought there was a lot of humor, some wry social commentary (and some of both-at-the-same-time, like RJ's food speech), and some seriously memorable scenes that will probably get us in to the theater to see it again, especially when we can get to the farther-away theater that has it in DLP.

Hammy completely stole the show, especially during the scene everyone's talking about at the end, the whole theater was dying laughing! rotfl My favorite moment of his, though was his line "But I LOVES me the cookie!" especially when

it was good and looked great in our digital theater, but its no where near "nearly fell off their seats laughing and high-fiving each other" its got some funny parts, but most were in the trailer. I really liked steve carells squirrel, when he got energy drink time slowed down cause he was moving so fast.
I liked it enough where I will probably pick it up on DVD someday

We Canadians are simple folk, easily entertained, especially when it comes to laughing at our American neighbours' egregious consumerism.:D

I thought the movie "okay" at best. It had a good premise, and some excellent supporting characters, but the movie didn't rise to that special level because the leads didn't contribute. Garry Shandling and Bruce Willis had no chemisty at all, its like they were in a seperate movie.

Hammy stole the movie and I kept hoping they'd use him more because when the movie moved away from him, it wasn't as enjoyable.

Kick ass!! Great flick and I agree that Hammy stole the show. Got Laserpointer?

Saw this last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. I've been repeating that "cookie" line to myself a few times since. :lol:

I really liked it. I don't think Dreamworks will ever be able to recreate the magic they found with the Shrek movies but Over the Hedge is a great effort, only slightly behind Madagascar. Funniest bits for me were



and



Needed a few more gags and a bit more plot to really make it a great movie, but I thought it was very entertaining just the same.

I pooped myself during the propane tank chase with all that LFE -eek- :lol:

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