Perfectly enjoyable, but somehow forgettable.

Rating: 5/10 (14 May 2008)

An enjoyable and fairly intelligent children's film, making a change from the usual tripe DreamWorks' computer animation studio churns out. RJ the raccoon needs to get food to replace what he stole from an angry bear, so he enlists naive forest animals who have just woken up for spring to find that their forest is now a housing estate. It has a few problems that make Over The Hedge less memorable than it deserves to be, Verne the tortoise, sensible leader of the forest animals, is voiced by Garry Shandling as if he has been tranquillised, even his screaming sounds bored, the pace can be a little slow in places, and the music is far too slow, and there are too many characters to care about, only Hammy the hyperactive squirrel and RJ the scheming raccoon are interesting. Also, the basic plot is a little irritating. RJ is lying to them, they're going to find out, but he really doesn't need to lie to get what he wants, and the moment half way through when Verne destroys all their hard work is infuriating. Unfortunately Over The Hedge is clearly trying for a Woody and Buzz dynamic between Venre and RJ but fails because the film starts with RJ, making him the main character, and he's the one with the personality, so he's the one the audience cares for, so it doesn't come across that he might be stealing Verne's thunder. Basically, Over The Hedge is much more enjoyable than it looks, but it doesn't really linger in the memory once it has finished.