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Capone Dives OVER THE HEDGE!!
Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here.
Hopefully sometime in the next week or
so I'll finish transcribing my interview with Over the Hedge co-director Tim
Johnson. In the meantime, I offer up my take on film itself. Here's a hint:
I likey.
It's hardly a secret that many family-oriented films of late bite the big
one, if for no other reason then they don't offer up enough entertainment
value for the parents/adults who inevitably end up dragging the kiddies to
go see these films. There are exceptions, including nearly every Pixar film,
every feature from Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run), the
Shrek films, and now Over the Hedge.
While this Dreamworks production
doesn't skimp on the flashy visuals and fart jokes that preteens seem to
adore (I kind of like them too), there's another layer here that I found so
endearing and fun that I can't imagine people not enjoying the heck out of
this little gem.
Bruce Willis voices RJ the raccoon, who is caught stealing food from a
hibernating bear (a terrifyingly gravel-voiced Nick Nolte). He ends up
loosing the food and is given an ultimatum by the bear: replace the food in
a short amount of time or die. In his search for a quick food supply, RJ
stumbles upon a group of woodland creatures that are only just waking up
from hibernation and realizing that during their long winter sleep, suburbia
has cropped up on the outskirts of their forest.
Suddenly their vast food
supply, which they normally begin collecting as soon as they wake, has been
threatened. Fortunately RJ knows a little something about what lies over the
hedge that separates the forest from the homes on the other side and offers
to assist the animals in collecting food (which he will ultimately swipe).
Willis has a commanding, swarthy presence as RJ, a natural leader and
persuader of animals compared to the creatures de facto leader Verne the
turtle (Garry Shandling), who through some freak of nature is not actually
attached to his shell, thus making it removable. Also on hand are Wanda
Sykes as the Stella the skunk (who complains quite a bit about the lack of
willing dates), William Shatner as the overacting possum Ozzie, the
surprisingly effective Avril Lavigne as his daughter Heather, and long-time
comedy partners Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as some sort of
hedgehog-type creatures.
But hands-down the reason to slap down your hard-earned cash to see this
film is an inspired, riotous, insane vocal performance by Steve Carell as
Hammy the squirrel. I laughed at every word that come out of this guy's
mouth. If Dreamworks doesn't include every minute of video footage of
Carell's recording his lines on the DVD for Over the Hedge, there is no God.
I'm sure if Hammy is supposed to be retarded, slow, or just in desperate
need of medication, but he's a miracle of animation. Bless co-directors Tim
Johnson (Antz) and Karey Kirkpatrick (co-writer of Chicken Run, The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the upcoming Charlotte's Web remake)
for selecting Carell (who was hired when he was just that guy from "The
Daily Show") for this part. I should also mention that Thomas Haden Church
voices Dwayne the Verminator, hired by a housewife (Allison Janney) to take
care of the invading animals looking for food. I have a feeling Dwayne was
supposed to be the real comic relief of this film, but Hammy steals all
scenes from all comers.
As with most animated films, an army of writers contributed to the script,
but one name caught my eye as being a part of the team: Len Blum. Blum has
been around a long time in the comedy arena, as a screenwriter on Meatballs,
Stripes, and more recently Howard Stern's Private Parts. I suspect that a
big part of my reason for falling for this film as hard as I did has to do
with his participation in the writing.
The CGI animation style of Over the
Hedge is fairly realistic with being creepily photorealistic (as the recent
The Wild is). There are loads of inventive action sequences, lots of
well-earned laughs (I particularly liked Shatner poking fun as his own
tendency to over-emote and gesture while acting), and nothing particularly
offensive. Thankfully, the one thing missing from Over the Hedge are pages
of pop culture references, the kind that date a film five years after its
release. It's the more timeless quality of this film that I appreciate and
applaud.
The bottom line is, Over the Hedge is note perfect on just about every
level. It's not concerned with heavy-handed messages about protecting the
forests or the animals that live there; it's not tackling the problem of
urban sprawl. The mission here is pure entertainment, and with much thanks
to a crazy squirrel, that mission is accomplished. I'll be the first in line
to buy a Hammy the Squirrel plushy as long as Steve Carell's voice is coming
out of it.
Capone
so I'll finish transcribing my interview with Over the Hedge co-director Tim
Johnson. In the meantime, I offer up my take on film itself. Here's a hint:
I likey.
It's hardly a secret that many family-oriented films of late bite the big
one, if for no other reason then they don't offer up enough entertainment
value for the parents/adults who inevitably end up dragging the kiddies to
go see these films. There are exceptions, including nearly every Pixar film,
every feature from Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run), the
Shrek films, and now Over the Hedge.
While this Dreamworks production
doesn't skimp on the flashy visuals and fart jokes that preteens seem to
adore (I kind of like them too), there's another layer here that I found so
endearing and fun that I can't imagine people not enjoying the heck out of
this little gem.
Bruce Willis voices RJ the raccoon, who is caught stealing food from a
hibernating bear (a terrifyingly gravel-voiced Nick Nolte). He ends up
loosing the food and is given an ultimatum by the bear: replace the food in
a short amount of time or die. In his search for a quick food supply, RJ
stumbles upon a group of woodland creatures that are only just waking up
from hibernation and realizing that during their long winter sleep, suburbia
has cropped up on the outskirts of their forest.
Suddenly their vast food
supply, which they normally begin collecting as soon as they wake, has been
threatened. Fortunately RJ knows a little something about what lies over the
hedge that separates the forest from the homes on the other side and offers
to assist the animals in collecting food (which he will ultimately swipe).
Willis has a commanding, swarthy presence as RJ, a natural leader and
persuader of animals compared to the creatures de facto leader Verne the
turtle (Garry Shandling), who through some freak of nature is not actually
attached to his shell, thus making it removable. Also on hand are Wanda
Sykes as the Stella the skunk (who complains quite a bit about the lack of
willing dates), William Shatner as the overacting possum Ozzie, the
surprisingly effective Avril Lavigne as his daughter Heather, and long-time
comedy partners Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as some sort of
hedgehog-type creatures.
But hands-down the reason to slap down your hard-earned cash to see this
film is an inspired, riotous, insane vocal performance by Steve Carell as
Hammy the squirrel. I laughed at every word that come out of this guy's
mouth. If Dreamworks doesn't include every minute of video footage of
Carell's recording his lines on the DVD for Over the Hedge, there is no God.
I'm sure if Hammy is supposed to be retarded, slow, or just in desperate
need of medication, but he's a miracle of animation. Bless co-directors Tim
Johnson (Antz) and Karey Kirkpatrick (co-writer of Chicken Run, The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the upcoming Charlotte's Web remake)
for selecting Carell (who was hired when he was just that guy from "The
Daily Show") for this part. I should also mention that Thomas Haden Church
voices Dwayne the Verminator, hired by a housewife (Allison Janney) to take
care of the invading animals looking for food. I have a feeling Dwayne was
supposed to be the real comic relief of this film, but Hammy steals all
scenes from all comers.
As with most animated films, an army of writers contributed to the script,
but one name caught my eye as being a part of the team: Len Blum. Blum has
been around a long time in the comedy arena, as a screenwriter on Meatballs,
Stripes, and more recently Howard Stern's Private Parts. I suspect that a
big part of my reason for falling for this film as hard as I did has to do
with his participation in the writing.
The CGI animation style of Over the
Hedge is fairly realistic with being creepily photorealistic (as the recent
The Wild is). There are loads of inventive action sequences, lots of
well-earned laughs (I particularly liked Shatner poking fun as his own
tendency to over-emote and gesture while acting), and nothing particularly
offensive. Thankfully, the one thing missing from Over the Hedge are pages
of pop culture references, the kind that date a film five years after its
release. It's the more timeless quality of this film that I appreciate and
applaud.
The bottom line is, Over the Hedge is note perfect on just about every
level. It's not concerned with heavy-handed messages about protecting the
forests or the animals that live there; it's not tackling the problem of
urban sprawl. The mission here is pure entertainment, and with much thanks
to a crazy squirrel, that mission is accomplished. I'll be the first in line
to buy a Hammy the Squirrel plushy as long as Steve Carell's voice is coming
out of it.
Capone
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+ Expand All
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Strikes me the formula for these things is getting really very tired...when are we going to see some originality brought to this CGI feature format that supposedly is capable of realising any possible, vista, storyline, idea? Crazy animals, cel-animation-derived poses and designs, celeb voices...even Pixar hit the wall with Finding Nemo which, while beautiful to look at, seemed pretty much 'by-the-numbers' plot-wise to me. Unless Lasseter has done something radical with Cars then I suspect (ironically) he's taken over at Disney just at the wrong time creatively.
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thats been billy shat's career for the past decade...that and pricelines commercials. now where's my TJ Hooker movie?
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Sounds quite good all in all. And tripp5, have you seen Boston Legal? Bill Shat touching up women and shooting people! About a million times better than TJ Hooker...
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W&G = funniest, most entertaining family film ever made.
I'll see Over the Hedge for Steve Carrell and Denny Crane alone. -
Really this is the one film of the season I've actually even remotely thought about going to see. "Myocardial Infarction 3"? "Poopsidedown"? "The Da Stinki Code"? Meh, not so much. I just wish the hype machine didn't overdo it and make me sick of this one already...I mean, really, I recently saw on TV (in order); a trailer, a Wal-Mart ad, AND a Trix yogurt ad. I'm almost as sick of the over-hype for "Cars"...just as an aside, I love Pixar's films but man do I HATE car racing! Anyway, I will be going to check this out...because I've read the comic strip.
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"...poking fun at his own tendency to over-emote and gesture while acting." Um, hasn't Shatner been doing this for the past two decades? You're a bad actor, Shat, we GET it.
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I too have read the comic strip, which as of late has been poking fun at the actors playing their respective roles in the movie, so hopefully they have captured some of that humor.
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look for this to be one of the summer's big hits.
I would also bet on OVER THE HEDGE as a dark horse to have a bigger opening than DAVINCI CODE. Not likely, but you never know. -
There, I said it. OTH has an advantage of being out first, and I think it looks a little more viewer friendly.
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...but everyone seems to like it here. I'll catch it on DVD, though, rather than seeing it with a bunch of hyped up working class five year old scumbags.
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and will probably go see this, but I am getting tired of the 'let's appeal to adults by putting a bunch of look-how-clever-we-are references in the film' approach. The comic strip works by appealing to adults in that it is *smart*, basing much of its humor on the assumption that the reader is intelligent. I remember when 'adult' or 'mature' themes in movies also referred to the intelligent handling of comedy, drama, etc. to differentiate the film from lowbrow crapola. But, I will be there for this latest (umpteenth?) incarnation of the pop-culture-popular 'Toy Story' approach.
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OTH is going to ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Opening weekend theaters will be filled with screaming kids, and there would be no point in going.
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I'll be there tomorrow night, or next Saturday if it's raining tomorrow. Can't fucking wait!!!!
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I mean, there were some admitadly funny moments, most that were lost on my son (the slo mo on Hammy was great, but he's 5 so he asked..why is he moving slow?), but I almost forgot the movie the second the credits rolled. Maybe I've seen too many talking cartoon animal movies, but nothing stuck. It's not in the league of shrek or Nemo etc..It's about the same as Madigascar or Chicken Little.
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those would be porcupines, Capone, porcupines is the answer we were looking for. Sheesh, ever watch a Mutaul of Omaha Wild Kingdom? Glad to see this is getting good reviews as I will be taking the little one to see it this weekend. Madagascar was barely tolerable in the theaters but I learned to like it a bit more on subsequent dvd viewings, nowhere near a classic though, just alright. Chicken Little on the otherhand was uninspired shit. It was the second movie to ever put me to sleep in the theater (The Peacekeeper being the first)
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The trailer made me cringe, looks like absolute digital crap.
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Shrek and Shrek 2 have got to be some of the most pop-cultural pieces of shit kiddy-fare that I've ever seen. Not one part of any of those two movies is timeless or will resonate eith people 3 years from now. They're pretty unwatchable now as it is.
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Nothing in the movie suggests she has a husband, in fact it's pretty clear she sleeps alone. She seemed to be a career woman who would be more at home in the city than in the suburbs, but is probably in the suburbs so she can have more control over it via her being president of the home owner's association. She's obnoxious...but unless Housewife now means married to one's house, it doesn't apply to her.
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