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MiraJeff takes a peek OVER THE HEDGE and the perv likes what he sees!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with MiraJeff's look at Dreamworks animation's newest (and I dare say best) flick OVER THE HEDGE. I saw this one a while back, in an unfinished state, at ShoWest, and was really quite happy with it. It might have been because my expectations were so low for a Dreamworks Animated flick (SHARK TALE was one of the worst films I have ever seen. Ever. Seriously.), but I tend to think it was because Mr. Katzenberg finally realized he could please both the kids and the parents and took a page from Pixar's playbook. Lite on the pop culture references, heavy on the character comedy. I'm glad they finally put out a great family flick.
Before I take too much of MiraJeff's limelight, I will cease my ramblings and turn the floor over to him. Enjoy!!!
Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here with a peek Over the Hedge, the latest from DreamWorks’ animation division. I’m gonna keep this review short and sweet, like the movie, which was the last movie I saw at Tribeca this year, although it won’t be the last I review. Frankly, Over the Hedge was great. I loved it. It should say enough that when I came out of the movie, I debated whether or not it was on the Toy Story 2/Shrek/The Incredibles level, and while it isn’t quite as classic as those movies, it’s pretty damn close. It’s definitely earned a spot on the Shrek 2/Monsters Inc./Bug’s Life shelf, for sure. And for those of you wondering, the original Toy Story is in a league of its own.
Over the Hedge stars Bruce Willis as R.J. the raccoon, whose hunger pains force him to try and steal a wagon-full of food from a hibernating grizzly bear, with disastrous results. The villain is voiced by Nick Nolte, who actually sounds like a grizzly bear. So one day in the woods R.J. meets a bunch of animals in the forest and like a slippery encyclopedia salesman, or The Music Man, sells them on the idea that he can get them enough food so that they’ll never go hungry again, but he needs their help in stealing this food. Who are they stealing from? Us humans of course, and one SUV-driving, cell phone-loving, junk-food buying, working-class suburban mommy in particular, voiced by the hilariously bitchy Alison Janney. How will the animals get the food? They’ll have to go over the hedge, a massive stretch of green bush that they call ‘Steve’ to weaken its intimidation factor. In addition to the grizzly and the mommy, the animals have to deal with an exterminator called The Verminator (Thomas Haden Church) who has a high-tech arsenal at his disposal, not to mention some in-house squabbles about who the group should take their cues from, R.J. or the wise, old turtle voiced by Garry Shandling.
The rest of the animals in the group are voiced by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara (married porcupines), William Shatner and Avril Lavigne (father-daughter possums), Wanda Sykes as Stella the Skunk (cue the Streetcar joke), and Steve Carrell, who plays the caffeine-free lightning bolt Hammy the Hamster. The real scene-stealer though is a Persian housecat voiced by Omid Djalili, who reminded me of Puss ‘N Boots. There’s no doubt that Hammy is sure to be an audience favorite, although Stella might earn the sympathies of young girls with odor problems. Willis’ chipper line readings hold the whole cast together, and personally I don’t think many actors could have sold that role for me. Years ago, AICN originally reported that Jim Carrey was voicing R.J. but I don’t know that he really could have pulled it off. Willis makes us feel bad for a character who really, isn’t all that nice a guy. He’s selfish and dishonest, but that all changes when he finally meets this cast of characters in the woods, who become his surrogate family. Shandling fills a need, playing the straight man and voice of reason, while Shatner does his Shatner thing and Avril spares us her vocal talents on the soundtrack, handing the reigns over to none other than Ben Folds, who pulls a Jack Johnson in Curious George here. None of the songs are especially memorable, but then again, this isn’t a musical like Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King.
The super-talented voice cast aside, actors are not what bring an animated kids movie to the next level. That would be the story, and with Over the Hedge, co-directors Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick have found the perfect screenplay to work from. The jokes come a mile a minute and the film is so darn well-written, it’s impossible to write off as just another flick for the kiddies. This is one I would recommend teenage guys seriously consider taking dates to. Forget the overlong DaVinci Code which might put the lady on your arm to sleep. Over the Hedge is an energetic laugher that might earn you some nookie during the car ride home from the theater, just because you had the balls to stand in line with a bunch of chair-kicking six year-olds. Over the Hedge is wholesome entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. Hell, I’m 22 and I might even see it again. Not sure if that says more about me, or the movie, but hey, it’s my ten bucks, right? Put this one down in the pantheon of children’s entertainment, because Over the Hedge is a movie your kids will probably be watching over and over until its inevitable sequel gets released.
That’ll do it for me, folks. I’ll be back next week with a look at An Inconvenient Truth, the old-school horror flick Hatchet, starring Freddy, Jason, and the Candyman, plus a recap of some of Tribeca’s finest shorts, including a hilarious entry from Vinny Chase himself, Adrian Grenier. ‘Til next time, this is MiraJeff, signing off…
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I think it looks like crap, but my kid wants to see it.
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Why people still put Shrek up there with Pixar's best. It's really quite a lousy film, as you'd know if you watched it again. But I've given up on trying to convince people of this. Mostly.
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I'll definately give it a chance then. I agree about Shark Tale being their worst though.
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May 19, 2006 4:43:52 PM CDT
Of all the Dreamworks animated movies..................
by cotton mcknight
THIS is the one that looks interesting. I didn't think Shrek looked funny, and Shrek 2 was an abomination. Shark Tale was one of the worst movies I have ever seen too. Was Antz dreamworks? I didnt see it but it looked awful (and didnt it star woody allen or something?) But this one looks like a funny, mainstream comedy. In fact I have been more interested in the trailers for it than Cars.
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I enjoyed Shrek I and II, but I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say Pixar made them. They didn't! It was Dreamworks all the way. Why do people keep making this mistake? ************* I didn't enjoy Shark Tale either. In fact, I think I ended up walking away from it and doing something else. It wasn't worth it even for a rental.
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I laughed a lot, but there's absolutely zero depth to the thing. You could do far worse, to be certain.
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Sounds better than Da Vinci anyway.
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The DreamWorks vs. Pixar thing is getting old. Why can't we hope that both Cars and Over the Hedge are awesome.
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I'll give it a try.. I've heard good things about it, but dreamworks animation has yet to impress me.. As for ANTZ.. I quite liked it, i don't mind it, I just don't like that it is forever compared to A bugs life, simply because of the time of its release, and its core characters. I didn't care for Shrek 1 or 2 much because it relied to heavily on pop culture, which I guess is the same problem as Shark Tale (although to a lesser extent.. Shark Tale was a 100 million dollar reason for a 'hip' soundtrack and product placement)
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I think this does look good, and I think it may beat DaVinci Code at the box office this weekend. I also like Shrek after seeing it a couple of times, and think that Shark Tale SUCKED!!! Is Hoodwinked worth a rental?
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Wht with Singer being gay and all.
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But it ain't too soon for The Devil Wears Prada, because there's an awesome new trailer for it at Apple.com--the best, most straightforward trailer I've seen for any move in years, it's just a clip of the movie, but it's brilliant--and where's Harry? Getting Moriarty to write any actual reviews that appear on the site. How long do I have to wait to get info about good stuff on this site? Until after I find it for myself, apparently.
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I hadn't heard that. That sure explains that "can't you just choose not be a mutant" line in X2. That was _clever_! Who knew homosexuality was a mutant power?
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"Is Hoodwinked worth a rental?"...
Sadly, No. Another let down on par with 'Doogal'. (and yes I realise I sound like a hater... but its a fact... or maybe its just that after the Incredibles rocked my world, other Animated movies seem less exciting or clever). -
are the same dumbasses who think Anastasia, Titan AE, and An American Tail were all done by Disney. They assume that one company does everything that's animated.
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If an anymiated film is good or not depends on how many pop culture references are in it :P. Please stop bitching about it, because they are just one small, and not THE problem!
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I just got up. But I'm serious about the PCR-bitching.
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Yeah, well...he isn't a hamster.
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especially in the ones directed by I. Freling. He did most of the Hollywood nightclub shorts and would namecheck Rodchester from the "Jack Benny Show", along with using Lon Cheney, Jr.'s Lenny voice from "Of Mice and Men" for all the dumbguy characters. So, the Dreamworks style is more Freling, while Pixar is the heir apparent to later day Chuck Jones. "Monsters, Inc." Sully and the little girl = Jones' the dog and the kitten. "Toy Story's" Buzz Lightyear has a lot of "Robin Hood Daffy" in him, with Woody channeling late 1950's Bugs Bunny. Thus ends the history lesson.----later------m
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Done reading! Thanks for putting that in early. Shrek?? You group Shrek in with Toy Story 2 and The Incredibles? You thick cunt.
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I'm 32 and I liked it a lot. Doesn't have the depth of, say, Shrek but it was a neat thing to catch on a Saturday afternoon. I'm a fan of the comic strip too so maybe I'm a little biased though. The kids seemed to enjoy it a lot, even if they may not have "gotten" some of the more grown-up-oriented jokes like the "A Streetcar Named Desire" reference. All things considered, not bad.
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I stopped reading there too. My eyes still caught what he says later, though: Shrek 2 is on Monsters Inc. level. WTF?
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Hoodwinked was clever, but not funny. You could feel the creators reaching for jokes, but they never quite worked.... Doogal, on the other hand, was an abomination. I hate, hate, HATED that movie. Worst kids' movie ever, IMHO.
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Some legitimate character-driven laughs, and very clever climactic bit that really is a howl. A lot of the backgrounds really are scarily photo-realistic though, similar to portions of The Incredibles, and we're beginning to reach the technological point where supplemental elements in these films are going to have to be more stylized or they're all going to start looking indentical.
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Yea, I was unfortunate enough to sit through Doogal, too. One of my first thoughts was "Who in the HELL looked at this screenplay and said, "Yea, that's a good idea. Let's make it!" Holy Christ, that was bad. On the other hand, just saw OTH today and it was great. Lots of laughs, and the whole take on modern consumerism was right on. 8/10 for me.
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Glad I'm not the only one who stopped reading when asspaper like SHREK was mentioned as even being comparable to TOY STORY 2 and INCREDIBLES. Fuck all that. I'll defend ANTZ - to this day the best of the PDI-Dreamworks films. Woody Allen should do more voice acting. SHARK'S TALE is unwatchable garbage, worse than even ROBOTS. As for OVER THE HEDGE - don't care. I'm sick of what Cartoonbrew.com (I think it was them) called the "farting CGI animal" genre. Played the fuck out, it is. As weak as CARS would seem, it's not farting CGI animals, and that counts for something at least. The world needs more cute wiseass CGI critters like it needs more tentacle rape anime - in other words, it doesn't. We have enough now. Please stop. A bit in defense of DOOGAL - that's the Weinsteins working their unique brand of post-post-production anal rape on a completed film that was originally rather different. It was called THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, most of the voice cast was different, and the script extensively altered. This is the same shit they pulled years ago with Richard Williams' magnum opus THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, a film over 20 years in inital production that's now the subject of an amazingly extensive fan restoration called the Recobbled Cut that aims to undo as much of the Weinstein's damage as possible. Wikipedia it and discover the greatest animated film never quite made. Williams was doing insane 3D animation without computers. That's as hardcore as it gets.
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Saw it today. Thought it was decent enough for a rainy Sunday afternoon. But those Ben Folds songs in the movie outright sucked. God, those were terrible.
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Is THE problem.. I would say that a great deal hinges on an animated comedy producing laughs cleverly, without resorting to easy 'what's cool this month' pop culture gags that fall fairly flat to begin with and age even worse.. Leave that crap to the Scary Movie guys... It didn't work with Shark Tale, didn't work with Robots, didn't work with Shrek 1 or 2 (but that wasnt THE problem in those movies, that was Mike Myers' rehashing old gags and character work), didn't work in ICE AGE 1 or 2... As for the Looney Tunes 'pop refs', there are two groups of people that actually GET the gag in present day.. One group are those who are insanely geeky to begin with and study up on that crap to become 'geekier than thou' (same premise as those who upgrade their PC because a friend has a better one.. or who can pick the most foibles in a particular Star Trek episode just to say that they can and you can't... must be because they can't be competitive in a sport), and the 2nd group are those who were alive at the time of creation some 50 years ago... Come back in 4-10 years and watch shark tale again, then tell me it works.. then Watch Nemo or Monsters Inc. or hell even the Iron Giant and tell me they don't stand up... so Yes I believe it is the problem... dumbass
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It's not very funny at all. I don't know where these people are finding this film hilarious, it's not. Secondly, the voice-over work is terrible. Willis and Shandling sound like they're half asleep and not even trying. Carrel is great as "Hammy" and steals the show, but that's it. Even Shatner isn't nearly as funny as it should be. Casting him was smart as the Possum, but it isn't fully taken advantage of. It's "Okay", but not great by any means. It's a pretty typical talking CGI animated film. Definitely being overrated here.
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