Movie Night Traffic Light - Over The Hedge

	MOVIE NIGHT TRAFFIC LIGHT	enter movie site
	Brought to you by Dawn Underwood and John Raymond Listen to the review (includes Da Vinci Code)


	TITLE:	Over the Hedge
	RATED:	PG
	RELEASE DATE:	Friday May 19th, 2006
	PRODUCTION CO:	DreamWorks Animation (Distributor: Paramount Pictures)
	BUDGET:	$?
	DIRECTOR:	Tim Johnson (Antz), Karey Kirkpatrick (first directing credit)
	PRODUCER:	Bonnie Arnold (Toy Story, Tarzan)
	WRITER:	Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), Len Blum (The Pink Panther), Lorne Cameron (Brother Bear, First Knight), David Hoselton (Brother Bear, First Knight)
	STARRING:	Bruce Willis – RJ the Raccoon (Luck Number Slevin, 16 Blocks)
		Garry Shandling – Verne the Turtle (The Larry Sanders Show)
		Steve Carell – Hammy the Squirrel (40 Year Old Virgin, TV: The Office)
		William Shatner – Ozzie the Opossum Dad (TV: Boston Legal, Star Trek)
		Wanda Sykes – Stella the Skunk (Monster In Law, TV: Wanda at Large)
		Nick Nolte – Vincent the Bear (Hulk, The Thin Red Line, Cape Fear)
		Avril Lavigne – Heather the Opossum daughter (pop singer)
		Thomas Hayden Church – Dwayne the Verminator (Sideways)

	REVIEW:
	Over the Hedge . . . ANOTHER full length animated feature out of Hollywood . Why just film actual people doing stuff, when you can spend thousands of hours and millions of dollars creating “lifelike” cartoons? It’s all part of the conspiracy to have computer geeks (a.k.a. “animators”) take over the world . . . that’s why! Over the Hedge is the next big animated film by DreamWorks. It features an all star cast that brings to life its characters of cute forest creatures and determined human adversaries. The cast includes Steve Carell who plays a hyper squirrel, Garry Shandling a hesitant turtle, Wanda Sykes a skeptical skunk and Bruce Willis an ingenious raccoon, to name a few. The movie begins when RJ, the raccoon, gets caught stealing a hibernating bear’s food stash. The bear agrees not to kill RJ if he can replace the whole stash in a week. Secretly, RJ recruits the help of a group of animals that are just waking from hibernation to help him replace the bears stash. When the animals wake from their sleep, they realize a gigantic hedge has emerged where there once was a forest. RJ convinces them to journey to the other side of the hedge, into human suburbia, to steal as many food treasures as they can find. What they don’t expect is that they will have to battle against a relentless exterminator to save their lives. In the process, they will learn to rely on each other and discover that friendship and family are more important than anything. Like everything else these days, Over the Hedge has impressive animation. Unlike most everything else, it has a good story and great, interesting, funny dialogue that makes it entertaining for both adults and kids. Also, this is one film that matched interesting and distinctive voice talents with appropriate characters, allowing the audience to accept and enjoy the characters, as opposed to playing the “celebrity voice recognition game.” It’s not in the league of Toy Story and Monsters Inc, but Over the Hedge is a fun experience, and the best animation film we’ve seen in a long while.

		MOVIE NIGHT TRAFFIC LIGHT:
		On the Movie Night Traffic Light on a scale of GREEN meaning “Go – it’s a must see”, YELLOW meaning “Caution – it’s okay” and RED meaning “No - stop don’t do it." We rate Over the Hedge GREEN. Go – this is a must see for all ages.