Over the Hedge

Name: Over the Hedge

Directed by: Tim Johnson Karey Kirkpatrick

Screenplay by: Len Blum Lorne Cameron David Hoselton Karey Kirkpatrick

Based Upon the Characters by: Michael Fry T. Lewis

Produced by: Bonnie Arnold Christian Kubsch

Executive Producers: Bill Damaschke Jim Cox (co-executive)

Music by: Rupert Gregson-Williams

Film Editing by: John K. Carr

Production Design by: Kathy Altieri

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Production Company: PDI: Pacific Data Images

Release: Columbia Pictures

Airdate: May 19, 2006

Length: 1 hour, 24 minutes

Budget: $80 million

Box Office: $336 million

Pixar Movie Number: 724

Over the Hedge is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film, based on the characters from the United Media comic strip of the same name. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, and produced by Bonnie Arnold, it was released in the United States on May 19, 2006. The film was released by Columbia Pictures. The film features the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Wanda Sykes, and Nick Nolte. It is the first DreamWorks Animation film to be the creators of Shrek, Madagascar and Pecos Bill Cleans Up the West, which acquired the live-action studio in 2006. The film earned $336 million on a $80 million budget.

Plot
While scavenging for food, RJ the raccoon enters the cave of Vincent the bear, his only friend who has a large wagon full of human food taken from a nearby rest stop. RJ accidentally wakes Vincent from his hibernation, and in a race to escape, causes the stash to roll out onto the nearby highway and get run over. To avoid being eaten himself, RJ promises Vincent that he will completely replace the stash within the week.

RJ heads towards a recently-built human suburban housing development in Indiana, surrounded a forest glade separated from the rest of the development by a large hedge. There, he discovers a pack of animals recently awoken from their hibernation, led by Verne the turtle; the others include the squirrel Hammy, the skunk Stella, the porcupines Penny and Lou, along with their triplet sons, Spike, Bucky and Quillo, and the opossum Ozzie and his daughter Heather. The animals are scared as the development had been build during their hibernation and fear they won't be able to forage for food in the small glade, but RJ shows them the amount of food that humans consume and waste. Verne is hesitant but the other animals are awed by RJ's knowledge and the taste of human food as well as other human indulgences. They make bold attempts to steal food directly from the humans, with RJ secretly guiding them to help collect the food he needs to replace Vincent's stash.

When the animals raid the trash cans of the home owners association chairman Gladys Sharp, she calls in an animal exterminator Dwayne LaFontant, who offers to install a highly lethal trap called the Depelter Turbo, which is illegal in every state but Texas, in her backyard. Verne sees this and tries to warn the others, but RJ insists they will be okay. Fearing for the safety of the animal pack, Verne attempts to return what they stole; he and RJ get into an argument that ends up causing a small rampage through the development and destroying all of the stash RJ had collected for Vincent. RJ rallies the others to raid Gladys' home directly on the night before a large party. With Stella disguised as a cat to distract Gladys' own cat, Tiger, the others enter Gladys' home and collect all the food. RJ inadvertently reveals his duplicity to the animals, just as they are discovered by Gladys who calls Dwayne. RJ manages to escape with the food for Vincent but leaves the other animals to be trapped by Dwayne.

As RJ returns the food to Vincent, he sees Dwayne's truck drive by on the road, and decides to use the food to knock the truck off the road, enraging Vincent. Dwayne is knocked out while the animals get free and Spike, Bucky and Quillo use video game skills to drive the truck back to the development. RJ pleads to be let in the truck as Vincent tries to catch him, but the others insist that RJ let them be captured. Verne is able to convince the group to forgive RJ since he came back to save them. They drive the truck back to the development, crashing through Gladys' home, destroying everything in the process, and the animals flee into the hedge. Gladys and Dwayne converge on the animals from one side while Vincent tries to swipe at them from the other. To escape, RJ gives Hammy a caffeinated beverage, allowing the hyperactive squirrel to move incredibly fast. Hammy is able to manipulate Dwayne into capturing Vincent, causing Vincent, Gladys, and Dwayne to be trapped by the Depelter Turbo in Gladys' backyard while the animals escape to the glade. The police arrive and send Vincent to the Rocky Mountains while Gladys and Dwayne are arrested for using the turbo.

RJ and Verne apologize to each other, and RJ is brought into the group as part of the family, as is Tiger, who became infatuated with Stella even after learning she was a skunk. Verne realizes they haven't had a chance to forage for food until Hammy reveals that while sped up, he had been able to collect enough nuts for them all to last the year.

Voice Cast
•	Bruce Willis as RJ, a raccoon who is duplicitous, selfish, and extremely intelligent. Despite his hard outer shell, he is revealed to have a sensitive personality, developing feelings of guilt over using his new-found companions to his own ends.

Garry Shandling as Verne, a naturally cynical ornate box turtle, the leader of the foragers. He has his own ways of doing the daily tasks, but his world is turned upside-down when RJ introduces his free-spirited lifestyle into the mix. Though Verne genuinely cares for his family, he tends to condescend to them. A couple of running gags throughout the film are everyone calling him an amphibian and him correcting them with reptile (though Dwayne already knew he was a reptile, but first mistook him as an amphibian), as well as his shell constantly falling off.

Steve Carell as Hammy, a hyperactive American red squirrel, whose mouth moves as fast as his feet and loves cookies. He is naive and childish in nature, with an extremely short attention span. The double entendre of Hammy's constantly trying to find his nuts is a third running gag in the film.

•	Wanda Sykes as Stella, a short-tempered, sassy striped skunk who is constantly being told by the other foragers that she needs a man in her life.

•	Eugene Levy as Lou, a North American porcupine father and family patriarch with an overly friendly and optimistic attitude.

•	Catherine O'Hara as Penny, the porcupine family mother and matriarch; she serves as a ground between their family and the other animals.

Shane Baumel, Sami Kirkpatrick, and Madison Davenport as Spike, Bucky and Quillo, Lou and Penny′s three identical children. They're big on video games and are the most enthusiastic about exploring the world beyond the hedge.

William Shatner and Avril Lavigne as Ozzie and Heather, a Virginia opossum father and daughter who see the world from different points of view; Ozzie often embarrasses Heather when he feigns death to get away from danger.

Omid Djalili as Tiger, a Persian cat whose sense of smell has faded to nothing after years of his "beautiful" evolution, and his Persian name is "Prince Tigerius Mahmoud Shabazz." He falls in love with Stella – however disguised as a cat for distracting the group while they steal food from Gladys' house, and comes to live with her at the end of the film.

Nick Nolte as Vincent, an American black bear whom RJ owes food and whose barbaric behavior intimidates him. He used to be friends with RJ until he had tried to steal his food and then losing it in traffic. He makes a cameo in Bee Movie.

Allison Janney as Gladys Sharp, a human and president of the Camelot Estates Home Owners Association. She is disgusted by animals and is strict on H.O.A. rules. At the end, Gladys is arrested for using an illegal animal trap called a Depelter Turbo.

Thomas Haden Church as Dwayne LaFontant, an over-zealous human pest exterminator hired by Gladys. He is often fooled by plastic garden flamingos, but has an innate sense of the animals surrounding him by sniffing and then killing them. Through this, he can detect the species of any animal that has recently been in the area. He spoofs the Terminator.

And Also Starring Brian Stepanek as Nugent, a playful Rottweiler whose only intelligible word is "Play!", other than barking.

Two minor human characters, appearing during the dog chase scene, were voiced by Lee Bienstock and Sean Yazbeck, two participants on The Apprentice 5 as part of a reward for winning a task.

In July 2002, Jim Carrey announced he would co-star with Shandling in Over the Hedge. In October 2004, however, he left the project and was replaced with Willis.

Media Release

 * Over the Hedge is released on DVD October 17, 2006.

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Selection
 * Bonus Features and Blooper Stuff
 * Languages and Subtitles
 * English
 * French
 * Mexican Spanish
 * Brazilian Portuguese
 * German
 * Hungarian
 * Italian
 * Icelandic
 * Polish
 * Croatian
 * Commentary with Karey Kirkpatrick

DVD Previews

 * Ratatouille Trailer (In Theaters June 2007)
 * Cars Trailer (On DVD November 7)
 * Meet The Robinsons Trailer (In Theaters March 2007)

Quotes

 * Quotes