I went to see Over the Hedge over the weekend and thought it was great.
I usually quite enjoy animated movies for the most part and this was no exception.
The plot line, if we can call it that, was fairly standard fare with the world wise and somewhat jaded character getting himself in trouble about over his head with the bad guy. He con's some innocent bystanders into helping him out of his trouble and in the process becomes their friends. With the help of the new friends he turns the tables on the bad guy just in time for a happily ever after.
Dress all that up in animated costume with a bear a racoon, several porcupines and opossums, a tortise, a skunk, a squirrel... and some mostly humanoid supporting characters. Add in one dose of humor, seasoned lightly with adult humor for those in the audience who either came with their kids or were brave enough to go on their own and you end up with a recipe for a really good way to spend an hour and some of your time.
I'm also happy to report that this movie avoided the whole 'musical' sans 'Walt Disney' factor and if the entire 'cast' broke into spontatious song and dancing then I either blocked it from my memory or it was traumatic enough to provoke significant amnesia. Personally I prefer to think that it wasn't there at all which is more than fine by me.
For a bit of light, funny entertainment there was absolutely nothing missing from this movie with the added advantage that being an animated feature it doesn't usually induce an overwhelming urge in people to analyze it to death.
Lastly, if nothing else, even if you have to wait until it comes out on dvd and sneak into the local video store and claim to be hiring it for a niece or nephew or something, you've got to get this to watch what happens when they give the squirrel a caffienated energy drink. It was brilliant.
