I really wasn't expecting to enjoy Over the Hedge as much as I did. Perhaps not as stirring as the Prince of Egypt or as zany as Shrek, but it is an improvement on Shark Tale. Well, Over the Hedge is absolutely delightful family entertainment. If I had a minor quibble, it would be that the writing isn't always as sharp as it could have been but this is only occasionally, plus the film was a little on the short side. But all the same, it is very very funny especially the uproarious action sequences at the beginning, and the gags come thick and fast. The CGI animation on the animals is very well done and the backgrounds are audacious. The soundtrack is cool, and the story is engaging and heartwarming. The film is also quite sweet, not sickly sweet, like say Troll in Central Park, but naturally sweet.

And while the ending is surprisingly great, the real delight comes from the animals and the voice acting. RJ the Racoon is simply adorable, and Verne is another great character. My favourite character though has to be Hammy the squirrel, he was absolutely insane in a good way! And the voice cast? All did a splendid job, in what is essentially an ensemble cast. Bruce Willis and Nick Nolte are great, but the real kudos has to go to Steve Carell as Hammy in one of his better performances. All in all, great animated movie. 9/10 Bethany Cox

RJ the raccoon (Bruce Willis) is a schemer. When he finds the bear's stash of food, he tries to steal it. However things go wrong, and everything is lost. Now the bear expects RJ to replace the lost or else. RJ finds a group of scroungers, and plans to use them to get food from the surrounding suburbs.

The animation is a bit blocky, but it's an acceptable level. There is a lot of slapstick humor. It's like a Looney Tunes cartoon at times. The one thing that is missing is a break out character or two. Maybe there are too many characters. Maybe the characters look too generic. For an animated movie like this, it's always better to have a break out character. There are opportunities to add characters in any follow up sequels.

It's a perfectly fine slapstick animated comedy. The problem is that it doesn't stand out. There are great comedic voice work especially from the unique Wanda Sykes. But it's not enough to warrant any follow up to this.

An all-star cast of voices, and computer animation from the makers of Shrek, sounds like fun, and it is. Basically raccoon and con-artist RJ (Bruce Willis) has a speciality for finding and stealing food, and he has got himself into trouble with brown bear Vincent (Nick Nolte). He wants all his food (every specific item) that was taken from him, and the only way RJ can see to get it is to find animals to help him, and he manages to find a family of curious Amish-like forest animals. They are box turtle Verne (Garry Shandling),American red squirrel Hammy (Steve Carell),striped skunk Stella (Monster-in-Law's Wanda Sykes),Virginia opossum Ozzie (Star Trek's William Shatner) and his daughter Heather (singer Avril Lavigne),and father and mother North American Porcupines Lou (American Pie's Eugene Levy) and Penny (Home Alone's Catherine O'Hara). They have found a boundary, the hedge, and on the other side is the human world, and RJ is conning them to steal food for themselves, obviously the specific foods on a list. While they are doing this they are getting human development homeowner association president Gladys (Allison Janney) mad, and she calls Dwayne , aka "The Verminator" (Thomas Haden Church) to try and get rid of the animals. There is a quite predictable point when RJ loses all the food collected, Verne says something he shouldn't, and there is a momentary separation. But even after getting the food again, with help I should mention from disguised Stella "flirting" with Tiger the Persian cat (Omid Djalili),and after getting captured, RJ saves the day by trapping Vincent, and getting the humans what they deserve too. Pretty fast paced, witty dialogue and maybe a little satire about consumerism, it is a good old fashioned family cartoon. Good!