Ben Folds and Hammy (Over the Hedge Review)
For Dreamworks week, Kat picked "Over the Hedge"!
REVIEW OVERVIEW:
Definitely not Dreamworks' best movie. It holds a lot of nostalgia for those of us that grew up with it but it is not surprising that it doesn't get talked about much outside of that. Not necessarily Phil Collins level soundtrack but Ben Folds definitely went hard when writing those songs.
Steve Carell as Hammy stole the show and weirdly Bruce Willis was born to play RJ.
Kat: 6/10
Ryley: 6/10
Both: [00:00:00] Hello
Kat: and welcome to
Both: Easy Bake Takes,
Ryley: the podcast!
Kat: Where we read you the one star reviews of your favorite movies and more. My name's Kat
Ryley: and I'm Ryley.
Kat: And this week we're doing Dreamworks and I picked Over the Hedge. Over the Hedge, came out in 2006, it's rated PG, Comedy family movie and is an hour and 27 minutes long. And the plot of Over the Hedge, one night, in a deserted Indiana. It's in Indiana?
Ryley: I didn't know it was in Indiana.
Kat: Okay. Me neither.
Ryley: That's random.
Kat: Uh, I thought this was ohio. It has Ohio energy. You know?
Ryley: I thought it was just like a vague place like that could be anywhere in America.
Kat: Yeah. It seems very middle America.
Ryley: Yeah. Yeah.
Kat: But anyway, one night in a deserted Indiana campground, RJ the Raccoon resorts to stealing a pile of food from a bear named Vincent, [00:01:00] after a failed attempt to get food from a vending machine. However, he accidentally wakes Vincent from his hibernation, and the food is destroyed in the ensuing confrontation. An angry Vincent, instead of eating RJ, gives the raccoon an ultimatum: replace all his food in one week or be killed. RJ agrees and decides to get help to pay Vincent back. The next morning, a family of woodland animals consisting of the leader Verne an Ornate Box Turtle, hyperactive American Red Squirrel, Hammy, striped skunk Stella, north American Porcupine parents Lou and Penny and children, Spike, Bucky, and Quillo and Virginia possum father and daughter, ozzie and Heather awaken from their hibernation on the first day of spring. They find that much of the forest they lived in has been turned into a housing development, which is separated from the little forest remaining by a giant hedge. As the animals wonder how they will forage, RJ materializes and encourages them to traverse the hedge and steal food from the humans. Despite Verne's concerns, the animals join RJ in stealing [00:02:00] and stockpiling human food, not knowing he intends to pay off his debt. Gladys Sharp, the Neighborhood Homeowners Association President,
Ryley: Jesus Christ.
Kat: takes notice of the animal problem and hires exterminator Dwayne Lafontant to get rid of them. Worried, Verne tries to return the food to avoid Dwayne. RJ tries to stop him, but the food ends up destroyed due to an encounter with an excitable dog, Nugent. Verne tries to convince the family to not listen to RJ, but inadvertently calls them stupid and naive, and they leave him in favor of RJ. That night, Gladys has Dwayne cover her yard in animal traps, including a contraband device called the De-Pelter Turbo, which turns the entire yard into a death trap when activated. Verne apologizes to RJ for his actions and reconciles with other animals. On the night before the moon is full, RJ sees that Gladys has bought a massive stockpile of food and enlists the help of the animals to invade her home and steal it. Hammy successfully disables the De-Pelter Turbo while Stella steals the collar of Gladys's Persian cat, Tiger, [00:03:00] which enables entry into the house's pet door, by posing as a cat and seducing him. The animal stockpile another wagon full of food, but right as they're about to leave at sunrise, RJ sees a can of chips called Spudies and becomes determined to get them, as Vincent specifically requested them. While trying to justify his effort to get the chips RJ lets slip his true intentions for the food. At the same time, Gladys comes downstairs and discovers the animals much to her horror. RJ manages to escape with the food, while the others are captured by Dwayne, who takes them away in his truck to dispose of them. RJ gives the food to Vincent as promised, but as he sees the exterminator truck driving off, he feels remorse for his actions. Determined to save them, RJ sends the food wagon careening into the car knocking out Dwayne and freeing the animals, though enraging Vincent. The porcupine triplets commandeer the van and drive it back home with their video game skills and RJ rejoins the family after Verne convinces the others to forgive him. They crash the truck into Gladys's home and return to the hedge, but are attacked from both sides by Vincent, Gladys and Dwayne. RJ manages [00:04:00] to come up with a plan. He gives Hammy an energy drink, making the squirrel hyperactive enough to move at warp speed, which he uses- uses to go reactivate the De-Pelter Turbo, and RJ lures Vincent into leaping over the hedge to get him. But he puts on Verne's shell, protecting him from Vincent's jaws and Verne pulls him out with a fishing line. Vincent, Gladys, and Dwayne are caught in the De-Pelter turbo, resulting in them being blasted with a massive dose of radiation entrapped at a cage in the ensuing crater. Gladys is arrested for possessing the turbo and Dwayne is chased by Nugent while attempting to escape. RJ joins the Woodland Creature's family permanently, as well as Tiger who remains in love with Stella even after learning she is a skunk, and- as he cannot smell, Verne suddenly realizes they wasted a whole week without getting food for the winter, but Hammy reveals he finally found his nuts he stored for the previous winter, replenishing the animal's food supply. The end.
Ryley: Love it.
Kat: So, just quickly, since this is a Dreamworks movie, I did wanna cover some of the reason why Dreamworks movies are [00:05:00] so great. So obviously it was started partially by Steven Spielberg, we all know why he's great, and Katzenberg, also a founder of it, was the president of production at Paramount, and then he was the head of Disney in the eighties and nineties, AKA, the Disney Renaissance.
Ryley: Hmm. That's why it's so good.
Kat: David Geffen founded Geffen Records and Doc Records and had signed Elton John and Cher, and he put Nirvana on the map.
Ryley: Oh, wow.
Kat: And he also founded Geffen Pictures, which did Beetlejuice, Risky Business and Interview with a Vampire. So they had a pretty solid founding team.
Ryley: Yeah, definitely.
Kat: Literally the dude who's in charge of Disney during its renaissance, like I feel like.
Ryley: That's, that says enough.
Kat: That's as good as it fucking gets. Yeah.
Ryley: And then Shrek came out.
Kat: It was literally his middle finger to Disney.
Ryley: Yeah. Don't worry, we'll do Shrek.
Kat: We will in the future, we'll do it.
Ryley: We'll have a whole Shrek week.
Kat: Yes. We'll only go up to the second one though.
Ryley: Yeah, we're not gonna do the third or fourth.
Kat: But, Over the Hedge was directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick and written by Len Blum, [00:06:00] Lauren Cameron, David Hoselton and Karey Kirkpatrick. And it's loosely based on Over the Hedge, by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, which was a comic strip. And then the cast, so Bruce Willis plays RJ. Gary Shandling plays Verne. Steve Carell plays Hammy. Wanda Sykes plays Stella. William Shatner plays Ozzy.
Ryley: What?
Kat: Avr- Avril Lavigne plays Heather. Nick Nolte plays Vincent. Thomas Hayden Church plays Dwayne Lafontant. Allison Janney is Gladys. Eugene Levy is Lou.
Ryley: That's right. That is him. Oh, Catherine O'Hara plays Penny. That's so sweet.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: They're always a duo in something. They've been working together forever.
Kat: For years. Yeah.
Ryley: Yeah. I love that. I didn't know that.
Kat: Yeah. And I didn't know that either. I didn't know Alison Janny was in this. I didn't know that those two were in it. I knew Avril Lavigne was in this, cuz I knew who she was as a kid.
Ryley: Oh yeah. That is Alison Janney, isn't it? Yeah the.
Kat: Yeah, Gladys.
Ryley: That's funny. It is her.
Kat: She pops up at the weirdest randomest places.
Ryley: She does. And she's always good. She's always good.
Kat: And then [00:07:00] lastly, Omid Djalilli plays Tiger. Stacked cast, also stacked soundtrack. So the budget for this movie was 80 million and it made 340 million at the box office.
Ryley: Dang, that's really good.
Kat: Yeah, because people always talk about how like underrated it is. I didn't realize it had done so well at the box office financially.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: But some trivia. The idea of the film was conceived when Don Bluth and Gary Goldman showed the comic strip to its head, Chris Meledandri, who was impressed by its humor and acquired the rights to the comic strip.
Ryley: Oh my God. So it's a Don originally something.
Kat: He brought the idea of making it into something.
Ryley: That's really cool. I bet he, I bet if he would've made it, he would've made it so dark.
Kat: Oh, yeah. From, from the man who made All Dogs Go to Heaven.
Ryley: And Land Before Time.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Jesus.
Kat: So Meledandri had asked the screenwriting duo of Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seamen to write the screenplay for the project for Bluth and Goldman's Fox Animation Studios. However, after the disappointing [00:08:00] performance of its recent film Titan AE and its closure in 2000, this version of the film did not transpire.
Ryley: Dang it.
Kat: Fortunately, in 2001, it was picked up by Dreamwork's Animation under the leadership of its CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, when Fox put the film in a turnaround. Like I said, fucking Katzenberg. It's like, 'oh, Don Bluth wanted to make that?'
Ryley: Yeah. And that's tells you how smart he is too. Like, 'oh, Don Bluth wanted to make something out of this? Okay. Yeah, it must be, there must be gold there.'
Kat: This was the first Dreamworks film to not be released on DVD.
Ryley: Oh wow.
Kat: Which, weird history point cuz it really like 2006 was when they stopped putting as many movies on vhs.
Ryley: Yeah. Cuz more people had DVD players. Yeah.
Kat: And it wasn't stupidly expensive to get a movie on DVD anymore.
Ryley: No. Wow. That's such an interesting point in time. Yeah.
Kat: And then the art department went to a bowling alley to sketch the design of the perfect vending machine. They went to various supermarkets to sketch chip bags and bottles. They eventually got kicked out of a Safeway because the manager felt uncomfortable with them being [00:09:00] there for such an extended amount of time. So they were just sitting in a grocery store drawing chips.
Ryley: I love that. They didn't even like tell 'em why. I love that.
Kat: 'Can you guys leave?'
Ryley: I don't know if you're supposed to be here this long,
Kat: In July of 2002, Jim Carey was announced to co-star with Gary Shandling in the film. However, in October of 2004, he dropped out and was replaced by Bruce Willis.
Ryley: Oh, he was gonna play RJ? Oh, I wonder how that would've gone.
Kat: I feel like he would've played it a little less sleazy and a little more like Jokery, if that makes sense.
Ryley: Yeah. Yeah I know what you're talking about.
Kat: Yeah. I can't see Jim Carey playing like RJ in the sleazy way that Bruce Willis did.
Ryley: Yeah, I agree. They would've been different for sure.
Kat: Yeah. So Rupert Gregson Williams composed the original score while Hans Zimmer,
Ryley: Oh my God.
Kat: Served as an executive music producer and Ben Folds contributed three original songs along with a rewrite of his song, Rockin' the Suburbs, and a cover of the Clashes Lost in the Supermarket.
Ryley: Love it.
Kat: I was listening- I was listening to the song, Still. It's so good and emotional for no reason.
Ryley: Yes.
Kat: That was [00:10:00] one of the original songs written for the movie.
Ryley: I love that cuz it's a good one.
Kat: So good for no reason.
Ryley: Just hits.
Kat: Kind of a pattern with Dreamworks movies that the soundtrack is so good for no reason.
Ryley: Yes.
Kat: But Ben Fold said on his blog about the title Credit song, family of Me, "the original lyric was, Ooh, I'm an asshole. But obviously that didn't last for long. The directors and producers got a good laugh and then they stopped laughing when I tried to explain why it's okay that to say asshole in front of kids. I think it's the hole part, ass might be alright. I don't know."
Ryley: It's the hole.
Kat: I think it's funny that they were like, 'oh, that's so funny, Ben,' and he was like, 'no, but really like we could just change it to ass.'
Ryley: No, but really.
Kat: No, Ben.
Ryley: No.
Kat: You can't say ass in the song.
Ryley: You can't say ass or hole in the song
Kat: The forest side of the hedge was based on the hedge in front of Dreamworks.
Ryley: Aw.
Kat: So a video game tie-in was released in May, 2006 for the PS2, Xbox, PC, Game Cube, DS and GameBoy Advance, as well as a miniature golf [00:11:00] game for the GameBoy Advance, an action adventure game for the DS, and a platform game for the PSP, all named Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts.
Ryley: I think I remember the video games that came out.
Kat: But the last trivia fact I have is that in May, 2007, Dreamwork's Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that despite the company exceeding Wall Street's expectations during the second consecutive quarter of 2007, the film would not get a sequel due to the box office performance of the film saying, "it was close. An almost." So we almost had a sequel to this movie, but.
Ryley: I think enough parents were like, 'no.'
Kat: I don't even know where they would go with it. I guess if they have the comic strip, there's probably other adventures that they get into.
Ryley: Yeah. But you know how sequels always are. They're always more shitty, except for a handful.
Kat: Like Shrek two.
Ryley: Shrek two was good.
Kat: Which I like more than the first one.
Ryley: Yeah. How To Train Your Dragon, all three of those are pretty good. I haven't seen the third ones, so I can't say that, but like.
Kat: I know the second one is good. I heard the third one was even better.
Ryley: Really? Okay. I need to watch the third one.
Kat: Those are such good movies.
Ryley: Those are very good movies.
Kat: That's Dreamworks.
Ryley: [00:12:00] Exactly. The Kung Fu Panda movies, like I know they made like three of them. I only saw the second one. I didn't really like it that much. I only liked the first one.
Kat: I saw the first one. I don't think I saw the second one.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: But that was the last trivia fact I had. Let's move on to thoughts and opinions. What did you think of this movie, watching it this time?
Ryley: I, I, this movie, this movie was good as a kid and it's one of those movies where I can, I can appreciate the good bits, it's not one of my favorite of the Dreamworks movies. I'll put it that way.
Kat: That's fair. I mean, it's a lot of competition.
Ryley: There is. There definitely is.
Kat: This is definitely one I watched a lot as a kid, so I have a little more of like an attachment to it.
Ryley: Yeah, definitely. And like there was like a lot of nostalgia moments because like I watched this a lot as a kid too, like this, I saw it a lot.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: It's like we were talking about this before we recorded, but like it's one of those movies where like you remember it pretty well if you saw it twice at least you remember how it flows pretty well.
Kat: Yeah, exactly.
Ryley: Not much changed.
Kat: Yeah. We were talking about. We were talking about how, yeah, we didn't realize how much we would remember of this [00:13:00] movie because it just like you're just calling it beat by beat because most of them, like, there's like one or two bits that you don't remember, but.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: No, I feel like this movie plays on loop in my head most of the day, so.
Ryley: I love that.
Kat: But what else?
Ryley: I don't like it when , you see the Turtle's butt.
Kat: Yeah, no, I get that.
Ryley: I didn't like that. But I do like it at the end when he gives him his shell. I love Hammy. I love Steve Carell. I just love Steve Carell.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: I love that so much.
Kat: I will always think it's funny that they named the hedge Steve.
Ryley: Yeah. I love that. I, I'm just putting that together. I'm so stupid.
Kat: You're you're just putting that together?
Ryley: I'm just putting that together. I'm so fucking stupid. Dude, I'm out of it today.
Kat: I think it's a pretty name.
Ryley: I fucking love that. That's so fucking funny.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: I'm just now putting that together. I'm so stupid. Do you think they let him just name it, or do you think they named it and like, 'we named it after you?'
Kat: So I didn't see anything about like how the recording process of this movie went, so maybe this wasn't a thing. I feel like they just let him talk.
Ryley: I think so too. Yeah, because like you never know if the actor's gonna say [00:14:00] something really funny and they have to match, maybe the character tries to do a certain movement to make it match.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: So I feel like they have to. Yeah, maybe there's a rough start and then the recording over it, but.
Kat: Yeah, probably. But so I can even admit that this is very dated animation, but what are your thoughts on the animation of this movie?
Ryley: It, I, I feel like you said in the nicest way possible too.
Kat: It's a little scary looking.
Ryley: It's a little, it is a little bit like, it's so.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Dated, but you see, okay, this came out in 2006.
Kat: I mean, just think about this. Shrek came out in like 2001.
Ryley: Shrek still, I will say still looks good. Shrek 1 still is pretty-
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Because Shrek 1 like it's dated. I won't say it's like perfect, but it's still like.
Kat: It looks better.
Ryley: It looks better than I would say this movie.
Kat: Okay. Shrek had a budget of 60 million.
Ryley: This had 80 million. Hmm. Who dropped the ball? Just kidding.
Kat: To give them the benefit of the doubt here- no, nevermind because they have donkey and they have [00:15:00] people in Shrek.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: I think maybe it's just the styles that they were going for.
Ryley: I think it's different styles too. I belie- I think that too. It is impressive though seeing how this came out in 2006. When did How to Train your Dragon come out? Because those are gorgeous movies.
Kat: They really are.
Ryley: Dreamworks killed it with How to Train Your Dragon.
Kat: Especially the second one in that cave.
Ryley: The second one is so pretty. Oh my God, it's so pretty. I think this is Dreamworks ugliest.
Kat: Yeah, their first few movies I think the style that they had, like Prince of Egypt, Road To El Dorado.
Ryley: Oh yes. Gorgeous.
Kat: Like those are a lot farther from like the uncanny valley and I think this is where they got to a point where it's like, okay, we know how to do it, but we need to like clean it up. And this was like the most uncanny valley of them.
Ryley: I get that.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Yeah, the, at that point in time, definitely.
Kat: Like four years later, how to Train Your Dragon comes out. They've obviously been able to fix that.
Ryley: Oh my God. Four years after this? That is amazing. Oh my God, that is amazing. Obviously they were going for [00:16:00] the different style for this movie, so.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: It's just so ugly. I just hate it. It's so nasty looking.
Kat: I'm just, I'm gonna look up real quick. What movies came out between those times?
Ryley: When did Kung Fu Panda come out?
Kat: Uh, the first Kung Fu Panda was 2008.
Ryley: Okay. They even fixed it up two years.
Kung Fu Panda is a pretty movie too.
Kat: Again, I think it's the style.
Ryley: Yeah, I think it's the style.
Kat: Madagascar came out around then.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: Because Shark Tale also kind of has that Uncanny Valley.
Ryley: That is also a ugly movie.
Kat: It is an ugly movie, but like think like Spirit looked fine, you know?
Ryley: Beautiful. Beautiful because that's 2D. 2Ds very different from 3D. 3D when we were growing up, it was, probably when it first came out.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: I remember watching Shrek one with my dad, probably a few years ago, and there's that fire scene and they show the fireplace. He goes, 'back in the day when I, like when we saw that in theaters, that was the most realistic looking fire ever.' And now he's like, 'and now it looks like shit.'
Kat: Yeah. Yeah.
Ryley: I'm like, 'yeah but at the time it was really, very [00:17:00] realistic.' It only gets better.
Kat: Uh, maybe it's different animation teams working on these different movies. They're coming out in the same years. The same people can't possibly be working on the same movies.
Ryley: Oh, no, no, no. It's, it's hundreds of people.
Kat: But no offense to the people who animated this movie, or Shark Tale or the Bee movie. It's a little uncanny valley and a little scary.
Ryley: A little bit. A little bit.
Kat: Is there anything like humor wise with this movie that you had any thoughts on?
Ryley: I loved it as a kid. As an adult, it doesn't hit.
Kat: Not every joke hits.
Ryley: No. No, but I still enjoy the memory of Steve Carell. Like watching Steve Carell in this movie as a kid was the funniest thing.
Kat: He's the best character in this movie.
Ryley: Oh yeah. And like I'm still like, you know, it's, it's him. It's Steve Carell.
Kat: Yeah. 'But I like the cookie was like the cookie,' the line from this movie.
Ryley: Oh, we all said it. We all said it. We were all saying it. I enjoy the memory of when this was top tier comedy as a child.
Kat: Yeah, exactly. I don't think it's the first time this has happened. This is a movie that does not hold up as [00:18:00] much. I think there, there, this was another thing though too where there was some adult jokes that I understood more, like I understand who Gladys is now a little better.
Ryley: Yes, you cuz like as a kid you didn't know what that was, of course. But now you get it.
Kat: She's the original Karen.
Ryley: We've met, yeah, we've all met at Gladys in our lives before. Yeah, and overall it's, it's a cute movie.
Kat: It's got some cute little bits in there.
Ryley: Yeah. Yeah.
Kat: I love the little baby porcupines.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: Anything else specific?
Ryley: No, nothing else specific.
Kat: For me, like I said, I watched this movie a lot growing up, so it has like a special place in my heart. I think when I was like little little, I was scared of Vincent because he is scary and like whenever RJs having that nightmare that he like his claw comes up and like grabs him. That's scary.
Ryley: Oh yeah, definitely.
Kat: I always will always laugh, even before I understood who Dr. Phil was, just that like, 'I'm a dirt bag.'
Ryley: 'I'm a dirt bag.'
Kat: 'I'm a dirt bag.' And he mouths it with him.
Ryley: He mouths it. It's so fu- I do like that bit. That's a good one.
Kat: I don't have much else to say about this movie. It's kind of like the first [00:19:00] really in the middle cartoon we've done, I think.
Ryley: Yeah. Because yeah, every other cartoon we've done, we've like, loved, so this one for V I'm very in the middle of it. I, I don't hate it.
Kat: I enjoyed watching it. I would never say it's my favorite Dreamworks movie.
Ryley: Not by a long shot.
Kat: And fucking Bruce Willis is a raccoon.
Ryley: I know. And he does really good.
Kat: Yeah. He was born to play this role.
Ryley: Oh yeah.
Kat: But that's all I have to say. Do you have anything else you wanna add before we start with the critic?
Ryley: Mm-mmm.
Kat: Okay. So this movie had a 75% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 71% from audience.
Ryley: That's surprising. I don't, that's that's pretty good. You know?
Kat: So this movie, I, this movie came out at the same time as Cars.
Ryley: Oh, really?
Kat: So it had some competition?
Ryley: It did. It definitely did.
Kat: It just came out after Shrek too. The expectations were high for Dreamworks.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: Factor that into it as well. I mean, 75 percent's better than some movies get, but.
Ryley: I'm gonna say it. That's decent. Yeah.
Kat: It's passing.
Ryley: It's very passing, like. I don't know. I, there are movies I like more than this movie that got worse [00:20:00] ratings, so I'm just gonna say, Hey, I'll take it, you know? If my movie got 75%, I'd be like, okay. All right.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Majority like it.
Kat: This movie was at the Cannes Film Festival.
Ryley: Oh my God. Was it?
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Oh my God.
Kat: So was Up.
Ryley: Yeah. So was up. Yeah. That's funny.
Kat: But this one was not hard to find negative reviews of this movie. So the first review I have is from Rachel's reviews written by Rachel Wagner in May of 2017, who gave this movie a C-. Starting with quote, "one of the frustrating things about reviewing Dreamworks films is many of their movies come close to being good, but can't quite pull it off." I forgot to add that Dreamworks does film and animation.
Ryley: Oh. Like they made movies that were like, live action.
Kat: Yeah. At a certain point, a lot of, uh, Spielberg's movies were coming out through dreamworks.
Ryley: Oh. Okay. I guess we should clarify then. Like when I talk about Dreamworks movies, I'm talking about the animations which, I mean, I feel like that's what most people associate Dreamworks with.
Kat: Yeah. They had catch me if you can.
Ryley: Oh, okay. Yeah. That was a good movie though.
Kat: Yeah, they, they [00:21:00] did almost famous.
Ryley: Oh, that's a fantastic movie. Almost Famous is a fantastic, okay, so they were successful with it.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: They made some successful films.
Kat: That was a co-production with Columbia pictures. But they, they did, they did a lot of, uh, live action.
Ryley: I thought you were gonna list off like random movies I'd never even heard of or something like that, but like, okay. Yeah.
Kat: Yeah. They're still making live action movies to this day.
Ryley: Oh, okay.
Kat: Back to this review. So I'll start over with that quote. They say, "one of the frustrating things about reviewing Dreamworks films is many of their movies come close to being good, but can't quite pull it off. Particularly their comedies often have great casts promising premises, inviting animation, but the jokes fall flat leaving me annoyed .Over the Hedge made in 2006 is no exception to this rule." End quote. Did they not like shrek?
Ryley: Yeah, like they're saying like.
Kat: Every movie is almost good.
Ryley: Yeah. I'm like, that is not the case. Most of their movies are amazing. Like Exceed.
Kat: Exactly.
Ryley: Exceed good.
Kat: Yeah. But they wished it had been a 30 minute short instead of a feature film because the first 30 minutes is great. They say it becomes a generic kids movie [00:22:00] after the first 30 minutes.
Ryley: How dare a children's movie end up being a children's movie? So fucking stupid. I hate people like this.
Kat: I do understand what they're saying. It becomes, it becomes a little predictable after the first 30 minutes.
Ryley: And I understand like when you're watching Shrek. You don't know where that, that ogres going. You don't know what's going on.
Kat: Where that man's going.
Ryley: You don't know where he is going. You don't know how that movie's gonna end. But with this one, yeah, it's a little bit more predictable.
Kat: I still enjoy it after that first 30 minutes, but I unders, I get what you're saying.
Ryley: Exactly.
Kat: They also say that the scene of RJ explaining how much humans love food is the highlight of the movie. Saying quote, "this food glory sequence is funny because it is relevant social commentary. It still makes me laugh how it shows driving and dressing like food from an alien perspective, or animal, we really do focus way too much on food in America. There's no doubt about it and that is funny." End quote.
Ryley: Yeah, it's like satire it's trying to prove a point, which this movie does a lot like the I- I feel like that's something I missed to talk about, but like this movie, it is [00:23:00] commenting.
Kat: On like the wastefulness of humans.
Ryley: Wasteful.
Kat: Overconsumption.
Ryley: Overconsumption, capitalism, uh, deforestation.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: It's showing a lot of things like the, what is it called? The de pel Turbo thing. The thing that's just way too crazily.
Kat: It's illegal to use.
Ryley: It's illegal. It's way too torturous.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: It, it's making points. This movie is making points.
Kat: Yeah, it is. But they also say quote, "however, once this setup is over, the rest of Over the Hedge becomes a toy story rip-off Verne, the turtle is Woody, and RJ is the new hip buzz." End quote, which yeah, I could see those dynamics in there. They say quote, "the last act of the movie is the animals trying to steal food from a woman who has a heavily fortified house. It's clearly just to manufacture tension and a dramatic car chase scene at the end. Instead, it all feels like filling time, like they were stretching 30 minutes of an idea into over an hour, which is probably accurate." End quote. I didn't feel that way.
Ryley: I feel like they're trying to show you like the overkill. That's gonna come back later.
Kat: [00:24:00] Yeah.
Ryley: I don't know. I don't agree with that statement at all.
Kat: But they end with quote, "it is very predictable and nothing really engages the viewer. We know RJ is lying to the crew and exactly when he is going to feel bad, be exposed and make up with everyone. Formula movies are fine, but there needs to be more to entertain than this. As a plus, the animation is pretty decent and kids won't be moderately entertained. It's not awful, but not very memorable either. I would say watch the first 20 minutes and then find something else to do with your day." End quote.
Ryley: Why would I watch the first 20 minutes of movie and not finish it? That's so stupid.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Stop giving out. That was dumb.
Kat: You're bad at it.
Ryley: You're bad at it.
Kat: Where's my fart machine?
Ryley: Yes.
Kat: But the next review I have is a positive review from the independent critic, Richard Propes.
Ryley: Hey!
Kat: From 2006, uh, who gave this movie A 3.5 outta four. And Richard says, quote, "Over the Hedge, the latest release from the Dreamworks Animation team, is a hilarious, sweet and insightful film that should serve as a marvelous film for the entire family to enjoy. Seen as a work in progress at the Indianapolis International Film Festival, even as a work in [00:25:00] progress, the film is far ahead of the recent animated films in laughter, entertainment, value, and that all important quality for parents of, 'will I survive at the 80 times my child wants to see it.' The answer is a resounding yes." End quote. Very important factor.
Ryley: Yeah. Does it hold up 80 times for the parents who have to watch it?
Kat: But he also says, quote, "Over the Hedge is brought to us by the same team that brought us Shrek and Madagascar. Thankfully, Over the Hedge is much closer to Shrek in tone, spirit, and humor. The film will undoubtedly appeal to both adults and children with adorable energetic animals and those famous Dreamworks one-liners that will have adults and children alike laughing out loud." End quote. He also says, quote, "each character is given numerous opportunities to shine and shine they do." End quote.
Ryley: Everyone's used proportionally.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Or enough, you know, cuz there's the, the background characters like in the little group, but like, they're still good.
Kat: It doesn't feel like anyone's there for no reason.
Ryley: Exactly.
Kat: He ends with quote, "over the hedge just filled with comical moments, zippy one-liners, double entendres, obscure movie references that work perfectly and even a few tender moments. [00:26:00] Only the tender moments at time come off as a bit forced, and on a couple occasions, the quote lessons we are supposed to be learning are spelled out a bit too bluntly. While the graphics weren't quite finished during the screening, what was finished looks beautiful, and the animals are warm and cuddly without appearing too lifelike. Dreamworks made the seemingly odd choice of recruiting Ben Folds to write slash perform the songs for the music, and yet this choice works quite nicely with the mood and pace of the film. To describe the plot Over the Hedge further would be rather silly. It is an animated film designed to appeal to both children and family, and it succeeds in this goal magnificently. In many ways, the film teaches basic lessons about family, self-acceptance, honesty, and at least I got this lesson, maybe we humans aren't as smart as we think we are. Animals, RJ points out, eat to live while humans live to eat. Over the hedge is filled with enough little moments of comic wonder that I could literally sit here all day trying to share them all. However, I wouldn't wanna take that experience away from you. All I can say is that going Over the Hedge will take you to a comic paradise for children and adults [00:27:00] alike." End quote. So did you feel that the lessons were a little too.
Ryley: Okay. Again, it is a children's movie. It kind of have to make 'em a little more obvious.
Kat: To be fair, there are kids movies that do that without them feeling too forced.
Ryley: Very true. Okay. Now that you're saying that, yes.
Kat: But the next review I have is a negative review from the Austin Chronicle written by Marrit Ingman in May of 2006 who gave this movie a 2.5 out of five, starting with quote, "Canny casting and sly anti consumerist message give this splashy big screen treatment of the eponymous comic strip extra appeal for grownups, but like a lot of animated fair, it's overly busy, lacking the comics gentle contemplative air." End quote.
Ryley: When you have to use so many big words in a sentence, like who are you trying to impress?
Kat: Yeah, because you could have just said it, ha, it didn't do the comic strip service.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: But they also say quote, "I'm also sad to report that what the MPAA calls mild comic action is a sort of ACME laboratory slapstick violence, and there's a scary ass bear who may terrify [00:28:00] small fries by growling. Dreamworks entry into the cartoon Blockbuster sweepstakes alongside Fox's Ice Age, the Meltdown and Pixar's upcoming Cars has its pleasures, if you can roll with ursine death threats and an exterminator jonesing for critter blood. The film retains most of-" ursine means bear by the way, if anyone's wondering. They're just saying a snobby way of saying that a bear is threatening.
Ryley: See, I hate this person already.
Kat: To continue quote, "the film retains most of the strips charm when it slows down to acute fuzzy satire of human foibles, and the animation technology allows a wonderful, fun house view of suburban living in the expository scenes. The cast is uniformly good, but Carell steals it as hammy the strip's lovable ding bat. Carell has a knack for investing cartoonish characterizations with undeniable heart and hammy's addle-brained innocence is a perfect fit. Unfortunately, the script by no fewer than four writers is more dialogue than story, and it confuses mayhem with action like too many family entertainments, chicken Little, I'm looking in your direction-" three- three songs- "three [00:29:00] songs by Ben Folds neither add to or detract nor detract from the project, which could be the faintest praise ever. With more attention to the fundamentals of narrative Over the Hedge wouldn't be so over the top." End quote.
Ryley: So at the beginning when they're saying like, it's gonna be too scary for kids. Yeah. I, I don't know. It's one of those things where I'm like.
Kat: I did get scared of the bear, so I'm not gonna say that that's, you know.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: He's threatening to kill him.
Ryley: That is a lot. I will hunt you down and kill you.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: That's pretty. It's a, it's a little bit of a lot.
Kat: It's intense.
Ryley: This movie's too goofy though.
Kat: Yeah, they threw some shade at Chicken Little, which fair?
Ryley: That's fair. That's very fair.
Kat: I, I kind of get what they're saying with, it's more dialogue than story. I think there is a story, but it is, there's a little focus on like the, the joking banter being had.
Ryley: Definitely.
Kat: Which I don't think is a bad thing, but.
Ryley: I think it, I think it works for this movie.
Kat: I do agree that like Hammy is the best character in there.
Ryley: Definitely.
Kat: But the last review I have is from the Houston Chronicle, so you got a little H Town versus [00:30:00] Austin here.
Ryley: Love it.
Kat: By Amy Biancolli from May of 2006. Starting with quote, "Not in my backyard, takes a whole new meaning in Over the Hedge, a film about marginalized residents fighting for their rights, specifically fair access to tortilla chips and the looming shadow of McMansions," end quote.
Ryley: All right.
Kat: And then quote, "in this hard-hitting, brilliantly cast expose, suburbanites wage war against an oppressed, albeit furry segment of society." End quote.
Ryley: They need to get in to it.
Kat: Yeah. They had a lot of intro.
Ryley: Yeah, they have a lot of intro.
Kat: But they say quote. "But think for a minute. Imagine yourself among the vermin. What if you were a hibernating animal? What if you lived in a woodland paradise, munching on berries, prancing around la di da, when you awoke from a winter's sleep to discover the berry bush is gone and in their place enormous inorganic dwellings," occupy "occupied by freaky pink primates. You'd wig out, that's what. And you'd be hungry." End quote.
Ryley: They had fun with this.
Kat: They did.
Ryley: You took this in a way different direction.
Kat: Then they say, quote, "in the film's, [00:31:00] first two snack ignited mushroom clouds, he opens a bag of chips, the compromised vacuum, letting loose with instantly addictive tortilla dust from that moment on over the hedge is a story of awakening, a story of empowered ex-urban animal life, a story of togetherness, of disparate individuals working together to pillage shelves, plunder barbecues, and hijack a wagon load of cookies." End quote.
Ryley: I love the mushroom cloud thing though with the chips though. I forgot. Yeah. I forgot. That's a good bit.
Kat: But they also say, quote, "the film is a manic blur of zippy vocal performances from Thomas Hayden Church's combed over exterminators and Carell's, super caffeinated rodent to Shatner's poke in the ribs, his own, as a marsupial who plays dead with elegiac puffery. Dreamwork's take on over the hedge is its own animal, a spirited intrepid critter that mooches our affection along with the garbage." End quote and then saying quote, "it's the studio's best computer animated since Shrek, and that's the wildest thing of all," end quote.
Ryley: Eh- there were other good ones [00:32:00] before.
Kat: Like, like Shrek two.
Ryley: Like Shrek two. That was really, really good.
Kat: But there weren't a lot between then and this one.
Ryley: Yeah, there wasn't. They seemed like they liked it though. And that's good. I, I have no, I have no, um, grievances with that. They were a little fluffy with.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: With their, uh, intros and.
Kat: A little too excited about it.
Ryley: A little too excited. I'll, I'll say to calm down a little bit, but, eh, you know what, I'm not gonna say it's bad.
Kat: Yeah. That was our last critic review. You ready to move on?
Ryley: Mm-hmm.
Kat: So onto the audience reviews, the first review is a 10 out of 10 from IMDB titled 'Absolutely amazing! Best animated film since finding nemo.'
Ryley: Whoa. Okay.
Kat: From May of 2006. "This movie was beyond excellent. Probably the best animated film I have seen since Finding Nemo. Over the Hedge has all the pizzazz that you could ever want in an animated film. Great plot, great characters, and very clever animation. It was very funny and controlled it's humor in a very family matter, so kids of all ages could go see it, and still laugh. I would recommend this film to anyone! It's definitely worth the money! The voices of [00:33:00] the characters that were played by a wide range of celebrities fit the critters perfectly. None of the voices seemed off and everything was on key. The only downside to this movie is that I seriously wish it was a bit longer. But," it's- "it is a children's animated film. You can't really expect it to be over an hour and 30 minutes anyway. But like I said before, it is definitely worth your money, and I have doubt that the family will enjoy it."
Ryley: I'm glad they really liked it. I'm not gonna take that away from them. I don't agree. I don't agree, but, uh, not, not with everything. Just like, I just-
Kat: Just 'being the best since finding Nemo' part.
Ryley: Yeah. That's a really big statement. That's a huge statement to make so.
Kat: It is.
Ryley: I take grievance with that, but like, I'm glad they liked it. I'm not gonna take that away from them.
Kat: Yeah. The next review I have is a five star from 2016 on letterboxd. "Even if it's not an animated classic, Over the Hedge offers enough clever writing, fun shenanigans, and great voice-acting to be more than worth a watch. I feel like I'm one of the few people who actually remembers this movie. I consider it underrated, honestly. See it."
Ryley: This is one of those movies where like it is [00:34:00] strictly our generation's movie.
Kat: It doesn't transcend that much.
Ryley: Yeah. So we really do have to bring it up, you know, in order to talk about , you know?
Kat: Yeah, exactly. People aren't just sitting around talking about
Both: Over the Hedge.
Ryley: You gotta find someone who one, saw it as a kid, and two-
Kat: Enjoyed it.
Ryley: Enjoyed it, yeah. It's one of those movies.
Kat: Yeah. It's very specific to our, our era of Dreamworks.
Ryley: Definitely.
Kat: The next review I have is a two and a half star from 2018 on letterbox that says, "the moment where the Persian cat who can't smell yelled Stella, was better than the entirety of a streetcar named desire from 1951."
Ryley: You know what? Yeah. I'll give that to them.
Kat: Yeah. Didn't your mom name her car Stella after that?
Ryley: Yeah. Yes. Yes, she did. She named it, cause I think we were watching Modern Family at the time. And there was a bit where they did that bit, they screamed out Stella.
Kat: Yeah. The dog, Stella.
Ryley: Yeah. And my mom was like, 'I'm gonna name my new car after that.' She did. We still have that car.
Kat: Yeah. But the next one is three and a half stars from letterboxd, from 2020. "Studies have proved [00:35:00] that if you don't like this film, you don't like fun and you suck. Well, who am I to argue with studies am I right?"
Ryley: Wait, wait, wait, wait. I love that. I'm gonna say that from now on.
Kat: Yes, that's us every time somebody hates fun.
Ryley: It's literally the definition of this- this podcast.
Kat: It's like, 'oh, you hate fun? You h- you kick puppies?'
Ryley: 'You kick puppies?'
Kat: 'You hate children?'
Ryley: I love that.
Kat: Two and a half stars from Letterboxd from 2020, starting with the quote, 'that's a contraband item, ma'am, as it is illegal in every state, except Texas.'
Ryley: I forgot about that quote. It would be legal in Texas.
Kat: It would. Uh, they say after that quote, "this is Avril Lavigne's best movie. No, but actually the animation of the humans is absolutely hideous. Borderline terrifying." Where the uncanny valley thing comes in a little more is the humans more than the animals.
Ryley: They're freaky looking.
Kat: Yeah. Dwayne scared me more than the bear.
Ryley: Oh, that's hilarious. I thought he was giving Dwight energy.
Kat: Yeah. I mean, Dwayne, Dwight.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: The next one is a two star review from [00:36:00] 2021 that says, "I blame this film for my childhood habit of eating bark because of how it made the bark look delicious."
Ryley: Oh my god. Because it put the, the chip dust on it. Oh my God.
Kat: That part of the movie told me bark is not good.
Ryley: That is so fucking funny. You know what's funny? I remember in Bambi during the winter scene, this is right before the mom got killed, like, you know, it's winter, there's no grass, so they have to like eat the bark off the tree.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: I remember like how it was animated, like she just like strips the bark off. Like she bites it, strips the bark off. I was like, Hmm, that looks like, I don't know what it look like. I think like beef jerky or something. I don't know.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: That's what I thought it would taste like.
Kat: Tree jerky.
Ryley: It's tree jerky, so eat it. So I like, I'm, I'm understanding.
Kat: This movie didn't make me think bark tasted good.
Ryley: It didn't make it look good. No.
Kat: Bambi. Yeah, but.
Ryley: Bambi and like other things like you can make almost anything look good in it. I, I understand why children get confused with something animated on a show and they're like, that must be good.
Kat: Yeah. This made me want Doritos and Pringles more than anything.
Ryley: Yeah, [00:37:00] exactly. Not dirt.
Kat: Yeah. Also, so these next three, they were all in a row and they were all funny, so I just screenshotted them all together.
Ryley: Perfect.
Kat: 2016, 3 stars on letterboxd. "Everyone stopped saying, I look like the opossum from Over the Hedge. I don't look like the opossum from Over the Hedge." And I'll zoom in on her so you can see.
Ryley: Oh my God. She does though. Oh, she does. Oh, that's so fucking funny. You know what I'm gonna say? It's not an insult.
Kat: It's Avril Lavigne.
Ryley: It's Avril Lavigne. You just look like Avril Lavigne if she were a opossum.
Kat: You do.
Both: You do.
Ryley: Sorry. It's not an insult, I'm not being mean, you just do.
Kat: And the next one is three stars from 2020 on letterboxd. That says, "this movie tried so hard to make a skunk fuckable."
Ryley: Oh my God.
Kat: They did.
Ryley: I didn't wanna ever hear those words but, yeah.
Kat: I didn't either, but now you did. I had to see it so, so do you. Okay, the next one is two and a half stars on letterboxd from 2021. That says, "this goes down a smidge on rewatch. I certainly recall a more bombastic [00:38:00] finale, so this tells me I was overly impressed by a film I had set low expectations for even then. Over the Hedge's real praise belongs to its collection of voice actors, Nick Nolte, Bruce Willis, Steve Carell, Catherine O'Hara, and Eugene Levy, Wanda Sykes and Gary Shandling, among others who add a ton of flair to their respective characters. The film tends to cram the 'humans are gross and overindulgent' gimmick down your throat, which isn't wrong, but gets tiresome all the time. Shout out to Thomas Hayden Church, who is always off to the side reveling in the dirty work."
Ryley: They're not wrong. I, I get it. And like, even though I like critiquing of us, I, I understand when it gets old.
Kat: This next one is a one out of 10.
Ryley: I love the title.
Kat: From IMDb, titled, 'Go See Cars' from June of 2006. "I am a huge Shrek fan, but this was a waste of my time. Lame jokes just shooting at you. Also, the killing jokes over and over again, et cetera, there are actually kids in the theater. My kids enjoyed cars much more and so did I. It is full of mature jokes and has a heartwarming story. Also, I do [00:39:00] not know much about animation, but it seemed Cars was done better. I can't wait for Shrek three, but if it's anything like this, I will be greatly disappointed. Dreamworks, please think of something amazing next time, and try not to make many jokes that it starts hurting your brain. Also less aggressive jokes, please, as advice from a father of two loving kids, this is not worth your or your kids' time."
Ryley: Okay. When they say, 'I can't wait for Shrek three, but if it is anything,' Okay ,sorry, you're gonna be greatly disappointed by Shrek three.
Kat: It's not as bad as Over the Hedge if this is what they think of Over the Hedge.
Ryley: Yeah, that's that is true. Also, when they say C ars looks a lot better, I'm like, yeah, it's Pixar.
Kat: It's fucking Pixar.
Ryley: It's Pi- it's really hard to upstage Pixar.
Kat: Yeah. Also, they're cartoon cars and there's no like people or anything in it.
Ryley: Yeah, exactly.
Kat: It's a little easier to make that look pleasing.
Ryley: Yes.
Kat: Two stars on Letterboxd from 2018. "All my life I've wondered who voiced Heather as a cool Teenaged possum, but of course it's Avril Lavigne. Who else would it be? I sensed [00:40:00] something. Her pop rock energy I mean. And the THX logo loudness is the most accurate thing ever."
Ryley: Yes, yes. I remember that, trying to put on a movie late at night. I didn't know how to work the volume. I knew how to put a movie in. I had no clue how to work the volume though. So whatever the volume was, was what it was.
Kat: But the next one is a three star review, written in 2020. It says that, "the Western remake of parasite already exists, and it even has Ben Folds."
Ryley: Oh my god. That's hilarious. I love that.
Kat: Parasites just a rip off of Over the Hedge.
Ryley: Yeah, honestly. That's the argument we should be making.
Kat: Today I will prove. I had to go into the three stars cuz surprisingly there were barely any one or two star negative reviews on IMDb.
Ryley: Dang.
Kat: But this is a three out of 10 from June of 2006. Titled, 'Corny.' "I consider this as one of the flop movie. It doesn't have enough sense at all. It has even some rude scenes which are not appropriate for children to watch. I think if they have made this movie with real animal characters, PETA would sue them. One of the [00:41:00] corniest movies ever made! No quality, made this for the sake of money. In fairness with the story, it reflects the realization of animals' lives. Serves as a symbol that other unfortunate people might also be living this way. No food to eat, no shelter, and the family they call are the ones they meet on the streets. It also teaches the people to value your friends, treat them as one of the most important people in your life. When everyone else leaves you, you can always look back and always find them accepting you with a warm heart." So they're saying that there might be people who are living on the streets in America that like they have to make family with other people that they meet on the streets.
Ryley: Okay, that's what they were trying to say. I didn't know what they-
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: I didn- didn't know what they were trying to say. Okay.
Kat: I, I think I kind of get what they're trying to say. They're like, human beings live like these animals. The PETA part?
Ryley: I don't know what they're trying to get with that. I feel like, I don't know I think they missed like the whole satire part. Like what the movie was like trying to show and like yeah, they, they have a point.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Like there's people who don't have [00:42:00] food and all that, but I feel like they missed the point, like.
Kat: I think they got the point. It's just, I don't think the movie was necessarily saying that these animals are stand-ins for actual human beings that live this way.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: It was all over the place, but I saw the PETA part and I was like.
Ryley: Gotta include it. Gotta include it.
Kat: But the next review is a two-star review. And I don't know if, I don't know if this is true. From letterbox in 2018. That says, "the part where the turtle shell comes off pisses me off so much like yeah children watching it would probably think, haha, epic and funny turtle but me, an intellectual understands that the turtle would be dead if it's shell was removed because the shell itself is connected to the ribs and if you rip that shit off, you will kill the turtle."
Ryley: Yeah. You- they can't take their shells off.
Kat: Yeah, I don't know enough about turtles to know that, so I was like, 'you probably know. So I'll put this in here.'
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: But also, it's a cartoon, calm down.
Ryley: It's just a cartoon dude. And I doubt a kid's gonna go out there, find a turtle and rip it out of it's shell.
Kat: I hope not.
Ryley: I hope not. And if they do, that's a little psychopath, you need to get them to the therapy or something.
Kat: Small outlier.
Ryley: Yeah. But they are [00:43:00] right, like they can't take off their shells.
Kat: Yeah. But it it's a cartoon.
Ryley: Yeah. Most kids aren't gonna replicate it.
Kat: Yeah.
Ryley: Most kids aren't gonna go out there and rip a shell off a turtle.
Kat: Yeah. Three and a half stars from 2022. "A bright over the top, funny adventure based on a popular comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis. While it's fairly thin on plot, the movie's relatively high stakes action sequences, fun villains, terrific cast and uproarious hilarious buddy-comedy moments make it an absolute blast. Bruce Willis and Gary Shandling are a little odd couple- a pair with unexpected yet undeniable chemistry and maybe one of Dreamwork's best duos ever. Like all great comic strips, Over the Hedge is just brimming with scathing satire, adult laughs and poignant characters, with great heart and narrative arcs injected into everyone of the ensemble. Perhaps one of Dreamwork's most underappreciated pictures."
Ryley: Um, like, like, I, like, again, this is one of those things where like, I'm not gonna tell 'em the wrong about anything.
Kat: I think all of the things they're saying are true.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: I do think it was underappreciated. I don't- I don't think it needed the same amount of praise as like Shrek, but.
Ryley: [00:44:00] No. So like, underappreciated in that sense, but.
Kat: And then our last review is a 10 out of 10 titled 'Excellent Animation, Constant Action, Perfect Music' from IMDb, written in January of 2007. That says, "Dreamworks did great animation working with all the fur, watch the special features on the DVD to see the details. The music is great, especially the theme song by Ben Folds and Hans Zimmer. Lots of action and adventure keep you glued to the screen. Great jokes and observations of humans stemming from the comic strip it's based on. The stars doing the voices helped make the movie come alive. Phenomenal voice acting by Bill Shatner as one of the opossums. I didn't see a opossum when it was talking I saw Bill acting! See it, buy it. The amount of computer servers Dreamworks used to make this and the technological complexity of it is mind blowing. I don't mind paying $20 for this, so that more movies of this quality will come out."
Ryley: Well, there you go. 'I didn't see an opossum when it was talking'- oh, he, he just saw Shatner.
Kat: Like Bill Shatner. Yeah.
Ryley: That's funny.
Kat: I forget that [00:45:00] DVDs, I mean, they still are kind of expensive when they're, when they just came out, but this shit's in the $5 bin at Walmart now.
Ryley: Oh, def- like most kids movies that we grew up with are in there.
Kat: Are in there, yeah. I think I've pulled Monster House out of there.
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: So if you had to rate Over the Hedge out of 10?
Ryley: I'd give it a six.
Kat: Okay.
Ryley: Six out of 10. I wouldn't say, and I've said this, you know, it's not one of my favorites of Dreamworks, but like it's not bad. I think A six is a good, like it's a good film. It's okay.
Kat: Yeah. There are definitely worse movies that came out around this time. But, as scary as it looks, it's still-
Ryley: Yeah, as scary as it looks.
Kat: It's still funny, you know?
Ryley: Yeah.
Kat: It's entertaining. It's not a movie you would necessarily want to watch all the time, even as somebody who watched a lot as a kid like, I don't really revisit this movie too much, but I think I would also probably say like a six. It's passable. Do you have anything else you wanna say?
Ryley: No.
Kat: Okay. So if you have any comments or criticisms or concerns for us, you can message us at Easy Bake Takes on our Instagram and we also have a TikTok at Easy Bake Takes. You can [00:46:00] check out our websites for our episode transcripts and review overviews, and that's easy bake takes podcast.com. We also have a letterbox account, Easy Bake Takes where you can follow us. And don't forget to like, follow, review wherever you listen and share us with a friend cuz that really helps us out. And thank you so much for listening. My name is Kat.
Ryley: And I'm Ryley.
Kat: This has been Easy Bake Takes. Easy watching out there.
Ryley: Bye.
Kat: Bye.