I watched Over the Hedge at the weekend and as with most of the movies from DreamWorks Animation I loved it. The animals wake up from hibernation to find a large green hedge all around their home. On further investigation they find that during the winter whilst they were asleep their forest has been turned into a housing estate and only a small square of their home remains. This means they have to look for other methods of foraging food. At this point a mischievous raccoon arrives in the forest. He has a dilemma, having just upset a very large bear whose food supply he has destroyed. The raccoon decides that the best way to solve his problem is to use his new found forest friends to collect food for the bear so that he can avoid getting eaten. This leads to a series of amusing scenes where the forest animals are introduced to human food and after having a taste of what looks like Doritos they suddenly don’t find their usual diet quite as interesting as before. The raccoon goes on a number of expeditions over the hedge to collect food causing a lot of commotion with the humans who would rather not have vermin running around the housing state. Once enough food has been collected the raccoon betrays the rest of the animals to take the food to the bear and save his own life. Unfortunately because his exploits have upset the humans they call in the verminator, a pest control expert to get rid of the animals. Luckily the raccoon eventually sees the error of his ways and returns to rescue his friends. His plan involves feeding fizzy drinks to a hyperactive squirrel who is then able to move faster than the eye can see and save the day. In all it’s a funny movie and great family fun.
