One of the best things to happen as a result of the immense success that Pixar Animation has been privvy to is that every other studio wants a piece of the action. It also happens to be one of the worst. Fortunately, only a few CG animated features have turned out poorly though the potential is certainly there. Ha! I’ll be you thought this review was gonna be negative.

Dreamworks hopped onto the badnwagon back in 98 with Antz. Though visually superior (at the time) to its Pixar bretheren, Antz simply didn’t have the age gapping appeal that Toy Story and A Bug’s Life did. Then came Shrek. The scottish tinged ogre skyrocketed in popularity enough to warrant 2 sequels, one of which has proven its worth 50 times over. Madagascar though…not so much. For me, Madagascar was a film put together for no other intention but to use a collection of massively popular celebrities as voices. Hmm.. still sounds negative. Let’s try something else.

Over The Hedge is excellent! Even though it doesn’t have the same flare, its woodland characters are just as accesible and relateable as the eclectic collection of fairy tale creatures of Shrek. The message isn’t choked down, nor is the celebrity aspect, despite some big names like Bruce Willis as the sly racoon RJ or Steve Carell as the childlike, hyper active squirrel Hammy.

RJ finds himself with a heavy price on his head when he attempts to steal a food cache from a black bear named Vincent, voiced by Nick Nolte. The evil Yogi gives RJ the impossible task of replacing his entire stash in one week or else becoming the bear’s first post-hybernation meal. RJ tackles the suburbs in hopes of raiding the fridges of the track homes that seemed to have popped up over the winter. RJ enlists the help, under false pretenses, of a group of woodland foragers who are ignorant of the new world that has popped up around them. A lack of food to forage from the limited woods around them is motivation enough, but the group’s leader Verne, voiced by Gary Shandling, is outwardly cautious and suspicious to RJ’s intentions.

Hilarity comes in the form of discovery as the forest creatures venture out into the human world. Hammy quickly becomes the star of the show, laregly due to line delivery from Carell in an often squeaky and always frantic voice. Lessons about family, trust and self confidence are well blended into situational comedy that humanizes skunks, porcupines, turltes, racoons, squirrels and possums alike. The movie is just plain funny folks and except for one brief intense scene involving the bear, is perfect for the family. In fact, my only complaint is with the music. Ben Folds (didn’t they used to have 5 in their name?) performs the soundtrack. Each song sounds the same and the lyrics are way too specific to the action on the screen to be catchy. I don’t need to a song about shopping in the supermarket. They just try too hard.

Despite the music though, the film is a laugh a minute and great for all ages. It shows that Dreamworks can certainly make a good animated film. It’s just too bad they’ve already slated a Madagascar 2.