 The animated Over the Hedge is attracting far more favorable reviews than its rival for weekend box-office honors, The Da Vinci Code (although no one expects the cartoon to outperform the thriller). Still, the reviews mostly lack any real enthusiasm. For example, Roger Ebert writes in the Chicago Sun-Times that it is "not at the level of Finding Nemo or Shrek, but is a lot of fun, awfully nice to look at, and filled with energy and smiles. It's not a movie adults would probably want to attend on their own, but those taking the kids are likely to be amused, and the kids, I think, will like it just fine." Likewise, Peter Howell, in the Toronto Star observes, "It is competent work and frequently amusing." Jan Stuart in Newsday gives it points for being "smart without being smarty pants, environmentally true without being pedantic, literate without being high-handed." Liam Lacey in the Toronto Globe & Mail puts it this way: "Though the animation is solid and the writing reasonably clever, Over the Hedge is clearly more about bright packaging than freshness or substance." The film does indeed attract some extreme response. On the one hand, Chris Kaltenback in the Baltimore Sun writes: "Rarely have critters frolicked more hilariously than in Over the Hedge, a movie that should amuse all but the newborn or dead." Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle calls it "the studio's best computer-animated effort since Shrek." On the other hand, Manohla Dargis in the New York Times, while praising the technical prowess of the animators, remarks that "no one bothered to pay commensurate attention to the screenplay." And Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times opens his review this way: "Offering little in the way of sophistication or memorable characters, the disappointingly pedestrian computer-animated Over the Hedge will be more entertaining for little tykes than their older siblings and parents, and would not seem out of place on Saturday morning television." And Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune concludes: "The whole thing has the soul and mechanics of a second-rate R-rated action picture, toned down for the target audience." |
