The family watched Over the Hedge the other night. It was amusing enough, but I couldn’t help but notice a certain fable-like quality to the story. I wouldn’t exactly put this movie into the Fundamentals in Film series, I thought I’d share my observations. If you haven’t seen the movie, the latest animated film from the people who brought us Shrek, it’s the story of a rather amoral raccoon, RJ (voice of Bruce Willis) who’s snack-thieving ways get him in big trouble with a large and implacable bear when he accidentally causes the bear’s food stash to be destroyed. To save himself, RJ must replace everything by a (literal) deadline. While on his quest he comes across a collection of naive woodland animals gently led by a turtle named Vern (Gary Shandling).

Vern and his friends have just awoken from their winter hibernation to find that their forest home has been encircled by a suburban housing development. Initially confused and terrified, they don’t know what to do. RJ, well-acquainted with the appetites and excesses of humans and seeing a way to con the other animals into helping him with his mission, convinces them that the easy life is at hand and all the delicious food they could ever want is literally on their doorstep.

Vern is slow but sensible and doesn’t trust RJ or the new life he promises, even though RJ initially delivers and the other animals are thrilled with the potato chips, cookies and pizza scraps they’ve tasted (“It tastes good, so it must be good for you!”). Vern wants to keep to their old ways and food, but he is ignored and even becomes the butt (literally) of the movie’s humor. The rest of the animals are soon enthusiastically racing through the neighborhood gathering food and following RJ’s directions without knowing his real purpose. Of course, disaster ultimately looms and is narrowly averted but not without everyone learning what is Really Important, blah-bitty blah blah.

I doubt that what I got out of this is what Hollywood intended, but I saw RJ as an allegory of liberal leaders eager to sway the people with goodies, tickling their ears with bright words and stuffing the public’s face with all manner of tantalizing junk to get them to vote with their stomachs while the liberals pursue their unadvertised, self-serving agenda. Vern, on the other hand, is the conservative advocating for the traditional, healthy ways of doing things, even if it’s more work and not as tasty. Just to make the allegory even more realistic, at one point Vern even temporarily gives in and goes along with RJ’s plan, thinking that if so many of the others want it it must be okay. In the end, tradition triumphs and RJ is converted.

Again, that’s probably not exactly the message the movie was trying to send (and someone with a different political view from me might be able to construct his or her own opposite allegory). Overall, though it is a funny and entertaining film that humorously skewers a lot of human foibles by presenting them from the animal’s viewpoint. It’s a little preachy, but well-leavened with physical humor and sight gags and clever references to everything from A Streetcar Named Desire to Pepe LePew. It also steals (RJ might say “borrows”) heavily from the earlier but lesser-known animated film, Hoodwinked (which I also recommend). Rent the movie and I’m sure you and your kids will enjoy it — and if you present it in the right way, they might even learn something, too!

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