Over the Hedge, the latest computer-generated critter comedy from DreamWorks Animation, arrives in theaters today, just in time to compete with director Ron Howard’s adaptation of the controversial best seller The Da Vinci Code. Both films will make a ton of money for sure, but it will be interesting to see which one emerges victorious when the dust from this scuffle clears. Will auds be more intrigued by what’s on the other side of the hedge, or what secrets the Catholic church is hiding from Tom Hanks?
Some critics have already chosen a winner in Hedge. The flick has garnered several positive reviews while the word on Code has been pretty grim. Still, Dan Brown’s book about hidden messages in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci has become a cultural phenomenon and its heat should generate a fire at the box office for Sony’s pic. Over the Hedge has the advantage of the highest theater count. The toon rolls out in more the 4,000 theaters in North America, while The Da Vinci Code debuts in just over 3,700 venues.
Also opening in wide release today is See No Evil, Lions Gate’s most recent attempt to cash in on the lucrative teen horror genre. But with just 1,257 theaters screening the screamer, it shouldn’t pose much of a threat to the two top contenders, It may, however, help push the Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios hit, Ice Age: The Meltdown, out of the top ten after a successful eight weeks on the charts.
Based on the comic strip of the same name by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, Over the Hedge finds a raccoon named R.J. (Bruce Willis) with a literal deadline of one week to replace an ominous bear’s spring food supply. In order to complete the task, he recruits a small band of forest animals to loot a housing development that has cropped up over the winter. Like the comic, the movie offers a satirical look a suburban life and how the animal world might view the absurdity of human excess.
Over the Hedge is directed by Tim Johnson (Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Antz) and first-timer Karey Kirkpatrick, a writer whose credits include The Rescuers Down Under, James and the Giant Peach, Chicken Run and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Read our thoughts on the animated family film at www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=5443 and head over to Barnes & Noble and other newsstand locations to pick up the June issue of Animation Magazine for a behind-the-scenes look at the DreamWorks Animation production.
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