Over the Hedge

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Over The Hedge stands out as genuinely witty and even a little barbed. Its chipper, sneering outsider's look at suburban sprawl and conformity isn't going to change the world, but it's still self-aware enough to be reasonably smart.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The film stays true to its characters and keeps the laughs coming in what may be the closest thing in spirit to the old Warner Bros. Looney Tunes to hit the screen in years. And when it comes to animation designed primarily for laughs, praise doesn't come any higher than that.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

This isn't much of a plot, but as in the "Toy Story" films the combination of a varied cast of characters and a vision of the human world from an unlikely perspective make for consistent amusement.

TV Guide Ken Fox

It's very funny, and the little woodland critters that make up the cast are a kiddie-pleasing bunch.

New York Post Kyle Smith

If they were still making Looney Tunes, they'd look a lot like Over the Hedge.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The visual and verbal jokes are as bouncy and multilevel (hip height for adults, knee-slap-size for kids) as we have come, no doubt selfishly, to expect from DreamWorks.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This enjoyable Dreamworks animated comedy is well timed.

Film Threat Michael Ferraro

Aside from having some great animation, the writing is funny and clever.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

This has to be the first children's film to weave a Grand Theft Auto joke into the script -- and like most things in the movie, it's pretty amusing.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The computer-animation is terrific, most of the slapstick gags are fun, and Wanda Sykes' voice performance as feisty Stella the Skunk is one that will be remembered - and not because it stinks.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

When "Hedge" clicks on all cylinders, Chuck Jones smiles down from heaven.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

Kids will eat it up, while solid voice work from William Shatner and Wanda Sykes should keep this borderline-feral toon from pushing adults over the edge.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The vividly animated film -- based on a comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis -- has an appealing balance of comic bits and exhilarating action sequences.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Solid family entertainment, and it's better than 2006's previous tepid animated releases.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A backyard ecological comedy outfitted with some fine, silly slapstick and clever animal characters.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Deftly held together by bags of good humor and zany action sequences, tethered to a heartfelt conviction that green is good and family is better.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The final showdown, in which the critters tangle with security-rigged lawn flamingos and garden gnomes, would have made Rube Goldberg proud.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Offers plenty of modest pleasures.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Hedge is built for laughter rather than artistry; jokes are packed into every pixel. But despite the movie's entertaining qualities, there is something a little unsettling.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The story is slim but the script is snappy and the film moves with a fluid rhythm that charges up to a rollercoaster pace.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

There is actually an occasional moment of inspiration, but as an experience, the movie doesn't hog much shelf space in the memory.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Though the animation is solid and the writing reasonably clever, Over the Hedge is clearly more about packaging than freshness or substance.

Empire Nick De Semlyen

You'll soon be sick of digital furballs, but there’s plenty of fun here.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Despite a sprinkling of laughs and eye-catching moments, this adaptation of a popular comicstrip reps a middling effort from the house that "Shrek" built, a rather narrowly conceived tale that makes only modest hay from the overworked conflict between wildlife and encroaching humans.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Even with Levy and O'Hara and Shandling adding what they can, you can only enjoy the voices behind the critters so much when the images fall so short.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

Like a lot of animated fare, it's overly busy, lacking the comic's gentle, contemplative air.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Over the Hedge isn't by any stretch bad. It's just banal.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

There is no poetry here and little thought.

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

"Lady and the Tramp" all by its lonesome is worth a dozen of these meat-grinders -- crude commodities, plush toys and product placements in search of a story from which to hang their price tags.