Bruce Willis, Gary Shandling, William Shatner, Eugene Levy, Wanda Sykes

Directed by Tim Johnson and

Karey Kirkpatrick

Rated PG

4 Pulses

The latest beautifully-computer animated project, Over the Hedge, brings the comic strip of the same name to the big screen in a colorful and fun look at the mayhem that ensues when a gang of woodland creatures awakens from hibernation to find much of the forest turned into a residential development.

The animals, with voices supplied by an all-star cast, quickly realize that Doritos and other human food taste better than bark. To get this food they must journey, as the name suggests, over the hedge.

Hearing William Shatner lend his legendry vocal rhythms as a possum is worth giving it a watch.

“Lights . . . fading” the quick-to-play dead possum would cry.

Some scenes in Over the Hedge are truly hilarious, such as a slow-motion sequence in which an already hyperactive squirrel gets a taste of an energy drink and accomplishes quite a lot in a short time.

However one segment, featuring a dog chasing the gang and the whole lot of them getting tangled in a wagon, garden hose and propane tank and blasting into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, simply defied all laws of real-world physics and was totally unbelievable.

Furthermore, the movie stereotypes nearly every animal in the forest; the sneaky and conniving raccoon, the faint-of-heart possum, the smelly skunk and the slow turtle finding himself on his back.

I think this review is getting too serious.

If you like cute turtles and Ben Folds, this is the movie you’ve been waiting for.

In all seriousness, though, the picture offers some entertaining and clever takes on the even spreading modern concrete jungle, and Americans’ wastefulness and gluttonous consumption of food.

And the cookies so good they must be delivered by uniformed officers would make anyone’s mouth water.

While many of the situations are nothing groundbreaking, some of the dialogue is very witty and the animation is stunning. The outcome is good.