DreamWorks, in ‘Over The Hedge’ seem to adopt an all round audience approach. The animated side of the film appeals to children, and immature gags such as calling the newly found hedge ‘Steve’ will be more comical to younger people. DreamWorks though, also aim for adult viewers. There are moments in the film where an older audience may understand a particular joke or a pun, whereas a child, most possibly wouldn’t. When an adult sees the animals exploring the ‘human’ world, they would probably find it humorous as they can relate to it, or the way in which Gladys acts, while a kid may just like the silliness of it. You could compare this film to others, such as Shrek, another DreamWorks movie that has very similar qualities. All together, the movie has an overall family feel to it, catering for all audiences, and therefore gaining maximum viewing figures.
At the beginning of the film, we witness the vending machine scene, where RJ is struggling to reach the packet of chips. This is how the audience first meets the racoon, a scavenging and intellectual creature that doesn’t want to give up, at first. There are a lot of high angle shots, making RJ look even smaller in comparison to the big vending machine, and plenty of long shots as well. This slowly introduces him to the audience, gradually moving to close ups and big close ups. We as the viewers start to recognise RJ as an almost human like figure, that has a golf bag with things like a boomerang, and crocodile snapper toy and a fishing rod in it. A little while afterwards, Vincent the bear appears, with lots of low angle shots making him look gigantic and ferocious; completely the opposite of RJ who had high angle shots to make him look weaker. The producers then use extreme close ups on the bear, but this is effective in a different way to the close ups on the racoon. This is because we as the audience can see how scary and enormous he is in comparison, you can see his huge sharp teeth and hear his low pitched growl. We realise how intimidating this must be to RJ.
Personally, I believe that the night time scene at the beginning of the movie is a good indication of how Dreamworks produce hidden meanings in their films splendidly. The night represents the start of the film, as all the animals are hibernating except RJ. It could also epitomize RJ’s fear from Vincent, the bear. However, this time scene cuts straight to the sunny, snow melting spring morning. This is ironic as we also see the moon in the shot, we know that RJ is quickly running out of time to get the food back to the ferocious bear. This cut to the spring scene could also mean a fresh start for RJ (to be a better all round person), but we do not find this out until later in the film when RJ puts his newly found friends before himself.
As in most Dreamworks films, sound is a very important and effective part of the movie. Combining both popular music (that has a meaning and is relevant to the film) and the traditional classical music often used in films works very well, and can be related to projects such as ‘Shrek’. Somewhat sad songs like ‘My family is me’ makes the viewer feel sorry for RJ and almost guilty for the situation he is in with Vincent. However, the classic violin music used for the more exciting scenes, for example when the animals are in the kitchen attempting to steal the food; makes you sense the danger and tension of the moment.
There are also many signs and signifiers in ‘Over The Hedge’, which have hidden messages too; much like the night time scene. It appears for example that the atomic bomb scene from space, where RJ opens the tortilla chip bag and unleashes its powerful cheesy blast; means much more than the audience actually sees. It can be seen as humour, but in reality it can mean much more than that. It could symbolise RJ’s tremendous impact to the group of animals, like an atomic bomb’s blast would cause mass devastation. Although this is on a much smaller scale, the blast would affect a lot or certain people, in this case, the family of animals. RJ is an arrogant and spontaneous character that the creatures are simply not used to. They are normally foraging for food in the forest, for nature’s produce, and then to slowly build up a collection of food. On the other hand, this new exciting racoon comes along and teaches them how they can increase this quantity of food. So overall, the atomic bomb represents the radical change of living when RJ joins the clan.
Another significant passage of the film is when Vern the turtle makes a reference to the bible, when he says to the group “it’s not like he (RJ) can walk on water”, which is associated with Jesus who was said to do so. Then to contradict his point, the producers cut to a panning shot of what appears to be RJ running across the water of the swimming pool. This signifies RJ’s new importance, and power to the animals. Jesus was an almost magical-like man, and had the ability to do such things, of which RJ is being compared to.
Dreamworks and Disney are two very famous film companies, and often compete against each other to gain the most viewers. Dreamworks’s ethos is to mainly create movies that can be enjoyed by all, and to do away with certain stereotypes, such as in ‘Over The Hedge’; whereas Disney aim to evoke the child within, and tend to target families and children more. In contrast to Dreamworks, they stick to the traditional animated films, keeping the stereotypes in. Dreamworks also use more realistic storylines, and usually have morals to them. Often about friends, family and love; but it is put over in a fun and humorous way that especially children will like, and probably learn from. On the other hand, Disney’s concept is a lot simpler and aims mostly for children to enjoy the experience, but to also makes the common adult remember when they were young, and can enjoy it too. Overall though, a child would probably not have a preference in to what they would rather see, i.e. Dreamworks or Disney; but with the older person taken into consideration, they would probably want to see a film they can relate to which in this case could be ‘Over The Hedge’.
Finally, at the end of the film we can see how RJ has drastically changed from the beginning. As mentioned, he originally was a greedy, arrogant, sneaky and selfish animal. He doesn’t seem to regret his actions, and appears to have no conscience. As the film progresses, we slowly but surely see how he changes for the better. RJ begins to realise genuinely how good it feels to be in a family, and wants to feel it permanently. This is why right at the end; we witness RJ risking his life to save the group of animals. RJ’s conscience seems to come back, and he begins to regret what he has done. We also see that in the last scene or two, he really is the stereotypical hero that we are not used to seeing.
