49 Fun Facts About Over the Hedge

What kind of animal is RJ, the scheming lead of Over the Hedge?

Raccoon RJ opens the film losing a fight with a vending machine over a bag of snacks, which is what sends him up the hill to rob a sleeping bear instead.

Who voices RJ in Over the Hedge?

Bruce Willis came in late, taking over the lead in October 2004, more than two years after the part was first cast and some 19 months before the film opened.

In Over the Hedge, what is the name of the bear whose food RJ destroys?

Vincent is asleep when RJ loads up his hoard; woken early from hibernation, he can only watch as the whole lot rolls downhill into the road and under a truck.

In Over the Hedge, how long does the bear give RJ to replace his food?

One week is all he gets, and RJ protests that the job is impossible for one animal, which is why he recruits Verne's family without telling them who the food is for.

What kind of animal is Verne, the cautious leader of the woodland family in Over the Hedge?

Turtle Verne trusts a tingling in his tail that tells him when something is wrong, and it starts up the moment RJ begins his sales pitch.

What has replaced most of the animals' forest when they wake from hibernation in Over the Hedge?

A housing development has swallowed all but a speck of the woods; RJ's pitch is that the hedge around it is no wall but 'the gateway to the good life'.

Which actor voices Hammy the squirrel in Over the Hedge?

Steve Carell's squirrel spends the film unable to remember where he buried his nuts, then turns up in the final scene having found the lot.

Who voices Stella the skunk in Over the Hedge?

Wanda Sykes's skunk is made over as a cat so that she can charm the house cat out of his collar, which works as the key to the pet door.

Which pop star voices Heather, the opossum embarrassed by her father's playing dead, in Over the Hedge?

Avril Lavigne's Heather calls playing dead 'weak', then fools Gladys with a death scene of her own and tells her proud father she learned from the best.

Which former SCTV castmates voice the porcupine parents Lou and Penny in Over the Hedge?

Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara had already played husband and wife in Best in Show, and did so again years later as Johnny and Moira Rose in Schitt's Creek.

Who is Gladys Sharp in Over the Hedge?

President of the homeowners' association is the rank she pulls on the police at the end, insisting she can't be arrested, moments before she takes a swing at an officer.

Who voices Dwayne, the exterminator who styles himself the Verminator, in Over the Hedge?

Thomas Haden Church's exterminator sells himself as the consummate professional, yet when the police arrive he tries to sneak away over a fence and is brought down by a dog.

In Over the Hedge, what is the Depelter Turbo?

An illegal animal trap, banned, its installer admits, in every state except Texas; in the end it catches the film's three villains instead of the animals.

In Over the Hedge, what is Nugent?

An excitable Rottweiler who only wants to play, Nugent chases Verne across the estate and wrecks the animals' first haul of food, for which Verne gets the blame.

In Over the Hedge, what is the name of Gladys's Persian cat, who ends up smitten with Stella?

Tiger is short for a far grander Persian name, and he can fall for a skunk because, as he explains, his flat face was bred for beauty and he cannot smell a thing.

Which snack does RJ go back for at Gladys's house because the bear specifically wanted it?

Spuddies potato chips, sold on the slogan that enough just isn't enough, cost the family dearly: the detour for one last can gets everyone but RJ caught.

What fuels Hammy's burst of super-speed at the climax of Over the Hedge?

An energy drink is the one thing RJ had kept from the hyperactive squirrel all film, warning that caffeine was the last thing he needed; one can makes the world stand still.

Where does animal control send the bear at the end of Over the Hedge?

The Rocky Mountains: 'off to the Rockies for you, Smokey', an officer tells him, after RJ and Verne lure the bear over the hedge to be caught.

After the credits of Over the Hedge, RJ empties a vending machine, only to find what?

The door is jammed shut by the avalanche of snacks: it is the very machine that beat RJ in the opening scene, and this time his trick works too well.

In Over the Hedge, which snack does RJ hand round to win the animals over to human food?

Nacho cheese chips: RJ lists the ingredients like a salesman, dehydrated cheese solids and MSG included, and one taste turns the family against Verne's diet of tree bark.

Which actor was announced as RJ in Over the Hedge in 2002, before dropping out in 2004?

Jim Carrey walked away more than two years after signing on; his first animated feature came in 2008 instead, as the elephant in Horton Hears a Who!

Which studio produced Over the Hedge?

DreamWorks did well out of it after the cinemas: the DVD shipped more than 12 million copies and was named a main driver of the studio's revenue for two quarters running.

Which Star Trek actor voices Ozzie, the opossum who plays dead with theatrical flair, in Over the Hedge?

William Shatner sends up his own grand manner in Ozzie's drawn-out death scenes, and also turns up on the soundtrack, adding guest vocals to one of its songs.

Which piano-playing singer-songwriter wrote three new songs for the Over the Hedge soundtrack?

Ben Folds also reworked his own hit Rockin' the Suburbs for the film, with one of its voice stars on guest vocals, and covered a song by the Clash.

Which Clash song is covered on the Over the Hedge soundtrack?

Lost in the Supermarket suits a film TV Guide called a sly satire of American 'enough is never enough' consumerism: its heroes plan to live off suburbia's leftovers.

Which film beat Over the Hedge to first place on its opening weekend in May 2006?

The Da Vinci Code opened to $77 million, double the cartoon's $38.5 million; a week later X-Men: The Last Stand arrived and pushed Over the Hedge down to third.

In Over the Hedge, who drives the exterminator's van home after the driver is knocked out?

The porcupine triplets take the wheel because, as one of them announces, it is just like the video game Auto-Homicide 3.

In Over the Hedge, how does Gladys tell the exterminator to dispose of the captured animals?

As inhumanely as possible, she snaps, correcting his promise to do it 'quickly and humanely'; Roger Ebert quoted the line in his review and added, 'She's all heart.'

Why, says its co-creator, did Over the Hedge's stars work for a fraction of their usual fees?

Hopes of a sequel payday, Michael Fry wrote in 2010: paying the cast in full next time would add about $20 million, one reason the studio chose Madagascar 3 instead.

Which atmospheric phenomenon was named after the hedge in Over the Hedge?

STEVE was a placeholder borrowed from the film, where the animals name the baffling hedge Steve to make it less frightening; scientists later fitted an acronym to the letters.

At which film festival was Over the Hedge shown out of competition two days after its American release?

The Cannes Film Festival gave it the full red-carpet treatment, in an out-of-competition slate that also held that month's rival blockbuster, X-Men: The Last Stand.

What is the title of the short film on the Over the Hedge DVD, set after the events of the movie?

Hammy's Boomerang Adventure arrived with the DVD in October 2006, complete with its own director's commentary, and resurfaced years later as an extra on a Madagascar disc.

Which West Wing star voices Gladys Sharp, the villain of Over the Hedge?

Allison Janney's first line sets Gladys up at once: on the phone at the wheel of her enormous car, she assures the caller, 'No, I can talk. I'm just driving.'

What was the subtitle of the Over the Hedge follow-up game Activision released on three handhelds in autumn 2006?

Hammy Goes Nuts! sends the squirrel into suburbia because his cable TV has gone out; the three handheld versions were different games, each built for its own console.

In Over the Hedge, what kind of squirrel does Hammy pretend to be so that two girls will abandon their cookies?

Rabid: RJ musses his fur and sends him out foaming at the mouth, after first having to explain that the word is rabid, not rabbit.

In Over the Hedge, what do the animals pile their stolen food onto?

A red wagon tops the bear's list of things to be replaced, and RJ promises him a redder one; he gets it by taking the cart two girls are using to deliver cookies.

When RJ plans the raid with board-game tokens in Over the Hedge, which token do the animals squabble over?

The car: three of the animals claim it at once, the shoe is dismissed as lame, and RJ ends the argument by announcing that he is always the car.

Which animation mogul summed up the chances of an Over the Hedge sequel as 'an almost'?

Jeffrey Katzenberg ruled a sequel out in 2007 on the very day his company reported that the film's DVD had helped push its earnings past Wall Street's forecasts.

In Over the Hedge, where do Verne and his family stockpile the food they forage?

In a log, which usually takes them the whole summer to fill; RJ's pitch is that human leftovers could do the same job in a fraction of the time.

In Over the Hedge, what are the children playing when Verne first crosses the hedge and gets knocked about?

Street hockey: Verne staggers home describing 'freaky pink primates' with wheels on their feet who whacked him with sticks 'like it was some sort of sick game'.

Two finalists of which reality show won voice cameos in Over the Hedge as a reward?

The Apprentice aired the reward the week the film opened, a neat piece of promotion: its two finalists met the studio's boss and are credited as Lunch Table Larry and BBQ Barry.

In Over the Hedge, what sends the stolen van straight back to Gladys's house?

The GPS, asked to take the animals home, simply selects its previous destination and orders a legal U-turn, so they crash back into the house where they were caught.

Who voices the bear in Over the Hedge?

Nick Nolte's bear never forages for himself in the film: he tells RJ to replace the lot before the moon is full, then goes straight back to sleep.

Which comedian voices Verne, the worrier who leads the woodland family in Over the Hedge?

Garry Shandling was signed in 2002, more than two years before his eventual co-star, and stayed with the part through a change of leading man.

In Over the Hedge, which famous film death line does Ozzie deliver while playing dead?

Rosebud, the dying word in Citizen Kane, caps a death scene that takes in 'Goodbye, cruel world!'; a watching boy only wants to know if he can poke him.

In Over the Hedge, why does RJ say humans ride around in SUVs?

They are forgetting how to walk: humans, he says, are 'slowly losing their ability to walk', and when asked how many fit inside the giant car he answers, 'Usually? One.'

Which K-pop star voices Heather in the Japanese and Korean dubs of Over the Hedge?

BoA, who records in both Korean and Japanese, also sang a theme song for each release: Key of Heart for Japan and People Say for Korea.

In RJ's guided tour of suburbia in Over the Hedge, what is the human mouth called?

A pie hole, and the human being a couch potato; the lecture builds to RJ's verdict that, for humans, enough is never enough.

In Over the Hedge, which cookie is sold alongside Skinny Mints, Neener Neeners and Smackeroons?

Love Handles head the list of what RJ calls 'America's most coveted cookies'; he promises Hammy the lot, provided the squirrel can frighten off the girls delivering them.