Cinematic adaptation hasn't exactly been kind to comic strips in recent past. Garfield: The Movie was so horrible and critics panned it so hard that Hollywood is doing the only thing it knows how to do in these situations: make a sequel that's bound to be worse. Fortunately I do have good news and it has nothing to do with my car insurance.
Dreamworks Animation, the gang behind this summer's smash hit Madagascar is going to return hope to comic strip movie fans by adapting those lovable suburbanized forest creatures from "Over the Hedge" into next summer's hippest CG animated film.
"Over the Hedge" is one of the coolest, quirkiest comics to roll around since Calvin and Hobbes (check out the strip at Comics.com). It revives the spirit of great comic strip genius like "Pogo" (if you don't know who Pogo is you need remdial comic history classes, stat).
Bruce Willis will play sugar-addicted racoon RJ and Garry Shandling plays the neurotic turtle, Verne. Steve Carell does some classic vocal transformation for his turn as dim-witted but lovable Sammy the Squirrel. Our fearless leader Josh Tyler gets a man crush fix as William Shatner lends his voice talent as well, and that's just the start of the A-list celebrity line up. Other members of the cast include Wanda Sykes, Nick Nolte, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney, Avril Lavigne (OK, she's a B-list actress but you catch my drift) and Thomas Hayden Church to name a few.
The only thing on the web site is the trailer but Dreamworks is serving it up in every format and size you could hope for. Click the link below to get your fill or take a look at some stills from the trailer below. Over the Hedge infiltrates theaters next summer.
