Over the Hedge

Over the Hedge is a good solid family movie, with only one vaguely dodgy reference. Good family and positive message. Here are a few points from the movie..

Chapter 1: 0.0.25 – 0.7.20 (as the moon becomes sun)

Key Words: materialism, greed, temptation

This deals with materialism and just wanting something more. RJ is hungry and needs to eat. But his desires get the better of him and he ends up stealing a stash of food from a bear’s horde. When he loses the food and the food gets run down by a passing car, RJ is made to find loads of new food before the week ends. To do this, he weaves others into his plan, lying and stealing to get what he needs – all because of his materialism and temptation.

In today’s society, we are dealing with the consequences of greed and temptation / materialism. As RJ finds out, it not only has an impact on you as an individual, but on those around you and society.

Chapter 5: [0.18.10 – 0.23.01]

Key Words: stealing

You could also use Chapter 5 to illustrate a similar point to the above, but also highlight stealing.

Chapter 10: 0.38.38 – a bit into Chapter 11: 0.48.49

Key Words: leadership, hard decisions, suffering for doing right, forgiveness

Verne decides to take back the stolen food, ‘to the rightful owner’, the humans. This results in quite a few problems, all caused by RJ’s greed. Eventually, Verne has had enough and gives the rest of the animals a bit of a slating. They fall out with him and turn their backs on him.

Sometimes it’s tough being a leader or simply doing the right thing. However, this doesn’t mean we don’t do the right thing. Verne suffers for doing what is right, although eventually the others forgive him when he says sorry. We should always do what is right in God’s eyes.

Chapter 12: 0.55.28 – start of Chapter 13: 1.01.12 (Verne watches RJ go over the hill)

Key Words: consequences

This is about the consequences of our actions. Despite having been fooled by RJ, the other animals take the rap for breaking into someone’s house and stealing the food. This eventually leads to all the other animals except RJ being caught by the exterminator and caged.

Chapter 15: 1.10.57 – 1.12.24

Key Words: family, truth

RJ and the animals are victorious. Verne talks to RJ about what family is and says, ‘this is the gateway to the good life’ also admitting that families are also bad at communicating sometimes. He tells RJ that if he’d been honest originally, they would have helped him as that’s what families do. Eventually they say to RJ, ‘welcome to the family’.