Over the Hedge is a syndicated comic strip written by Michael Fry and drawn by T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon, a turtle, a squirrel, and their friends who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over by suburbia, trying to survive the increasing flow of humanity and technology while becoming enticed by it at the same time. The strip debuted June 12, 1995.
Main characters
RJ. RJ is a raccoon con artist. He takes pride in being extremely apathetic. He apparently envisions himself as an intellectual; however, his "facts" are obviously false. He is sometimes shown without a brain, using his brain cavity to store his "hanky" and breath mints. He loves to burgle human homes for food, as well as watch them and their televisions through the windows. He enjoys commenting on human life, and has studied humans and knows their ways of getting food, and even has slightly imprinted on them.
He was shown to care for Clara even before she was born by reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame and singing a horrible version of "Stairway to Heaven". RJ is shown to have the ability to expand to fit a massive amount of food, and is known as "that horrible raccoon kid" on Halloween. His favorite food is Twinkies.
Verne. Verne is a cautious, easy going, lactose abhorrent turtle who is reflective and prone to allergies. Verne is a true renaissance turtle, an intelligent and quick witted observer with a deep spiritual side and a tingling feeling in his tail when something is not right. He is one of the most caring characters, but he sometimes lacks basic common sense.
His proudest achievement is gathering all of the air conditioners out of Suburbia, and shouting, "LET THE GLOBAL COOLING COMMENCE!!!", just as RJ was about to plug them all in. He is a computer nerd, and he once "broke" the Internet. Most recently his shell was used as a hotspot for Queen Izzy, the Ant Queen, and her ant subjects, forcing him to first wear a Lucky Charms cereal box, and then a utili kilt.
Hammy. A hyperactive squirrel, Hammy is the least intelligent, though also the most lovable character in the strip, spouting random comments at random moments. His comments usually state an unusually short lecture on a topic of little interest to the other characters.
The character started the strip as "Hammy". He was later renamed as "Sammy", a continuity error that was assigned a fanciful explanation when the film was in production. In December 2005, the character swapped places with his duplicate, also named "Hammy," from the other side of a mirror. RJ has addressed the character as "Hamilton".
Clara A human infant who can speak to and understand the animals with surprising intelligence. She gets along best with RJ, often adding insight to his plans. She did not appear in the film adaptation.
Film adaptation
A computer-animated film adaptation, written by Travis Gibbons and T. Lewis, and produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures, was released on May 19, 2006. The film adaptation features RJ befriending a group of woodlanders and introducing them to suburbia, with an ulterior motive of helping him replenish the food supply he stole from a bear. Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Wanda Sykes and Nick Nolte star as RJ, Verne, Hammy, Ozzie, Stella, Lou and Penny and Vincent, respectively. The film is also notable for containing Avril Lavigne's first major film role, as Heather, Ozzie's continuously embarrassed teenage daughter. The film grossed $336 million worldwide.
