Hammy's Boomerang Adventure

Without being a masterpiece, Over the Hedge was a cute family flick which I personally enjoyed a lot back then.

Its commercial and critical success was really huge during its release date; I do remember several fans used to gather in the forums, and there were lots of speculation towards a sequel but such sequel never came, and the movie ultimately fell into oblivion. (Apparently the box office results did not meet Jeffrey Katzenberg's expectations, who probably was expecting it to be as big as Shrek)

Strangely enough, I never had the chance to see this short until very recently: I thought it was fun and charming, just like the movie, and made me feel nostalgic for the 2000s.

I wonder if Over the Hedge will ever be given a new chance ever again, either for a sequel or another animated adaptation. I know it's wishful thinking from my part, but it would be nice to see RJ, Verne and the rest of the gang in another movie. (I know, I know: The chances are extremely unlikely, especially taking in consideration Garry Shandling demise and Bruce Willis's retirement from acting)

There is also the comic strip, but said strip has never been officially released in my country, and also is very different to the film version.

C'est la vie...

Hammy's Boomerang Adventure is a short comedy animation based on the film Over the Hedge and was produced as a DVD extra.

Bruce Willis and Steve Carell are RJ and Hammy. RJ has decided to make his own nature video, their subject is Hammy trying to figure out a boomerang that he has not seen before.

I suppose this is a mischievous animation short that smaller kids would like but I found it underwhelming and not that funny.

Having somehow scavenged a video camera from the local community, racoon RJ works with the porcupine children to produce a candid nature video. However this "nature video" seems to be nothing more than a series of pranks being played on squirrel Hammy with a box of boomerangs and some snacks.

There is an enjoyable trend with Pixar-style animations to have short films shown before the main film or put onto the DVD as extras. Partly it helps to make the product feel more worth while because the films are often quite short but mainly I enjoy the trend because the shorts are often very funny and entertaining. However as the marketplace becomes more heavily populated with "lesser" product (and lets be honest there are some films recently that have looked like Toy Story but are far from the humour and intelligence thereof) the short films also reduce in quality. I suspect part of this is the same thing that Over the Hedge suffered from, which was the idea that if it just does what the rest of the genre is doing then everything will work out.

Like Over the Hedge, this short film has amusing moments but the overall product doesn't feel that inspired. The material suggests a clever spoof of the "punked" style programmes but really it does little with the idea other than borrow the you-tube camera style of teenagers setting up their friends. The gags are funny but not all that inspired and the conclusion just sees it fade out with the best material several minutes past. It was good that the main voices from the cast were involved but the lack of strong material is the thing that killed it for me.

Of course it is amusing and it was an welcome addition to the DVD but I did struggle to shake the feeling that it existed because the traditions of the genre required it to exist rather than because someone had a really good idea for a short film that they then decided to make.