01 August 2007

Movies and Theology - Over the Hedge

This movie reminded me of an L.L. Barkat post, except that it was two hours, in narrative, and animated. Bear with me a minute here. With humor, and I’m talking literally laugh-out-loud humor, it points out the foibles of an over-indulgent (the raccoon related all our lives to food), independent (cars are necessary because humans are forgetting how to walk, and only one human fits per car), heck, let’s even say gluttonous U.S. society. And then it plays out these faults in the animals, a group of whom discovers suburbia and all its junk food, and one of whom uses the family unit instead of becoming part of the unit.
The film is a commentary on separation of man from man (seen in individualism) and separation of man from nature (seen in the life of suburbia), two effects of the Fall. It presents the dangers of going it alone and doing it yourself (a.k.a. how we do things here in the U.S.) as loneliness and a just plain mean spirit. It presents what was lost the further we get away from nature: beauty and simplicity.
If you haven’t seen it, add it to your Blockbuster or Netflix list whether or not you have kids. It’s worth it.

4 comments:

willowtree said...

Very interesting take on the movie (which I haven't seen yet).

Erin said...

I haven't seen this one yet either. It's playing at the kid's free theatre this summer, we'll have to make a note to go see it.

Think my kids will see the deep philosophy behind it?

Jenny said...

Haven't seen it yet, H, but probably will now. Thanks for the recommend.

Christin said...

Oh my goodness! I got on the DTS alumni page to figure out who you are and then laughed out loud. Yes, I am who you think I am. Would you believe I have been reading your comments on Christianne's blog for months wondering who the beautiful back in the picture belonged to. Christianne and I were friends in college. Strange, small world. I look forward to reading through your blog.

By the way, I like the picture of you and your Mr. on the DTS site. You two look so happy and you are tres beautiful in what appears to be quite short hair.