History WesternAnimation / OvertheHedge

* PutOnAPrisonBus: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Dwayne and Gladys]] are taken into police custody.

* Foreshadowing: When Dwayne brings out the Depelter Turbo, he mentions that it's illegal in every state except Texas. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler: Gladys gets arrested for using it.]]

* ArcWords: "Enough is never enough." It's said once in the beginning, once more towards the middle, and once during the climax. It also reflects the film's [[AnAesop Aesop]] about love and family over avarice and self-preservation.

* TrueCompanions: The animals. There are two friends-as-family groups involved: a father and daughter (Ozzie and Heather) and a nuclear family (the porcupines).

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The Depelter Turbo not only traps animals in cages, but ''burns their fur off (if not killing them) with deadly lasers''.

* CatsAreMean: Subverted with Tiger. He starts as an antagonist but as he grows a relationship with Stella the Skunk he reforms [[spoiler: and even joins the other animals to live with them]].

** A throwaway line from Tiger about his breed having such a flat muzzle that it can lead to trouble breathing. [[spoiler: In his case, it's left him without a sense of smell.]]

** After Verne first enters the suburbs, the camera at one point pans upwards to reveal the roofs of countless houses - floating above one of the houses is several large balloons [[spoiler: that later carry Vincent away near the film's climax]].
* ChewingTheScenery: Gladys's OhCrap moment. "SKUNK!"

* GoryDiscretionShot: Whenever the Depelter Turbo is activated. When Dwyane tests the trap on a teddy bear, we only see the horrified look on Rj's face as the toy is burnt and caged. Later when Gladys, Dwayne and Vincent accidentally trigger it, the view cuts to the Hedgies watching their defeat play out.
* IdeaBulb: Done with glow bugs when RJ gets the idea to replace Vincent's stash of food using those from the suburbs and later when [[spoiler: RJ and Verne decide to give Hammy a dose of a super caffeinated energy drink to defeat the BigBadEnsemble.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Subverted with Dwayne [=LaFontant=]: [[spoiler: While Gladys Sharp and Dwayne [=LaFontant=] are being arrested by the police for their illegal trap that [[HoistByHisOwnPetard they got themselves caught inside with some help from Hammy]], and in the case of Vincent, sent to a wildlife shelter, Dwayne [=LaFontant=] tried to escape while exploiting Glady's attempt at fighting a Police Officer and succeeded in going over the fence... only for him to step on a squeaker and presumably end up tackled by Nugent the Playful Rottweiler. The creators say he most likely escaped the dog, only to get arrested.]]

** Her cherry on top is [[spoiler: when Dwayne [[PetTheDog offers]] to deal with the captured animals humanely, Gladys insists she wants the animals exterminated as inhumanely as possible.]]

* LargeHam: Ozzie, played by ''Creator/WilliamShatner''. His character is a possum. They play dead. Think about that. And naturally Hammy. [[spoiler: Later Heather copies her father's routine, fooling even him into thinking she was dead.]]

* LivingLieDetector: Verne and his twitchy tail, which tips him off that RJ is less than trustworthy ([[CassandraTruth not that it makes much of a difference)]]. [[spoiler: This is also how he convinces the crew that RJ's HeelFaceTurn is genuine: his tail isn't twitching.]]

* PutOnAPrisonBus: At the end of the film, [[spoiler: Dwayne and Gladys]] are taken into police custody.

* RemovableShell: Verne loses his three times, the first by getting thrown out of a street cleaner, the second by falling off a tree with RJ holding it, and finally when [[spoiler: Hammy, under a caffeine-induced [[FasterThanLightTravel FTL]] frenzy, takes it off to protect RJ from being chomped apart by Vincent.]] Also, Bucky and Spike steal it and play Monkey in the Middle with it in the credits.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Whatever you do, please ''don't'' make a drinking game out of RJ's girly screams. Taking a shot for every one of them during the van chase scene alone may leave you with alcohol poisoning. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as Creator/BruceWillis has a distinctly deeper voice and was asked to pitch it up to make RJ more believable.

** Dwayne [=LaFontaine=] identifies himself with The Franchise/{{Terminator}}. Too bad he's fat, middle-aged, and balding.
** Dwayne [=LaFontaine=]'s name is one to the late [[Creator/DonLaFontaine Don "Movie Trailer Voice" LaFontaine]].

* SoProudOfYou: Ozzie to his daughter [[spoiler: when she fools even ''him'' into thinking she's dead.]]

* TheStinger: [[spoiler: The Hedgies go back to the vending machine RJ was raiding at the start of the film to get more food for the log. They get all the snacks this time...[[YankTheDogsChain which is unfortunately enough to block the slot.]]]]

* VengefulVendingMachine: The film features RJ struggling with the chip machine at the beginning of the movie. [[spoiler: The entire crew struggles with it in TheStinger.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Verne has one of these moments later into the movie, [[spoiler: calling his friends "too stupid and naive", and while floundering around for a more tactful way of calling them too innocent to know better than to listen to RJ, "ignorant"]].

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: After [[spoiler: the animals have been captured]], Dwayne tells a fuming Gladys they can be dealt with humanely, only for the latter to insist that she wants the inhumane option instead. [[spoiler: The animals are the only ones besides Dwayne to sadly witness the extent of Gladys's cruelty.]]

* LargeHam: Ozzie, played by ''Creator/WilliamShatner''. His character is a possum. They play dead. Think about that. And naturally Hammy.

[[caption-width-right:300:It may be ''your'' backyard, but it's ''their'' world.]]

* AnimalStereotypes: [[ScrewballSquirrel Squirrels]], [[RascallyRaccoon raccoons]], [[ShyShelledAnimal turtles]], and others are played straight. Subverted with the playful, (overly) friendly rottweiler.

* ColorCodedCharacters: the Hedgies: Rj (grey), Verne (green), Hammy (orange), Stella (black), Ozzie and Heather (white), the porcupines (brown).

* ColorCodedCharacters: the Hedgies.
** Rj (grey)
** Verne (green)
** Hammy (orange)
** Stella (black)
** Ozzie and Heather (white)
** The porcupines (brown)

* AnimalStereotypes: Squirrels, raccoons, turtles, and others are played straight. Subverted with the playful, (overly) friendly rottweiler.

* GirlScoutsAreEvil: Downplayed. RJ gets Hammy to act rabid in hopes of scaring off two girl scouts and stealing their cookies, but they end up ''attacking'' the poor squirrel instead. Only when Verne intervenes does the plan work.

* PokingDeadThingsWithAStick: {{Discussed|Trope}} after Ozzie the opossum feigns being struck by Lou's truck. The boy suggests poking Ozzie with a stick, but this proves unnecessary, as Ozzie hams up his playing-dead role. This corny act keeps the humans distracted while Verne and company make their escape.

* TrademarkFavouriteFood: Spuddies seems to be this for Vincent, seeing as how he insists RJ get him some more when RJ says he will replace the stash.

** RJ warned Hammy that the last thing he needed was caffeine. Guess what Hammy uses to activate the Depelter Turbo?

* DarkIsEvil: Gladys has black hair and dresses in black clothing a lot, except for her red pajamas.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Whatever you do, please ''don't'' make a drinking game out of RJ's girly screams. Taking a shot for every one of them during the van chase scene alone may leave you with alcohol poisoning. {{Trope|Justified}}, as Creator/BruceWillis has a distinctly deeper voice and was asked to pitch it up to make RJ more believable.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Whatever you do, please ''don't'' make a drinking game out of RJ's girly screams. Taking a shot for every one of them during the van chase scene alone may leave you with alcohol poisoning. {{Justified}}, as Creator/BruceWillis has a distinctly deeper voice and was asked to pitch it up to make RJ more believable.

** A downplayed example. When two girl scouts believe Hammy has rabies, they decide to ''attack'' him, which is the opposite of what their guidebook instructed. This is a good way to get bitten by an animal, rabid or otherwise.
** Despite already being clearly hidden by Gladys while raiding her house, Heather decides to ''jump out in front of her'' and copy her dad's PlayingPossum routine. She is unsurprisingly kicked down the stairs, but to Ozzie's relief, she was faking death, having learned from the best.

* DiurnalNocturnalAnimal: The main animal characters sleep the night, despite many of their species being active during those times.

* TooDumbToLive: Vincent thinks this of RJ, saying he hopes RJ isn't dumb enough to try and steal from him. It's actually a subversion, though; RJ knows it's a bad idea, but he's ''just that desperate''.