In this latest offering from Dreamworks Animation, they're making quite an effort at stealing the thunder from Pixar. Actually, they probably couldn't do quite as good a job if Pixar's latest effort (the less-than-stellar Cars) wasn't as poor an outing. Nonetheless, this is quite good.
This is the tale of RJ (voiced by Bruce Willis), a scavenging raccoon who decides to raid a bear's stash and ends up waking him up in the process. The bear doesn't like this too much, and the food gets smashed by a truck, so RJ ends up having to replace all the food - in less than week - so he runs to the only source available: The tract homes springing up nearby, and the animals that are being displaced and have just woken up from their own hibernation to help him get the job done.
Some solid voice talent shows up and some really good animation shows up as well (perhaps even better than Pixar's in some places) but it's the story that really gets it. It seems that the folks at Pixar have recently been so caught up in the animation getting folks in the door that they forgot that a stellar story is what keeps them coming back over and over again. At least someone it seems that way.
RJ, of course, tricks the other animals into helping him, when he should have just asked, but it happens in hilarious fashion, and of course in the end he has to decide between taking the food back to the bear in exchange for getting out alive, or returning to help his newfound family, and you'll be able to predict what will happen, but as with most films, it's not always about the end, but the ride that gets you there, and this is one good ride.
Rated PG for some crude humor, but there's nothing here that even the youngest of the family can't enjoy. The bear does offer some scary moments, but they are few and far between, and only the very youngest should have any issue at all.
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