Editor’s Note: Starting Monday, May 29, Christopher Smith will take a week’s vacation. His movie and DVD reviews will resume Monday, June 5, in the Discovering section.

In theaters

OVER THE HEDGE, directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, written by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton and Kirkpatrick, 87 minutes, rated PG.

For the most part, the scrappy new computer-animated movie from DreamWorks, “Over the Hedge,” gets it right.

Unlike too many recent computer-animated movies, from the studio’s own mediocre “Madagascar” to Disney’s more recent disappointment, “The Wild,” it isn’t so distracted by the intricacies of its animation that it forgoes what matters – an entertaining story filled with cute, memorable characters.

Here is a movie aided enormously by the excellence of its voice talent, which gives “Hedge” the infectious personality it might have lacked without them in it. The cast is loose, funny and recognizable, selling their punchy lines in ways that help the film live up to its title. This is particularly true when the movie hits its stride at its midpoint, when anarchy and lunacy send it over the moon – never mind the hedge – and not tripping over its own roots.

As directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick from Michael Fry and T. Lewis’ comic strip, “Hedge” follows the wily raccoon RJ (Bruce Willis), who begins the movie on what for him is a bum note. Just as he is trying to steal a hibernating bear’s stash of junk food, the bear (Nick Nolte) awakens, calamity ensues, and the food is destroyed when it smashes down a hill. For RJ, his destiny comes down to this – either find a way to return the bear’s food within a week or the bear will turn him into roadkill.

Returning to the woods, RJ is confronted by an enormous hedge that now separates the forest from a new subdivision. Looking at it, he comes up with a scheme that is far from honest, but which might just save his life if he can pull it off.

Rallying the other critters in the forest – Verne the turtle (Garry Shandling), Penny and Lou Porcupine (Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy), Stella the skunk (Wanda Sykes), Hammy the squirrel (Steve Carell), and Ozzie the opossum (William Shatner) – RJ uses their concerns about suburban sprawl to his benefit. He convinces them that beyond this new, giant hedge rests a bounty beyond reason, more snack food than any of them could fathom. If they band together, they can rob the humans who are robbing them of their land and eat like kings in the process.

Naturally, it won’t be that easy, particularly with RJ’s story collapsing, and the crazed Verminator (Thomas Haden Church) and cruel homeowner Gladys (Allison Janney) on their case.

As the movie unfolds, so does the broad comedy. And yet as the themes reveal themselves – it isn’t right to cheat your friends, as RJ is doing, and there are dire consequences if you do so – the messages don’t feel as if they were delivered via the business end of a hammer. “Over the Hedge” shrewdly keeps the schmaltz out of the story, which is just one reason among many that this likable film comes recommended.

Grade: B

On DVD

This week somebody in Hollywood obviously got their chi together, because when it comes to DVD, everywhere you look, there’s a worthwhile new release.

The best of the lot is Warner’s release of “The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 2.” It’s a terrific set that includes five Davis movies – 1943’s “Old Acquaintance,” with Davis famously pitted against Miriam Hopkins; 1937’s “Marked Woman,” in which Davis appeared in one of her many movies opposite Humphrey Bogart; the 1942 drama “The Man Who Came to Dinner”; Davis’ Academy Award-winning performance in 1938’s “Jezebel”; and the 2-disc special edition of 1962’s “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane,” in which poor, glum Joan Crawford, bullied by Bette, glowers through the ripe material.

Just as in Vol. 1, what Vol. 2 does so well is mine the breadth of Davis’ personas, which ranged from the ferocious to the monstrous to the downright demure. She could do it all and do it better than anyone. In addition to the movies, the set also includes the excellent new documentary, “Stardust: The Bette Davis Story,” which weaves into and out of the dangerous rooms Bette Davis’ life inhabited and makes this reasonably priced set a steal.

On HD DVD, the choices remain slim for those who have converted to the new high-definition format, though recent Warner releases of Mel Brooks’ hilariously racy comedy “Blazing Saddles,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award-winning “Unforgiven” and the Harrison Ford thriller “The Fugitive” go a long way to soothe the need.

Films such as “Unforgiven,” with its crisp, claustrophobic interiors and wide-open vistas, and “Jacket,” with its bloody battles, are exactly the sort of films the high-definition format needs in order to generate the momentum to keep the buzz alive. “Blazing Saddles” and “The Fugitive” don’t exactly come to mind if you’re concerned with the clean transfers of 1080p, but with the high-def format soon to become the standard, the movies nevertheless are a welcome inclusion and have never looked better.

Finally, from the BBC, don’t miss Richard Attenborough’s outstanding documentary “Life in the Undergrowth,” a beautifully shot, two-disc cinematic essay on entomology that is as much a work of art as it is a work of science.

The film is a wonder. It’s more than just a riveting examination of those lives we tend to casually trample upon. This film is important not only because it changes the way we think about all that we don’t necessarily see, but because it showcases insects as lower forms of ourselves, thus helping us to see the larger picture of an infinitely smaller world.

And right now, really, seeing the big picture is what this world desperately needs.

Grades: “Davis” – A; “Blazing Saddles” – A; “The Fugitive” – B+; “Full Metal Jacket” – A-; “Unforgiven” – A-; “Undergrowth” – A

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Aeon Flux – C-

Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 2 – A

Big Momma’s House 2 – D

Blazing Saddles HD DVD – A

Breakfast on Pluto – B

Brokeback Mountain – A-

Capote – A

Casanova – C-

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 – C-

Chicken Little – C-

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A

The Constant Gardener – A-

Date Movie – D-

Deadwood: Second Season – A

Derailed – C+

The Family Stone – D

Freedomland – C-

The Fugitive HD DVD – B+

Full Metal Jacket HD DVD – A-

Fun with Dick and Jane – C

Good Night, and Good Luck – A-

Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire – B-

A History of Violence – A

Hoodwinked – C

Howl’s Moving Castle – A-

The Ice Harvest – B-

Jarhead – B

Junebug – A

Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut – B-

King Kong – C

King of the Hill: Season 6 – B

Last Holiday – B

The Legend of Zorro – C+

Life Goes On: First Season – B+

Match Point – A

Memoirs of a Geisha – C+

Munich – A-

The Nanny: Second Season – B+

Nanny McPhee – B-

North Country – C

Oliver Twist – B+

Paradise Now – A-

Pride & Prejudice – A

Prime – B-

The Producers – B+

Red Eye – B+

Rent – C-

Rumor Has It… – C-

Saw II – D-

Scrubs: Season Three – A-

Shopgirl – B+

The Squid and the Whale – B+

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – B+

That Girl: Season One – B+

Thank God It’s Friday – B

That ’70s Show: Season Four – B

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride – B+

Transamerica – B

An Unfinished Life – C-

Waiting… – C-

Walk the Line – A-

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – A

The Warrior – B

The White Countess – C

Zathura – A-