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Kids these days, who are smarter at a younger age anyway, are not only growing up bombarded with the mass-produced flack of America’s 24-hour consumer culture, but thanks to movies such as Dream Works’ Over The Hedge, they’re also taking in a healthy dose of comedy that satirizes and deflates that culture. And for the first time, they’re starting to get it.

Ten or even five years ago, animated features such as Toy Story and Shrek were written with two audiences in mind. Screenwriters loaded up on sight gags and physical comedy for the kids and sprinkled in snarky social commentary and obscure pop culture references for the parents. But what happens when 6-year-olds start picking up on the humor intended for Mom and Dad? How will society be affected 10 or 20 years from now knowing third-graders today are laughing their heads off at brand identity and suburban sprawl jokes?

Over The Hedge is co-written by a pair of screenwriters who graduated from Baton Rouge High School in the early ’80s: Chris Poché, a New Orleans-based musician and architect making his feature film debut, and Karey Kirkpatrick, a Hollywood veteran who has written hits such as Chicken Run and adapted from literary luminaries Douglas Adams and Roald Dahl with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and James and the Giant Peach.

Both have three children, and they know how keen young viewers can be. “On one hand, I had to explain to them that I didn’t do everything on the movie, like all the animation,” Poché laughs. “Then they’re very adult about it, asking me who the co-stars are.”

Over the Hedge director Karey Kirkpatrick (left) and co-writer Chris Poche challenge suburban ideals with animated comedy.

Kirkpatrick got Poché on board when the original writers bailed on the project. For months, Poché would sit in a New Orleans coffee shop, work feverishly at his laptop and e-mail dialogue to Kirkpatrick in Hollywood.

Over The Hedge marks Kirkpatrick’s first turn as a director, and the Baton Rouge native found himself in the recording studio with a dream cast of skilled actors and comedians including Bruce Willis, Nick Nolte, Wanda Sykes, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Garry Shandling, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Thomas Hayden Church. Kirkpatrick playfully gleaned several different takes from each actor and encouraged improvisation.

“I’m not very precious with my words,” Kirkpatrick says. “It’s interesting doing voice work because it is stress-free. You’re not getting any star attitudes, and the actors don’t have to look good on camera. You’d be surprised how that affects their performance.”

Church in particular got into the spirit of things while shaping his gun-toting over-the-top Dwayne the Verminator character. “Curse you, plastic moldsman,” Church says after mistaking a pink plastic flamingo for the real thing and blowing it away. Perhaps the cast’s hottest property is Carell, who signed onto the film before The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Office skyrocketed his comedic stock. For a last minute addition to the movie, Kirkpatrick met Carell on the set of The Office, where the actor had to recall his ADD squirrel voice for Hammy in front of his sitcom colleagues. After repeating the line, “Help me find my nuts,” 10 times, his cast-mates got a little freaked out.

The film’s dialogue, particularly Willis’ monologue explaining the superficial minutia of suburban living, rides a fine line, essentially attempting to get a majority of its audience to laugh at themselves. Kirkpatrick believes animation affords filmmakers more effective opportunities to address social issues.

“It is a weird thing to be writing a film for a big corporate entity in which we’re making fun of big corporate entities,” Poché says. “That’s why we try to rib everybody equally.”

Both filmmakers say the performing arts program at Baton Rouge High prepared them well for careers in film. “It was like going to college, being able to pursue what you wanted and take chances,” Kirkpatrick says. “Artistic intelligence equaled academic intelligence in value. Now [public education in Baton Rouge] has been turned into a numbers game. It’s a politicized issue. We place too much emphasis on product and not process. It needs to be about creating a hunger and thirst for knowledge.”

That atmosphere of creativity has fostered a successful writing partnership Kirkpatrick and Poché continue in a live-action version of Charlotte’s Web, due in theatres this Christmas.

“It’s funny,” Poché says. “We’ve been trying to recreate Baton Rouge High in everything we do.”

Over The Hedge is in theatres now. Overthehedgemovie.com.