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Ozzie is a side character in the Over the Hedge franchise. He is one of RJ's friends and Heather's father. He wants to teach his teenage daughter the importance of playing dead, only to end up embarrassing her much of the time.

He is voiced by William Shatner.

Biography[]

In Over the Hedge[]

Ozzie wakes up alongside the rest of Verne's family at the end of winter hibernation. A drop of snow falls from a tree onto his head, and he panics and plays dead in front of everyone, making the kids laugh and embarrassing Heather, who tries to laugh it off with them. Ozzie tries to explain to her that she needs to learn how to play dead in order to escape danger such as predators, but she sees it as weak, as Ozzie always plays dead in response to even the slightest disturbances.

For much of the movie, between discovering the hedge, RJ introducing them to humans, and other happenings, Ozzie continues to embarrass Heather as he falls limp and makes a scene out of every stressful situation by playing dead, to no practical use. However, he soon earns his time in the spotlight.

RJ has him pretend he got hit by Debbie's car so he can distract a group of humans (including Gladys Sharp) while RJ and the others steal a blue cooler from the top of it. Ozzie greatly exaggerates his death to the humans at RJ's signal, monologuing about his limbs failing him and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, eventually spotting a rose bush and whispering "rosebuds" before falling to the concrete in the middle of them. The humans bicker amongst themselves over the dead animal until Dwayne (the Verminator) arrives at the scene in his armored truck.

Unlike the other townsfolk, Dwayne understands that Ozzie is playing dead. He pulls out his tools and gets ready to grab him. Ozzie jumps up in an instant. Gladys yells out to kill him. Before anyone can catch him, Ozzie thanks the humans for being a great audience and runs into the hedge. His performance gave the animals enough time to steal the cooler and make it out before Dwayne sniffed them out at the scene.

For the first time, Ozzie impressed Heather with his acting skill, who shyly congratulates him back in the forest, which warms his heart. He shifts the attention to RJ, saying that it was his leadership that made it possible. To thank RJ, the animals had built a home for him out of a purple booster seat and other human appliances, where they watch TV.

At the final heist inside Gladys' home, RJ tells Heather to go keep an eye on Gladys after the woman wakes up earlier than they were planning for. Heather eagerly agrees, but Ozzie and the others are skeptical over RJ's plans. Heather runs towards the staircase, and Ozzie chases after her. Upstairs, Heather shows herself to Gladys and begins to monologue like Ozzie did earlier, hoping to follow in his footsteps. Gladys kicks her down the stairs, leaving her body limp and lifeless at the bottom. Ozzie assumes her to be dead. He runs up and takes her into his arms, where she doesn't move. It's only when Ozzie - as distraught as he is - hugs her close to him that she ends her act and smiles at him. "I thought you were dead," he rejoices, to which she says that she "learned from the best". Needless to say, Ozzie is proud of her.

RJ reveals that he was using Verne's family to get the food he needed for Vincent, leaving them inside the house to be caged up by the Verminator. After meeting Vincent with the food on a hill and watching Dwayne drive away with his friends, RJ has a change of heart and goes to rescue them. He stops the truck and knocks them out of their cages, but before he can get them out, Vincent attacks him on the outside of the truck. Lou and Penny's kids take control of the wheel to try and lose Vincent and RJ. Seeing him as a traitor, Ozzie doesn't let RJ into the truck for safety, shutting the window on him. Verne tells them that his tail isn't tingling anymore and that RJ has good intentions now, and convinces Ozzie to let RJ inside.

After the animals defeat Vincent, Dwayne, and Gladys, Ozzie welcomes RJ into the family at the end of the movie.

He does not appear in the short film "Hammy's Boomerang Adventure".

In Over the Hedge: The Video Game[]

Coming soon!

Personality[]

Ozzie is very theatrical in attitude, accentuating his ideas and putting on a show whenever he can. He wants to be involved in both Heather's life and the family. He's friendly and helpful, though easily startled by anything that triggers a sense of danger. All his exaggerated behavior often embarrasses Heather, as much as she tries to make light of it. Regardless, he has an unconditional love for Heather and a great desire to be her role model. He's a very wholesome dad.

Appearance[]

Ozzie is a tall opossum with gray and white fur. His hands and feet are darkly-colored with pink tips and pads. He has a long, pointed face with a large pink nose. His ears are a solid black, as well as his long, slender tail. His whiskers and masculine appearance distinguish him from Heather, but they both have blue eyes.

Trivia[]

  • According to Dwayne, Ozzie's weight is approximately 10 lbs.
  • A running gag in the film is that Ozzie always play dead whenever he sees or hear any danger around him.
  • Ozzie sometimes mimics the sayings of other characters, like Verne saying "all the way to the top" and RJ saying "let's boogey". He probably wants to fit in with the others, given how much he ends up humiliating himself in front of Heather.
  • When Ozzie pretended to be dead in order to fool the humans so RJ and the gang could steal the cooler, he said "Rosebud", referencing the 1941 film Citizen Kane.
  • It's unknown who Ozzie's wife was, but his paranoia towards danger implies that she was killed, likely by a predator (as he expresses concern over predators in his first line of the movie).
    • Ozzie only having a single child with his wife is also a peculiar case, because opossums can raise as many as 13 kids and are known for having large litter sizes. Whether or not he ever had other children, or if Heather is just a very rare case of only having 1, is unknown.
  • Both William Shatner and Avril Lavigne (the voices of Ozzie and Heather) are Canadian natives.
  • Ozzie's personality apparently was inspired by William Shatner's acting.

Gallery[]

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