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“ | Vincent: Alright, RJ. I'm going back to sleep. When that moon is full, I'm waking up. And all my stuff had better be right back where it was. RJ: But that's just one week! That's impossible for one guy!... [Vincent squeezes RJ's head] A week's perfect! I'll get some helpers. Vincent: Full moon, all my stuff. And don't even think about running away. Because if you do, I will hunt you down and kill you. |
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~ Vincent giving RJ one week to get his food back. |
“ | YES! And I want my spuddies! I love those things, cause with a Spuddie, enough… just isn't enough! | „ |
~ Vincent showing his love for Spuddies. |
Vincent is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 12th full-length animated feature film Over the Hedge, which is based on the 1995 syndicated comic strip of the same name by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, and a major character in the video game adaptation of the same name.
He is a cold-hearted, gluttonous American black bear who steals food from various homes. However, when RJ was about to take his most recent stolen food, this prompts Vincent to coerce RJ by making the latter steal some food from a local home, owned by Gladys Sharp, just before the sunrise. He is also RJ's former best friend-turned-archnemesis.
He was voiced by Nick Nolte, who also played David Banner in the 2003 Hulk film, Mulgarath in Nickelodeon's The Spiderwick Chronicles, Frank Stockburn in The Ridiculous 6, Inspector Thomas Cray in Nightwatch, and Burt Johnson in Arthur. In the film's video game adaptation, he was voiced by Jess Harnell, who also played Cedric the Sorcerer in Sofia the First, and Walter Wolf in Animaniacs.
Biography[]
At the beginning of the film, Vincent is RJ's only friend and often hangs out with him. One night, RJ is on the hunt for food, but is unable to reach snacks in the vending machine. He soon notices Vincent's cave from afar and quietly sneaks into his cave. Before getting his hands on Vincent's cache of food, RJ reminds himself to not be greedy and take what he needs; however, he lets his greed get the best of him by giving into temptation and desperately trying to steal all of the food. RJ nearly succeeds, only to accidentally wake Vincent up when opening his can of Spuddies to get a taste of them.
Noticing RJ, Vincent gets confused and asks him what he is doing in his cave and says that since the moon is not full, RJ woke him up a week early. Then Vincent notices the wagon filled with his food and threatens to kill RJ for trying to steal his stuff. Nonchalantly, RJ slowly tries to make an escape (explaining to Vincent that the wagon is not stolen since it is still in the cave), but accidentally causes the wagon to roll onto the street, startling the two of them. It ends up stopping in the middle of the road and RJ and Vincent are relieved and share a laugh together about how they thought it was going to get destroyed.
Unfortunately, a truck drives by on cue and crushes the wagon. Shocked and angered, Vincent pursues RJ in an attempt to kill him and before he can escape, the bear jumps in front of RJ, grabs him by the head, and opens his jaws to devour him. Terrified out of his wits, RJ tells Vincent to wait and that he can get all of his food back, saying that Vincent would have to do it himself if he ate him. Thinking twice, the bear decides to let RJ slide and lists down his possessions that RJ insists he can get, including the red wagon, the blue cooler, and the green can of Spuddies (which Vincent claims that with a Spuddie, "enough just isn't enough"). Vincent gives RJ a week to recover the lost food, lest he risk facing the bear's ultimatum. RJ exclaims that a week is too short, but accepts this when Vincent threateningly squeezes his head with his claws. Then he tells RJ that when he wakes up from hibernation in a week when the moon is full, his stuff had better be back where it was or he will hunt down and kill RJ. He then throws RJ down and returns to his cave to sleep, RJ gratefully accepting and immediately searching for the food.
One night, RJ makes his own bed in a tree, using a newspaper as his blanket. As he is snoring away, the wind blows his blanket away and Vincent's paw slowly rises and suddenly swipes him out of his tree. The bear tells RJ that time is now up and then opens his jaws to swallow the panicking and suspicious raccoon. However, RJ wakes up and is relieved to find out it was just a nightmare. Soon, he looks up to the night sky and sees the stars forming Vincent in his imagination, who threateningly tells RJ that the moon is full and he will see him in the morning. Then Vincent takes the moon (which transforms into a Spuddie), eats it with a loud and intimidating crunch, and disappears from RJ's mind.
For the remainder of the film, Vincent is not seen again until near the climax, where RJ brings the wagon of restored food back to him. Vincent is impressed with this, noting he was on his way to kill him but is pleased at RJ's deception to the forest animals and how they are being rounded up. He tells him that if he keeps up the good work, he will end up just like him one day and having everything he ever wanted. RJ remarks he already had everything (referring to the animals, who are being taken away by The Verminator). Vincent blows this off, telling RJ that he said himself that he is a "family of one" and saying it is how animals like the two of them survive. Vincent carelessly states the animals got hurt in the process, saying it is life and telling RJ he does not need them. However, RJ has a change of heart and rightfully decides to help his friends out with the food instead of giving it all away to Vincent. Soon, Vincent furiously gives chase and makes one final attempt to kill RJ and his friends as well. After Dwayne is knocked out from his van crashing to a halt when trying not to hit RJ on the wagon of food, Verne warns RJ of Vincent's presence and he lunges at RJ in an attempt to kill him.
Immediately, Spike, Bucky, and Quillo take control behind the wheel, following instructions from the van's navigation device. RJ tries several times to make the gang let him in (all the while being chased by Vincent), but they refuse to do so since they still believe him to be a treacherous traitor. Verne tells the porcupine children to lose Vincent, so they push a button that activates the hammer on the roof, which hits Vincent on the head after he pushes the rabbit off. Vincent violently rips off the hammer and tries to smash RJ with it, missing him and breaking the window. After Verne urges the gang to let RJ in since his tail is not tingling, Vincent tears the metal roof upwards and yells to RJ that he is dead and swipes his paw at him; then he leans toward RJ into the van, telling him that his friends are next. Quickly, Penny jumps down and sticks her quills onto Vincent's nose, making him roar in pain. Spike, Bucky, and Quillo make an immediate left turn, driving the van into the two helium balloons of a jester and a knight riding on a brown horse (which catches Vincent's attention as he astonishingly says "Ooh!") for bonus points.
The balloons get caught to Vincent and he is dragged off the truck and up into the air as the animals cheer over getting rid of Vincent. Defeated for now, Vincent angrily shouts RJ's name. Afterwards, when RJ and the other animals return over the hedge and into the Outdoor Woods, they fearfully react after Hammy, in a terrified state, points up at the sky and warns them of Vincent's return by calling him a "scary clown". After using the porcupine quill to pop the balloon, Vincent roars loudly in anger and goes after the animals to kill them and he desperately digs through the hedge while they hide. Gladys and Dwayne chop through the other side, with Gladys using her weed hacker and Dwayne using his cattle prod to kill the animals as well.
Eventually, RJ fits Verne's shell on and distracts Vincent, teasing him by repeating what he told him that "enough just isn't enough" and eating a Spuddie. Outraged, Vincent shouts RJ's name and roars angrily as he lunges himself at RJ in an attempt to finish him off. Hammy drinks some energy drink that makes everything freeze for a while after Hammy makes time stop. He sets the Depelter Turbo to sting any bears that trespass. and the freezing starts to fade away. Slowly returning to normal motion, RJ is fished out of Vincent's mouth with a fishing rod by Verne and RJ teasingly salutes goodbye to the bear, as he is flung into the red lights in Gladys' backyard, knocking Gladys and Dwayne down as well.
Eventually, the Depelter Turbo goes off and upon noticing it, Vincent looks extremely curious. After a warning from Dwayne telling them to prepare to get stung, all three of them are burned by the powerful machine, but are still alive. By now, Vincent has lost almost all of his fur.
Afterwards, Vincent is seen being sedated and taken away by Animal Control with a mask on him and is sent to the Rocky Mountains.
Personality[]
Vincent is mean, greedy, sadistic and short-tempered bear who likes to sleep and believes that selfishness will take him far, and he even proudly tells RJ he is going to be like him someday; however, this proves to be wrong as RJ instead uses the wagon of food to help his friends, thus rightfully betraying Vincent and making himself a better person. One of his most objectionable and iniquitous plans is when he occasionally steals food from campers. Thus, Vincent's brutal and acquisitive side gets the best of him as when he tried to kill RJ and his best friends, he was defeated when Verne saved RJ by pulling him out of Vincent's mouth with a fishing pole attached to his shell, making the bear fall straight into Gladys' backyard and get stung severely by the Depelter Turbo alongside Gladys and Dwayne.
Vincent is also shown to be a hedonist as until RJ stole it, a huge pack of human food to snack on while hibernating and would gladly do so when his hibernation has expired. RJ even notes that if Vincent eats RJ, then the bear would be burdened to replace the food.
Other Appearances[]
Over the Hedge: The Video Game[]
In the video game, which takes place after the film, after Vincent is caught by the Depelter Turbo, he does not get taken away by Animal Control, but is still left without his fur.
A year later, RJ plans to go to his cave to steal his satellite dish and brings the whole gang with him. He is pretty sure that Vincent is not there and assures the gang so; however, as he goes to steal the satellite dish, Vincent (whose fur has now apparently grown back) appears from behind his food stack with a brainwash-helmet and tries to eat the "annoying raccoon". After a competitive and fierce battle, RJ and the gang are able to knock off Vincent's helmet. Vincent regains consciousness and wonders what RJ is doing there. Verne convinces Vincent to help them on their missions, so he can take revenge on Dwayne (who was recently fired by Gladys after failing to kill the animals) and redeem himself. Vincent accepts and he joins the gang.
Afterwards, he is seen in the Outdoor Woods watching films with the porcupines.
When the animals return to the woods with Gladys' PDA, Vincent is holding off the brainwashed animals in defense of the others. At the end of the game, Vincent is successfully enjoying the victory party with everyone else, having finally come at peace with them. However, the events of the video game is non-canon to the film regardless since the first few levels are different from the film’s counterpart, so Vincent's redemption in it is not real.
Bee Movie[]
Vincent made two possible cameo appearances in Bee Movie (though silent), where he appeared in the news segment destroying a hive and in the courtroom as one of Barry Benson's witnesses.
The same bear appears in one of the trailers for the movie where Jerry Seinfeld in a bee costume has an accident on set and Steven Spielberg convinces him that the movie would work better as a cartoon.
Quotes[]
“ | Time's up, RJ! | „ |
~ Vincent in RJ's first nightmare. |
“ | Moon's full, RJ. See you in the morning. | „ |
~ Vincent in RJ's second nightmare. |
“ | Vincent: Wow! (chuckles) RJ: Vincent? Vincent: So I was just on my way down here to kill you, but I stopped to watch the show, and I gotta say... (turns RJ around) That, right there, is a thing of beauty… (Shows RJ the binoculars to allow him to see all his friends captured by the Verminator) That is the most vicious, deceitful, self-serving thing I've ever seen. (chuckles) Classic RJ. You take the food, and they take the fall. (RJ look on in distraught that he selfishly left all his friends behind to be captured.) You keep this up, you're gonna end up just like me, having everything you ever wanted. RJ: But I already had that. Vincent: What, them? Who are you kidding? You said it yourself. "You're a family of one." Always will be. It's how guys like you and me survive. So a few saps got hurt in the process. Tough. That's life. Trust me, you don't need them. RJ: Actually, I do. And right now, they really need me! So I really need THIS! Vincent: RJ!!! |
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~ Vincent’s most famous quote as he reveals his true nature, expressing his pride at RJ's deception and that he takes pride in his cruelty of getting animals hurt to obtain his food. |
“ | You're dead, RJ! And your friends are next! | „ |
~ Vincent’s villainous breakdown while attacking RJ and his friends. |
“ | RJ!!! | „ |
~ Vincent whenever RJ foils the former's plans or chances and his last words before getting caught in the Depelter Turbo along with Gladys and Dwayne. |
Trivia[]
- His praise towards RJ near to the film's climax where he compliments him on his deceitfulness to get what he desires (methods he frequently employed himself) was added into the film by the directors to justify Vincent's status as a villain since, for all of his viciousness, he was not an especially villainous figure, only trying to survive as he had worked personally to acquire his necessitates and was perfectly reasonable to negotiate a settlement with RJ after he greedily and unnecessarily tried to take and accidentally caused the destruction of what was rightfully Vincent's.
- To avoid having portrayed Vincent as too sympathetic to audiences, it was added that he manipulated, betrayed, and even murdered his best friends to fulfill his needs and takes a remorseless pride in his cruelty. He also attempted to kill the others as well as RJ for no actual good reason at all.
- Vincent serves as a dark parallel to RJ. Both are introduced as selfish, avaricious, and independent loners who take human food to survive, However RJ later redeems himself after coming in contact with Verne, Hammy, and the other animals, considering them the family he had long sought. On the other hand, Vincent is a greedy and manipulative control freak who never redeemed himself and only wanted to get his food back, even if it meant killing RJ and the others. If RJ hadn't met Verne, Hammy, or the other animals and let his pride and greed consume him, he would've ended up like Vincent.
- Vincent is seen dancing at the end credits of the movie.
- In order to prepare for his role as Vincent, Nick Nolte researched information about bears in order to give the right vocal tone and performance to his character.
- Vincent is Nick Nolte's second voice role.
External Links[]
- Vincent on the DreamWorks Wiki
- Vincent on the Heroes Wiki
- Vincent on the Over the Hedge Wiki