This enjoyable cartoon introduces children (reintroduces adults) to several important design patterns: an intelligent rascal with a hidden agenda seeks and recruits dupes; self-centered suburbia demands infinite security to the point of ordering illicit torture; the little people look up to giants, and play dead when necessary; food is a harsh motivator, even when you already have more than enough (because "enough is never enough"); several others.
Suburbia makes subtle allusions to The Sims it seems to me. Having the hedgehogs inadvertently conjure that THX logo, with all the sound this entails (potentially waking the sim upstairs, clerk of a homeowners' association), seemed an unusually brilliant stroke, and this film was full of such finishing touches. The buildup to the manic stupid squirrel becoming hyper-manic (an incredible and a hero) was exquisite (squirrel on steroids).
Obviously, I liked this movie. It'd double feature well with A Bug's Life, given they both have this framing thought of a hungry predator enforcing a deadline.
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On the road with Global Data
