HOLLYWOOD -- For Bruce Willis, saving the world is nothing compared to voicing an animated character.
In the DreamWorks animated comedy Over the Hedge that opens Friday, Willis provides the voice of RJ the racoon.
RJ is a wily con artist who tricks a group of timid forest creatures into helping him steal food from humans in the new subdivision on the other side of the hedge that separates their two worlds.
It's based on a comic strip created 11 years ago by Michael Fry and T. Lewis.
"I've saved the world eight times, but Over the Hedge is one of the hardest things I've ever done," says Willis.
"There I was in a sound booth, by myself, trying to make some technicians, producers and directors laugh. There was no way I could tell if I was funny or not. I felt so vulnerable.
"I had to rely on other people to tell me what was funny and what wasn't. That's something I'm not used to or comfortable with."
Willis, 51, was the first choice of directors Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick to voice RJ.
"RJ is so much like David Addison, the wise-cracking private detective Bruce played on TV's Moonlighting. It's exactly the persona we wanted for RJ," says Johnson.
Much has been written about the friction that characterized the set of Moonlighting but Willis insists "it was a great experience that I look back at with fondness. We had great writers and a great supporting cast and it was always fun working with Cybill (Shepherd)."
Over the Hedge has fun with the premise humans and animals don't always live in harmony.
Willis knows this first hand.
"I've lived in Idaho for 12 years. They've got every wildlife creature imaginable which means I had every animal problem imaginable."
Willis recalls one of his dogs "bit a possum and got bitten back. A second got bitten by a beaver and another one bit a porcupine so it had quills in its mouth. We had to take each of them to the vets."
He insists "the animal hospital in my town rivals Cedar Sinai in Los Angeles ..."
Willis' three daughters with Demi Moore, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle, were raised in Idaho.
He may have been worried about his dogs, but Willis knew his daughters were safe.
"My girls can take care of themselves. When it comes to the outdoors, they're as tough as their dad. Tallulah can take down a deer with her bare hands. She's got my gene for that kind of thing."
Willis is the first to admit "raising three daughters has been a real learning experience and it's not over yet. At first I made it my priority to protect them from celebrity which Demi and I are proud to say we accomplished.
"All three of my girls have turned out to be kind, thoughtful kids, not Hollywood brats."
This doesn't mean Willis can relax: "Now it's my job to get them ready to go out into the world on their own."
Over the Hedge follows fast on the heels of Willis' Lucky Number Slevin and 16 Blocks.
Before the end of the year he'll be seen opposite Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog, Billy Bob Thornton in Astronaut Farmer and Giovanni Ribisi in Perfect Stranger.
