Karey Kirkpatrick is an American screenwriter and director. In the course of a career spanning over two decades, he has penned the screenplay for numerous popular films like James and the Giant Peach (1996), Chicken Run (2000), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) and Smurfs 2 (2013). Besides these, Kirkpatrick has also directed two movies: the computer-animated comedy film Over the Hedge (2006) and the Eddie Murphy starrer Imagine That (2009). In 2006, he won the Annie Award for Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production for his work in Over the Hedge. His 2018 release includes Smallfoot.