User reviews

I am glad, finally a holiday comedy about Easter, and like Garfield and Scooby Doo, It mixes live action with CGI animation. Now I really liked the animation, the Easter Bunnys warehouse where they make candy for Easter is the most awesome thing since Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory. Not to mention Hugh Laurie, Russell Brand, and Hank Azaria voice there characters perfectly, and provide much of the films humor.

Now the live action was not as funny, at times James Marsden slips by with a funny line. but other than that it's all pretty stale. Even David Hasselhoff making fun of himself, hasn't he done enough of that already. I know what they are trying to do, a Santa Clause, but with Easter. And they did alright, but they could have done a little better.

I know there's people that say Minions is worse, but I thought that film was just okay. In fact, at least I take that over this. Hop is by far, the weakest movie from Illumination. Yeah, it has some good ideas its going for, some good animation that brings Easter to life and actors that have a decent amount of effort. But considering this is from the creators that brought Alvin And The Chipmunks, the story is lazily predictable. The tone tries to be modern for the young crowd making it outdated. The humor is mostly weak. The characters feel they aren't something for an Easter movie. And the ending was highly childish. The one thing I can recommend this is for the children for Easter time. As for anyone else, I think it's best to stick with the Sonic The Hedgehog movie from 2020. It may have the same plot line as this, but at least a good version. The idea sounded great of something like one of those Christmas specials, but the movie itself is just easily mediocre. Maybe one day we'll get a good Easter movie, but this is not really it. Happy Easter.

"Hop" is another movie in a long line of big budget Easter Bunny films, just like...um... well ... er ... I guess there aren't many Easter movies that stick out in my mind. The team at Illumination Entertainment (who also brought you "Despicable Me") tried something new and approached a holiday that hasn't earned much attention from the film industry. Maybe they will set a standard for Easter films and this could be the beginning of Easter films. Or the end.

The movie starts off strong; we are introduced to the hero of the film E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand) (I can only assume E.B. stands for Easter Bunny) who is touring the candy factory with his dad on Easter Island (where else would an Easter Bunny live?). His father (voiced by Hugh Laurie) really wants E.B. to be the next Easter Bunny. Unlike Santa Claus, where there is only one of him that lives for a really long time; there is a long line of Easter Bunnies that have been keeping this Easter tradition alive for 4,000 years (for the Christians, do the math, does something seem fishy? For the Catholics, that fishy pun was intended for you in this Lenten season.) At the same time, we see Fred O'Hare (get it? O'Hare. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere) as a small child who catches a glimpse of E.B.'s dad delivering Easter eggs. Fred even sees the Easter sleigh (A sleigh? Yes, I must have missed that one as a kid. It's an Easter sleigh towed by hundreds of tiny yellow chicks.).

Fast forward 20 years, Fred (played by James Marsden) is now a grown man living at home with his parents with no job or even a real future. And, E.B. is now a teenager (for any of the viewers, do the math…wait, don't do the math and just go with this one) who wants to drum in a band instead of inheriting the title of Easter Bunny. He runs away to Hollywood to follow his dreams. There Fred literally runs into E.B. with his car. I didn't realize how funny it can be to see a CGI bunny get hit by a car.

Fred and E.B. don't hit it off right away; Fred is pretty sure he is imagining the whole thing. E.B. annoys Fred with his antics and then Fred tries dumping E.B. in the wilderness. E.B. finally proves to Fred that he is the Easter Bunny by pooping out jelly beans. It's fun for the kids, I guess. Fred then remembers the time he saw the Easter Bunny which makes him ignore the fact that he despised this rabbit 10 minutes earlier. Here, as in most kiddie films, the two characters that had their differences and are now best of friends, must work together to fight a common enemy and therefore save Easter.

Should you see this movie? Nope. The CGI and detail put into it was great but they didn't put half as much effort into the story. Sure it was cute and sure it had a few funny moments, but it's just not worth it to see this movie. The kids have probably seen the trailer and want to see the bunny that poops candy. If they are between ages 4 and 9 maybe put the DVD in their Easter basket next year but don't waste 90 minutes for a 15-second joke.

HOP is a really lazy and lousy film. While technically amazing HOP is filled with unfinished scenes, unfulfilled moments, characters who amount to nothing, silly dumb scenes that go nowhere and worst of all the tediously unfunny Russell Brand. I have no clue as to why he is being promoted as funny or interesting. I find his work really annoying. The visuals with CGI bunnies and the Easter Island Wonka factory is fun but it all continually falls short of amounting to anything. Clever casting with appealing James Marsden helps but his family scenes are uniformly weak, and play like bad 60s TV scenes we all groaned about in the original Bewitched. Overall HOP is a huge disappointment made irritating by boring Brand. A real missed opportunity, made infuriating by the sitcom style and the go nowhere script and hopeless character development. All that technical expertise and THIS is all they do with it. That is lazy and cynical film making as if bundling shiny ribbon together is all that is needed. I went with a 4 year old and she (like others in the cinema) just became bored.

This is one of the only Easter films I know which is perfect for the holidays without being about Jesus. Such a cute little film which makes me laugh and I never get tired of. Perfect family Easter film.

Very funny, Hop has a voice that goes so well with his personality. Russell Brand the English actor plays Hop. He makes a short cameo appearance.

Hop lies and fakes injury and loves to play the drums. He does not want to be the Easter Bunny appointed by his father. There are so many funny scenes and the animation is great.

The combination of real people and animation makes the environment so interesting. The colors in the factory where Easter candy is made are so beautiful.

The music is great and the singing too. Hop plays the drums for a group of blind singers called "The Blind Boys of Alabama". They may be blind but they are not stupid. They know he is not their regular drummer.

There is some infighting between the rabbits and chicks. The chicks want to take over Easter. This movie has been playing on the ABC Family Channel 4-20-4-21 more than once a day.

I do hope you get to see it.

In the 2011 film Hop, the Easter Bunny is basically Santa Claus and its main character, EB, is just like Alvin (of Alvin and the Chipmunks). In fact, this movie is very similar to Alvin's movie. Alvin and Hop both feature live-action stars co-starring alongside computer-animated main characters. Both of these animated, central "cute" animals want/dream of becoming recording/rock star musicians (Alvin sings ... EB plays the drums). James Marsden (Enchanted, X-Men, 27 Dresses) steps into the role of Dave as the character Fred O'Hare (uh, get it ... hare!?!). And that is about it.

As for plot: EB has fled Easter Island (yes, THAT Easter Island; and yes, "lame"!) a couple of weeks before he is supposed to take on the title of THE Easter Bunny. He flees to Hollywood ("where all dreams come true") and meets up with the bumbling Marsden who doesn't know what he wants to do in life. Hint ... hint ... for future plot points!

EB(voiced by Russell Brand - Get Him to the Greek, Arthur, Despicable Me) is chased by a fairly tough bunch of Pink Berets who's mission is to bring him back to the island. While in LA, EB gets to meet and audition for David Hasselhoff (uh, talk about random) and his televised talent competition. I mean really!

The movie is short (luckily!) BUT rambling and devoid of anything great or meaningful. The character is cute BUT annoying and irritating and kind of selfish ... which doesn't make him a character I wanted to root for (and that the role/job of the Easter Bunny that EB is fleeing from doesn't ever come across as something dreadfully dream-killing). His plight is rather "ho-hum, poor you" (!) as he would only have to work-work ONE day a year (which leaves plenty of time to still rock a set of drums) as it is revealed that most of his work would be done by a large population of yellow chicks -- think Santa's elves and (boo!!!) the rip-offed Minions of Despicable Me!

It is kind of odd that such a bright and pastel-colored film with such cute animated characters (one even poops jellybeans!) would leave one with such a feeling of apathy. And ... so ... uhm ... ? But this is exactly how Hop made me feel.

I enjoyed the talking pig film Babe (LOVED it); but Hop lacks that genuine human feeling of OTHER talking animal movies ... it feels manufactured and painted like a brightly-colored (yet HOLLOW) Easter egg.

The TV previews made me want to see this movie, but it turns out that those were the few funny moments to this movie - with the exception of the school play with the characters singing "I Want Candy". Nicely animated, but short on guffaws. Kids may love it, but as an adult it was a bit boring at moments and not very original. Now, really, the Easter Bunny has a sleigh? May be best to wait for this one to come out on DVD and keep it in mind for an Easter basket gift for next year. There are a shortage of good, original movie plots out there, short on story line and imagination. If the producers could only make the perfect fit of beautiful animation and storyline, you'd have one fine movie. This one needed more laughs to keep it moving along.

Just as how Santa Claus stories work through their way through the Christmas period, Hop brings forward the Easter season some three weeks early with a kids film that combines the best of live action and animation in yet another talking animal story, which is something quite expected when you combine filmmakers who had worked on Alvin and the Chipmunks, and the producers of Despicable Me, who probably would have floated the idea that cute yellow things make for comedic villains since they're going against type.

Hop is a tale about sons being unable to live up to the ideals of their fathers, being told what is expected, being seen as soft and unable to exert any say in what they really want to do in life. When we first see EB (or short for Easter Bunny, voiced by Russell Brand), "plush toy" comes to mind for its incredibly cute design when the wide eyed bunny tours and allows the audience to see first hand what would be the equivalent of Santa's operations that the Easter Bunny adopts, with multitudes of chocolate and candy making machines all outsourced not to elves, but to chicks to operate and churn them out, before making deliveries in one single day to all the kids.

But as EB grows up, his propensity to take on the family business, or rather his calling in life, takes a hit and wanes because he aspires to dabble in music and play drums. Rather than take over from his father, he runs away to Hollywood to seek out his fortunes and thereby putting Easter potentially on hold, and bumps into Fred O'Hare (James Marsden), who is also kicked out of his family home because his father and family members find it a tad ridiculous that he mucks around home for the last one year doing nothing. So it's a chance meeting of two similar sons set to prove themselves in a whole new world, and bring about the usual kids theme of friendship, perseverance, and plenty of juvenile comedy. Look out for David Hasselhoff playing himself, and the requisite cute bunnies collectively known as the Pink Berets who would probably steal the show.

I have to admit though that some of the jokes do work, since it's quite a wide spectrum from the usual toilet humour - EB poops delicious, multi-flavoured candy! - to a hilarious get up of the song I Love Candy with the duo continuing a ruse from earlier involving EB pretending to be a plush toy. This aspect of the film compensates for the lack of sophistication of the plot which for some weird reason has Fred not being satisfied with having validated that he's not crazy with his young time witnessing of the Easter Bunny going about his one day routine, but desiring to instead become a bunny himself.

That brought about what I thought was the most direct reference back to Despicable Me with the mindless bantering amongst the minions of the Easter Bunny's factory, where second in command Carlos (Hank Azaria), in the absence of EB and his dad getting old, secretly coverts a plot to usurp the festivity and run the entire show himself. While the minions have different designs and varying degrees of intelligence, the chicks here adopt a uniform look, and as expected there's always a smart alecky character to become cannon fodder for laughs.

Besides priming itself for a respectable box office result when the Easter holiday rolls along, what this film would probably successfully do is to ramp up demand for rabbits and chicks amongst its targeted demographic, so parents, do spare a thought and taper those short term wants. Strictly for the kids. Do stay tuned until after the end credits for a scene to witness James Marsden's Mandarin diction.

Sometimes when I read other reviews on here from certain so called 'movie buffs' I get very irritated when they give such a good children's film like this a bad rating. I watched this film with a 'U' rating to pass the time with my little 2 year old who also thoroughly enjoyed it! - and thats the only reason you watch a film, to entertain yourself for a couple of hours.

My 2 year old sons eyes were glued to the set and I could tell that he also appreciated the fine animation that went into this film. The film also had a lot of comedy in it and was quite entertaining. For some people they they just don't realise that its a children's film for heavens sake. What do they expect a film to do when they watch one?

This was so bland and boring that I actually forgot to review it for weeks.

Like I watched this weeks ago and then instantly forgot about it so quickly that I never even remembered to review it.

The only reason I actually remembered it is because it's Easter today and it got recommended to me.

If it wasn't for that reason then I'd literally never have thought about this film ever again.

That's how boring this is.

This has to be one off the worst animated movies ever! The movie has the most dislikable character of all time, and the Hispanic chick is the only good thing about this film. He has to be the most sympathetic character of all time and doesn't do anything wrong until the last 21 minutes. Thee chick has been the second in command of the bunny and he wants to take over. But the daddy bunny wants to have his son to take over. But his son doesn't want to take over because he wants to be a drummer. And later on in the film he meets James Marsden's character and all that crap. The daddy's son bunny only acts like a stuffed animal to sniff the girls hair. Isn't he a likable character? He doesn't even care when James Marsden's character is kidnapped. Like I said, isn't he a character you'll like? Back to the Hispanic chick, he tries to make it clear to the daddy bunny that he is the only one that wants the job. And when it doesn't work, he takes over by force and feels deserved, because he deserves it more than the stubborn daddy bunny and his S#!% head son. I was cheering when EB was being beaten up by the Hispanic chick, because who wouldn't want him to have a bad death? And even when the daddy bunny says only bunnies can take over, but the mediocre James Marsden character is the Co-Easter bunny. The Hispanic Chick and Marsden character both did training for the job. They both wanted it equally, but only one was best QUALIFIED.

When I watched this movie, I thought that it was fantastic. I feel like that if I rewatched it now, I'd probably have a bit of a different opinion. The animation and story is pretty good as well as the acting. Its not the greatest movie ever, not by a long shot, but for a kid this is very entertaining. The concept, though stupid, is interesting and overall its pretty funny.

The Easter Bunny is to Easter what Santa Claus is to Christmas. Legend has it that both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus go around people's houses at night before their respective days bringing gifts- though in the case of the Easter Bunny, these tend to be more specific to coloured eggs, candy and chocolates. Despite their similarities, Hollywood seems to favour Santa Claus over the Easter Bunny, going by the number of Yuletide-themed films around the plump, jolly, white-bearded man in a red suit and the dearth of films about the latter.

Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio however attempt to change that with their part-live action, part-animated romp "Hop", a through and through family film centred around the Easter Bunny. Also the writers of last summer's surprising hit for Chris Meledandri's Illumination Entertainment's "Despicable Me", Paul and Daurio display much less of their ingenuity this time round. Indeed, their adaptation of the Easter Bunny legend borrows too heavily from Yuletide films like "Elf", "Fred Claus" and in particular "The Santa Clause" that it almost feels that they have merely switched elves for chicks, reindeers also for chicks and Santa for the Easter Bunny.

The references are apparent right from the start, when we are first introduced to the Easter factory where all the candy and chocolates for the kids are prepared. Production designer Richard Holland's vision of this is no more than "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" crossed with Santa's workshop in any of the films mentioned above, and despite the riot of colours, there's little wildly inventive that will make you go 'wow'. Same goes for the Easter Bunny's mode of transportation, which is really an egg-shaped sleigh pulled by hundreds of tiny chicks; or the source of its magical powers, derived from the Egg of Destiny or the equivalent of a Santa suit.

Paul and Daurio's reliance on these Yuletide film tropes extends as well to the plot of the movie, which essentially is the story of the heir- apparent to the Easter Bunny throne, E. B. (voiced by Russell Brand, who also makes a live-action cameo later on) absconding his responsibilities to pursue his dreams of musical superstardom much to the chagrin of his father (Hugh Laurie). You can probably guess the narrative pretty much from here on end- just add in another out-of-work slacker, Fred (James Marsden), who is in the same real-life situation as E.B. with his father (Gary Cole).

Besides sorting out their own father-son issues, E.B. and Fred will also spend time bickering with each other, before bonding through a fictional David Hasselhoff (playing himself) reality show "Hoff Knows Talent" (an all-too obvious riff on "America's Got Talent") and a sing-along at a school play where both take turns singing 'I Want Candy'. There's also a subplot which sees E.B's father's number two, a duplicitous Spanish chick Carlos (voiced by Hank Azaria), insinuating that he be crowned the next Easter Bunny in E.B's absence- but this is played for little more than to allow for an frenetic action-packed finale at the end.

Though originality isn't one of its strong suits, director Tim Hill's (Alvin and the Chipmunks) film does take- pardon the pun- more than a few hops in the right direction. Most prominently, Hill's experience with such part-animation, part-live action fare is amply demonstrated in the seamless blend of E.B. and the rest of the computer-generated animals with their human counterparts- special mention goes to E.B, whose features and expressions are beautifully and vividly animated. Impressive too is Illumination Entertainment's ability to create 'oh-so- adorable' sidekick characters, the chicks including Carlos and the over- enthusiastic prone-to-dancing Phil reminiscent of the little yellow minions from "Despicable Me" and equally irresistible.

Hill has also assembled a lively voice cast led by the vivacious Russell Brand. Though there is none of the raunchiness usually associated with him (think "Get Him to the Greek"), Brand's distinctive laid-back charm is still intact and fits his character perfectly. Just as outstanding is Hank Azaria's voicing of both Carlos and Phil. Though the two characters couldn't be more different in nature, Azaria finds a unique voice for each, and is especially good at delivering Carlos' punchlines with aplomb- who can forget Carlos' line 'It's called a coup d'état which is a French for coup d'état!'

And thanks to Brand and Azaria's voice talents, as well as the excellent blend of live-action and animation, "Hop" still proves to be more than agreeable family entertainment- even if laugh-out-loud moments are fewer and further-in-between than one would expect. Not to mention of course that the familiarity with Yuletide films of Santa Claus is unmistakable, which also makes "Hop" just as undemanding, if not unexceptional, fare as most of these movies. Still, it's colourful, it's buoyant, and it's cute, so that's definitely enough to keep the kids entertained.

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Movies have been used to publicize many holidays throughout the years; however, there has not been a film that has displayed Easter in such a Hollywoodized way until now. "Hop" has transformed Easter into the new Christmas, drawing masses of families into the theaters. However, while the film was a success at the box office being named the first blockbuster of the summer, the film has much to be desired. Russel Brand ("Get Him to the Greek") stars as a rabbit named E.B. who is destined to take the place of his dad (High Laurie, "House") as the Easter Bunny. As the Easter Bunny, E.B. would be taking over control of Easter Island where chicks prepare Easter eggs and luscious candy delights for the Easter Holiday every year—sound familiar (elves making toys for Christmas). However, E.B. has a different idea about what his future has in store. To avoid his destiny, E.B. leaves Easter Island two weeks before his coronation on Easter day through a rabbit hole to Hollywood. After a misunderstanding at the Playboy Mansion, E.B. meets disappointment Fred O'Hare (catchy name) who has failed to live up to his father's (Gary Cole, "Talladega Night") expectations. However, Fred's life is turned around after he meets E.B., allowing him to realize his life long dream of becoming the Easter Bunny. However, before this realization can be made a reality, Fred and E.B. must stop the evil plot of the head chick at the factory, Carlos (Hank Azaria, "Love and Other Drugs") that would change Easter forever.

The only thing that "Hop" is successful at is targeting children. It provides this audience exactly what they would want out of a family-safe Easter film. Everything about the film is harmless and cliché within its kid friendly genre, ultimately pleasing parents, who do not have to worry about what their kids see. However, from a critical standpoint the only character that is somewhat worth following is E.B. Lets face it, you do not see many British bunnies that sound like Russel Brand every day.

The truth is that even though "Hop" may be the best film in theaters for kids to see, it has no excuse to totally disregard originality. Even though not many films about Easter are ever seen in theaters, "Hop" seems like just another Christmas film shot during the spring season. Every plot line and twist can be taken lightly because believe it or not it has all been done before. The jumbling of so many cliché plot lines makes the story random and by the end none of the film was fully developed. Also, the acting in the film is horridly hokey except for various Russel Brand moments. Even so, Brand was a very awkward choice for his role because he is the only bunny with a British accent. The clumsiness of the casting does not stop there with the evil chick Carlos (Hank Azaria, "Love and Other Drugs") being the only Hispanic chick in the movie.

The story is very plain mixing "The Santa Clause" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" with an Easter shell. This makes "Hop" nothing more than a kid-pleasing flick that will make you wonder if Christmas came early this year.

E.B.(voiced by Russell Brand) lives on Easter Island, haha, beneath one of the giant stone heads. His father (Hugh Laurie), you see, is THE Easter Bunny and has been training EB to take over the job when its time. That day is very near, making EB fret, for he is into drumming and longs to be a rock star. On the island, the candy-and-egg factory is run quite well by Carlos the Chicken (Hank Azaria). In fact, Carlos thinks that a rooster can BE the next Big Bunny, it shouldn't be a species thing. As the holiday approaches, EB bolts off the island, via a secret tunnel, to Hollywood. At that moment, Fred (James Marsden) is driving away quickly from his digs at his parents house. Mom (Elizabeth Perkins) and Dad (Gary Cole) have just held an "intervention" to explain that Fred must find another job and get his own place. SOON. Naturally, Fred's car bumps into EB but the bunny is okay. In fact, since Fred is going to house sit at a huge mansion in Beverly Hills, thanks to his well-connected sister, EB thinks it is the start of a beautiful friendship between slacker and rabbit. Although the bunny does stir up trouble, Fred manages to get him an audition with the Hoff (David Hasselhoff, as himself) and EB wins over the talent critic and scores a big gig. Meanwhile, Fred loses out on another job opportunity and tries to convince the rabbit that maybe HE, Freddie, could take over the Easter Bunny position. Back on Easter Island, Dad Rabbit is frantic to find his son while Carlos launches a stealth mission to take over the entire operation. How will things resolve? What a beautifully animated movie this is, colorful and so superb at combining computer generated images with live action. See it on the biggest screen you can find, even if it means seeking out the rich relatives' home theater and begging for access. Also, the cast is nice, although Marsden, despite being a charming performer, may be too old for the part of Fred, as other critics have notices. Azaria, Laurie and especially Brand add much to the film with their voices roles and the other actors are nice, too. The sets are likewise very beautiful, especially the elegant Beverly Hills Mansion where the two unlikely housesitters go. Therefore, its near-miss as a must-see belongs to the uneven script and the rather tame and slower direction. There are clever lines and situations to be found but, alas, there's also too much banality. Nevertheless, I do urge families to hop the hop and get a showing of Hop going. It is certainly will be quite a nice view for the crew.

I feel bad rating this movie so low, because I suspect there was a lot of good intent. There was certainly good casting; the most amusing aspect of this movie is the sly cameo stunt-casting. Hugh Hefner does a voice cameo that's pretty funny, for instance.

And then there's Hugh Laurie as EB's dad. While it may seem at odds with his nearly-amoral Dr. House, once upon a time Laurie provided the voice for Peter Rabbit in the animated Beatrix Potter stories. He reprises this voice here. It almost qualifies as an in-joke; I was certainly amused by it, but it didn't really do anything to advance the story.

I also feel bad for the performers in general. They're good, and they're stuck in the most cynically-written movie I've seen in a long time. There's NOTHING original here. At all. James Marsden is likable enough, as is the near-ubiquitous Russell Brand's EB. The scenes are all pretty much lifted from old Disney movies and Christmas specials (even an incomprehensible nod to "Back to the Future"). We don't really learn a lot about the bunnies and their world, and we don't get anything but the sketchiest motivation for anyone. And while David Hasselhoff's cameo in the Spongebob movie was clever and self-deprecating, here it was just kind of sad.

Yes, I realize the response to this will be "aw, give them a break... it's cute..." The trouble is, there have been tons of genuinely GOOD family movies made in the past several years. Back in the bad old 80s this tired script might have been forgivable. Universal Pictures is making a lot of mileage out of "Hop" coming from Illumination Studios, the same people who did "Despicable Me", because THAT movie was genuinely GOOD. I'll grant that technically, "Hop" is pretty good. But all the technical brilliance in the world won't make up for a poor story.

In all fairness, I'll admit that my 7 year old enjoyed it. My 10 year old, though rates it at about a 3 on the 1-10 scale, so the bar's pretty low. Wait for video.