Hop
** 1/2 (out of four)
Starring James Marsden, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Kaley Cuoco and including the voices of Russell Brand, Hugh Laurie and Hank Azaria. Directed by Tim Hill. Approximately 95 minutes. Rated G.
Quite a while ago, I saw a trailer for this new animated movie called ``Hop''. I didn't really know what it was about. In the trailer, it just shows a bunny playing ``Song 2'' by Blur. I read what it was about. It was about the Easter Bunny (Russell Brand) and he gets hit by a car and the driver, Fred (James Marsden), has to take care of him. Then, I saw another trailer online for it months later. I wasn't sure what to think of the look of it. It didn't look like the greatest movie.
But, a month later, I saw another trailer for the movie and I have to say, it was a better trailer than the other one. So, on April 2nd, 2011, I went to a 2:20 showing of the movie. When I walked in, the theater was packed. I took my seat and watched the 95 minute kids comedy. When I walked out of the theater, I thought my experience of seeing ``Hop'' was satisfactory.
So, really the plot of the movie is that the present Easter Bunny (Hugh Laurie) wants his son (Russell Brand) to become the Easter Bunny. However, the son wants to be a drummer, not the Easter Bunny. So, he runs away from home and travels to Hollywood to pursue his dream. However, he gets hit by a car. The driver Fred (James Marsden) is a slacker who lives with his parents and has no job. When he was a kid, he saw the Easter Bunny, but no one believed him. He is supposed to be housesitting for this really rich guy and he decides to take car of the rabbit, but he turns out to be a terrible guest. He overflows a jacuzzi and trashes a fancy room. Fred tries to get rid of him, but when he finds out who he actually is, he starts to like him a bit more. Then, when he finds out that the rabbit doesn't want the job of being the Easter Bunny, Fred gets an idea: He can be the Easter Bunny.
Meanwhile, back at the home of the Easter Bunny, a grumpy Easter Chick named Carlos (Hank Azaria) is wanting to get rid of all the rabbits and become the Easter Bunny and all the other Easter Chicks will be in charge of Easter.
In the ads for this movie, they say: From the creators of ``Despicable Me''. This movie is not as good as ``Despicable Me''. In ``Despicable Me'', the super-villain Gru was not a very nice guy, but he was still funny. Yet, in ``Hop'', the Easter Bunny's son is annoying, irresponsible and he doesn't get as many laughs from me as much as I did from Gru.
Fred isn't too likable, either. He is pretty irresponsible. He can't get a job and he doesn't seem to think any job is good enough for him. Also, he lives with his parents.
The best part of the movie is Carlos and his companion Phil (also voiced by Hank Azaria). They are funny. Carlos is the bad guy, but he's funny and Phil is kind and funny. Everyone else is only okay.
But this may not be the movie for older kids and adults. If you are a really little kid, you will probably think this is the greatest film ever. In the theater, there were a lot of kids and they seemed to be loving it. In one scene, the song ``I Want Candy'' is played and there was one kid who was dancing to it. Also, after the scene was over, one kid said, ``I want candy!''
So, if you are a pre-teen, teenager or an adult, this will probably not be the best movie for you. But if you are a little kid that is 5 or 6 years old, it is most likely that you will like this movie a lot.
