Entertainment :: Movies

Hop

by Kevin Taft
EDGE Contributor
Sunday Apr 1, 2012
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Finally, an Easter movie! Well, sure, we have all those about Jesus and what not, but I mean a "real" Easter movie. Okay, I jest, but with the myriad of Santa Claus Christmas films, there was nothing for that popular Spring holiday except yearly showings of "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Sound of Music." Luckily, the folks at Universal dreamed up a colorful confection called "Hop" that tells the tail (!) of the Easter Bunny (here known as E.B. and voiced by English Funnyman Russell Brand) and how he leaves his home of Easter Island to make it big as a drummer in Hollywood.

Sure, this seems like a really obvious film about some random animated character trying to "make it big" in the entertainment industry. And sure, it’s yet another weird fish-out-of-water story. But for some reason, it works. Brand is hilarious, James Marsden ("Enchanted") as the human E.B. stumbles upon is appropriately wide-eyed and slack-jawed, and Kaley Cuoco ("The Big Bang Theory") is adorably under-used as his sister. What separates this from similar cartoon/real world hybrids like "The Smurfs" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks," is that there is genuine hilarity in here, as well as a cleverness the others lacked and a world we haven’t seen before.

It’s easy to write this off as just "one of those movies" and ignore it. But "Hop" is entirely cute and the humor works well for adults and children. I mean, when the main character poops jelly beans, you know it’s not going to be a Disney movie!

Some of the Special features include:

  • Phil’s Dance Party - an all new mini-movie (it’s 3 minutes long) that is fun for a minute, then gets old fast.
  • The World of HOP - features a number of mini-featurettes on the making of the film.
  • All Access with Cody Simpson - behind the scenes with the teen star and a performance of his song from the film, "I Want Candy."
  • Russell Brand: Being the Bunny - more antics from Brand.
  • Russell Brand’s Kid Crack Ups - Brand interviews random kids about the film in a short, but funny, segment.
  • As well as a number of other short featurettes and games.

    "Hop"
    Blu ray/DVD Combo Pack
    $39.98

    • Kevin Taft is a screenwriter/critic living in Los Angeles with an unnatural attachment to ’Star Wars’ and the desire to be adopted by Steven Spielberg. He can be seen in the flesh on the weekly PBS movie review series "Just Seen It."

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