3/19/11

Hop

What a quandary... This 2011 holiday (Easter) film is obviously targeted for the kiddies: it's colorful, includes cartoon characters, and celebrates an icon, the Easter Bunny.

On the other hand, much of the dialogue is fairly adult, e.g., "Coup d'état? That's French for coup d'état!" If, like me, you find that funny, you'll probably get some kicks out of this one. If not, maybe that six year old in your life will find it hysterical, because a coup d'état is precisely what this movie is all about. Mr. Easter Bunny, Sr., is thinking about retiring, but like fathers everywhere, he has discovered that his son isn't too thrilled about stepping into his shoes. Junior wants to be a drummer in a rock band. It's an ambitious chick in the candy factory who is planning the coup d'état.

Meanwhile in the human world, another successful father is equally disappointed: his son hasn't held a job for over a year and despite numerous interviews, discovers, for one reason or another, that not a single one "is a good fit." The family's adopted daughter however, intends to be the paragon those parents have craved. She's planning a you-know-what....

These folks make it happen:
  • Russell Brand ("Despicable Me") brings his quirky charm to "Hop," the callow future Easter Bunny.
  • Hugh Laurie ("House") is his loving but oblivious father, the current Easter Bunny. He thinks that drumming thing could be a nice little hobby.
  • Hank Azaria ("The Simpsons") is the (uncredited) supervisor at the candy factory. He's planning the coup d'état.
When our hero hops down the rabbit hole to escape his destiny, he is transported from Easter Island to Hollywood, where he is promptly hit by a car, driven by:
  • James Marsden ("Enchanted"), the disappointing son in the human world. These two disappointments are thrown together, for good or for ill.
  • Gary Cole (LOTS of TV but uncredited here) is the disappointed father.
  • David Hasselhoff (LOTS of TV) does a cameo and auditions our would-be drummer for his talent show.
The smaller children in the audience became restless, although the seven or eight year olds hooted with delight as a buzz saw nearly sliced off Hop's head. Also, I'm happy to report that the "Fatal Attraction" homage went over their heads...boiled bunny anyone?

By the way, the animation is excellent: the interplay between "live" humans and the cartoons is seamless. I can't recommend this though. There are waaay too many good ideas, as a result none of them are fully developed.