Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
If you’re still in Easter mode, let me share with you an Easter movie I’ve watched recently via Google Play. I’ve seen the 2011 film called ‘Hop’! Yes, this film was released 10 years ago and I wasn’t even aware of its existence back then. Now I have a chance to share what I make of the film ‘Hop’ overall.
I enjoyed ‘Hop’ very much. I know it’s not regarded very highly. It can be argued the film is dodgy in places in terms of the CGI, the story and the characters. But in terms of a viewing experience, it was pleasant enough. As far as I know, this is the only film so far to feature the Easter Bunny. Unusual! 😐
There have been Easter movies focused upon Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection such as ‘The Miracle Maker’, but there haven’t been many films focused upon the Easter Bunny around Easter time. This is a contrast compared to the number of Santa Claus films shown around Christmas time!
The film is directed by Tim Hill and it features the voice talents of Russell Brand as E.B. (Get it? His initials stand for Easter Bunny!) and Hugh Laurie (who played Bertie Wooster in ITV’s ‘Jeeves & Wooster’) as the Easter Bunny, E.B.’s father. There’s also Hank Azaria as Carlos, an evil Easter chick!
‘Hop’ is a combination of 3-D live action and computer-animation. Whilst the Easter Bunny characters and the Easter chicks are CGI-animated characters, the rest of the cast are played by humans, including James Marsden playing Fred O’Hare, who becomes the first human Easter bunny!
James Marsden is well-known for playing Cyclops in the ‘X-Men’ films. He’s also been in ‘Superman Returns’ and recently in ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’. I’m amazed that he appears in some of these kids films like ‘Hop’ and ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ compared to the ‘X-Men’ films and ‘Superman Returns’. 😀
The film has E.B., the young heir to the Easter Bunny throne, wanting to drum in a band rather than succeed his father as the Easter Bunny. James Marsden’s Fred O’Hare (Get it? His surname’s the name of a big rabbit!) is a young man who’s out of work and he meets up with E.B. on a fateful night.
Fred struggles to get a job but when he meets and interacts with E.B., he soon shares his wish to become the next Easter Bunny. 😀 But the evil chick Carlos plots to take over the Easter organisation. Can E.B. and Fred save the day and stop Carlos before the Easter deliveries are about to be made? 😐
The film features Fred’s family, who we don’t see a lot of here. There’s Gary Cole as Henry, Fred’s father; Elizabeth Perkins (who’s been in 1994’s ‘Miracle on 34th Street’) as Bonnie, Fred’s mother; Kaley Cuoco as Sam, Fred’s sister and Tiffany Espensen as Alex, who is Fred’s adoptive younger sister. 🙂
I did find Fred’s father often belittling his son at times as he pushes him to get a job and move out of the house. I wish we saw more of the caring parent in Fred’s father as well as in Fred’s mother and adoptive younger sister. At least Fred’s sister Sam was very supportive to him at times during the film.
There’s David Hasselhoff as himself, Chelsea Handler as Mrs. Beck and Dustin Ybarra (who almost looks like Josh Gad but it isn’t him) as Cody. Russell Brand, who voices E.B. in the film, also plays a production assistant on David Hasselhoff’s talent show ‘Hoff Knows Talent’, which is rather amusing.
I did like the three Pink Berets, who are like the Easter Bunny’s royal guards. They don’t say anything throughout the film and I assume they’re all female. They’re quick off the mark as well as cute. They track down E.B. once he’s escaped to Hollywood from Easter Island to pursue a drumming career.
‘Hop’ has been entertaining film to watch over Easter this year. I know not many people will see the film in the same light as I do. It does have its problems and I can’t deny the film could’ve been better. But for what it’s worth, I found it okay and it’s generally a pleasant experience to sit through.
Speaking personally, I find ‘Peter Rabbit’ to be a better film than ‘Hop’. 😀
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
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