Hop

Dir. Tim Hill
Starring. James Marsden, Russell Brand, Hugh Laurie

So, you're looking for a good Easter film, huh? You could go with 'The Passion of the Christ,' but let's face it; is that really the film you want to be watching when your family's gathered around the living room exhausted from the battle royale-style Easter egg hunt, nursing chocolate bunny induced stomach aches, itching to get out of their Easter Sunday best clothes? No! You want a silly movie about bunnies that poop jelly beans, and adorable chicks with silly voices, and a magical candy factory hidden in the mouth of those statues on Easter Island. You want 'Hop.'

'Hop' features the voice of Russel Brand as animated rabbit E.B., son of the Easter Bunny (voiced by Hugh Laurie), and next in line to take over all Easter duties. But, once E.B. hits his rebellious teenage years, he decides to denounce his inheritance and run away to Hollywood to pursue a career as a drummer. He hooks up with Fred O'Hare (James Marsden), an unemployed failure-to-launch 20-something with father issues of his own. E.B.'s antics undermine all of Fred's attempts to get his life in order, especially once the Easter Special Ops team, the Pink Berets, come to kidnap E.B. and take him back to Easter Island.

Not to be that annoying person who over analyzes a kid's film....well no, that's exactly what I'm going to do. There seem to be some important plot elements that were overlooked. First of all, they never gave much thought to the issue of how people would react to a walking, talking, drum playing, rabbit. At first you think they might go the route that only Fred can actually see E.B., but then other people start to interact with him (and not just blind people and the Hoff) without blinking twice. Then there's the EasterMobile which appears to be powered and flown by a flock of chicks. Chicks can't fly. It is completely illogical and not even cool looking enough to excuse the gross breaches in the laws of physics. Not to mention Hershey's Chocolate Kisses™ and Peeps™ would never be manufactured in the same factory due to brand conflicts. Come on.

But yeah, yeah, I hear you; it's a kids movie. Most children would never notice nor care about these sorts of details. I only point them out because it's a symptom of the entire film, which is to assume that cuteness and candy and bright colors are all our kids need to be entertained. Who needs plot when you have dancing baby animals, right? Well, having seen it in a theater crawling with little ones, I can attest to otherwise. There were very few, if any, laughs from my audience, which is surprising considering everyone was all hopped up on (pun intended) frosted cookies and juice. Maybe they had so much fun at the screening's pre-party, the film was just anti-climactic. I don't blame them. It's hard for an animated rabbit in a plaid shirt to hold your attention when there is a pen filled with real bunnies just outside the theater (seriously, live bunnies. Oh. Em. Gee.)

Hop's assault of cuteness is just too shallow and too cliche to be at all engaging. These are our kids. Let's give them some credit. We can't stop bragging about how gifted they are to the neighbors, so let's put our money where our mouths are and give them a film with some substance. They shouldn't have to settle for this heaping pile of...jelly beans.