Hop

Released 27th March 2011, Hop follows EB, the next in line to be the Easter Bunny, as he attempts to pursue his passion for drumming. In case the name ‘EB’ [Easter Bunny] didn’t make it obvious enough, this film is obnoxiously explicit in its revolving around Easter. Whilst this isn’t always bad (look no further than Arthur Christmas), the explicit nature of conveying the film seeps its way into the writing and characters. The script comes off as completely wooden in how its delivered. James Marsden is the standout as Fred O’Hare. by having the most likeable and sympathetic personality whilst having somewhat compelling drama; drama which is abysmal through the mediocre performance from Marsden.

The protagonist of the film is EB, voiced by Russel Brand, and you are made to believe early on that he is likeable and has redeeming qualities in his struggles to follow his passion. Once he meets Fred however, we see that he is entirely self-centred and does nothing but further Fred’s struggles until his sudden epiphany when he leaves Fred behind. Whilst this sounds like a good realisation, the execution of this plot-point is bizarre and non-sensical. Everyone else is fine; Kaley Cuoco is fine, Hugh Laurie’s voice acting is fine, etc. One particularly odd choice of the film is the Spanish stereotype chicken Carlos, voiced by Hank Azaria. The voice acting is fine but it’s kind of odd since the film tries to incorporate some form of worker’s rights message, without laying the groundwork to make it compelling.

Despite every other aspect being horrendous, the visual effects are actually really well done throughout; the Easter creatures are believable (visually) and there is no noticeable green screen. As for the soundtrack… bleh. There is a soundtrack which serves as nothing more than basic-level atmosphere; could be worse. However, the film also blares pop-song after pop-song after celebrity cameo; it sucks you out of the film and gets annoying really quickly. Overall Hop is nothing more than one and a half hours of kiddy filler; a warning for the future of Illumination’s future movies.