REVIEW: Hop

MOVIE
Hop

CAST
Russell Brand, James Marsden

RATING
PG

RELEASE
April 1, 2011

DIRECTOR
Tim Hill

STUDIO(S)
Universal Pictures,
Illumination Entertainment

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 35 minutes






STARS
***











REVIEW:

Happy Easter season, everyone! To celebrate the (nobody cares about Passover) holiday, I went to go see the only holiday related movie out there, Hop. From the trailers, I thought the movie would be as much a dud as the second Alvin and the Chipmunks was. The movie was very stupid and kid friendly, just to start off. The movie had lots of dumb jokes that only the kids would laugh at, and adult humor that would go over a kids head. But in the corniness that this movie had, there was just that guilty pleasure that was in this movie that made it mildly enjoyable. As much as I'm shocked by this, I enjoyed Hop. Who would've thought that Russell Brand's raunchy humor would work well in a kids movie?

E.B. is the next in line to be the coveted role of the Easter Bunny. But the 4,000 year tradition may be broken, since E.B. doesn't even want to be the Easter Bunny. Instead, he wants to fulfil his dream of becoming a famous drummer. So there's only one place in the entire world that can help E.B. live his dream: Hollywood. So he travels to Hollywood to become a drummer. But along the way he meets a a jobless, thirty something slacker named Fred O'Hare. But at the same time E.B. is attempting to fulfil his dreams, E.B.'s father has sent out a group of bunny ninjas to bring E.B. back to Easter Island. Also going on at the same time, The Easter Bunny's second hand chick has plans of his own to take over the entire Easter organization.

This is one of the corniest movies that I have ever seen. It's also a very stupid, mindless movie that is like every other animated/live action movie out there. And yet, it's one of those movies that's like a sugary treat. It may not be good for you, but it still gives you a sweet sensation that is hard to resist. The reason that this movie is getting bad press is because this isn't an adult movie. This film is from Tim Hill, who directed Max Keeble's Big Move, the Garfield movies, and the first Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. So with those movies on his resume, you know that this will be a dumb movie. The film is far from perfect, with a predictable ending and characters that are just unnecessary to be there in the first place. But this movie did have stellar animation, especially for the bunnies and the chicks. I do especially give props to Illumination Entertainment for making E.B. so damn cute! I also give props to Tim Hill for making some pretty funny adult references to move the movie along. Believe it or not, Universal would put a Playboy reference into the movie's storyline.

The actors and voice work in this movie is done pretty good. Russell Brand voices E.B., and he does just as good a job on E.B. as he did on Dr. Nefario in last year's hit, 'Despicable Me.' James Marsden pull a Jason Lee in this movie, and is almost completely identical to Jason Lee's character in Alvin in the Chipmunks back in 2007 and 2009. The other voice work, including Hank Azaria and Hugh Laurie are done pretty well, but like any typical animated movie. The other human actors are just regular, dim-witted characters who finally like the main character at the end of the movie. There isn't any "Best Actor (or Actress)" nominations happening in this movie, but they are just there for the entertainment, and that's what they deliver. And leave it to Universal to put "The Hoff" in this movie for about 20 minutes.

This isn't a must see kids movie, but I would recommend this movie over Rio, a movie which I also mildly enjoyed, but felt that there are better things out there. Universal was smart to release this movie, since this movie is pretty much a kid magnet that would drive kids in no matter how sucky it could be. This is not a movie for most adults, just so you know. Not everyone will enjoy this movie, since it's made towards a specific audience. But if you're the right person to see this movie, you're bound to have yourself a fun time. This is the sweet tooth movie of 2011. No matter how stupid this movie may be, it still has enough sugary energy to satisfy any person. So if you need a little bit of sugar in your movie life, then 'Hop' over to your local theater and go see this movie.




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