That mysterious place, Easter Island, is in fact the home of the Easter Bunny.
Did you know that? I didn’t. But it’s one of the educational points of “Hop,” a holiday-themed movie that blends live action with digital characters.
We follow one rabbit in particular, EB (given voice by Ru
ssell Brand), who’s escaped from Easter Island because he doesn’t want to be the new Easter Bunny. The Santa Claus-like responsibility of delivering all those eggs is not for him.
So he barges in with shiftless Fred O’Hare (James Marsden), a guy who hasn’t found his niche yet (or, to put it another way, he still lives with his parents and has no job prospects).
Back on Easter Island, EB’s father (voice of Hugh Laurie) continues with his preparations for the annual egg drop. For no apparent reason, except that the movie needed a subplot, a Spanish-accented chick wants to take over the job of Easter Bunny.
I don’t mean “chick” as beatnik slang. I mean a yellow, fuzzy chick, voiced by Hank Azaria. Why this chick remains a chick and not a grown chicken is one of the film’s many unanswered questions. (Another is how a chick became the foreman at the Easter candy factory, but maybe that’s asking too much.)
Not that you’ll really be interested in the answers. “Hop” is a sometimes funny but mostly charmless comedy, eventually overwhelmed by its own special effects and gizmos. No surprise that the religious meaning of Easter for a portion of the world’s believers is unmentioned, what with all the emphasis on chicks and bunnies and candy here.
“Hop” tries to make a late play for sentiment, contrasting the father-son relationship between bunnies and Fred’s difficult time with his father (Gary Cole, wasted). But this movie’s too glib to bring it off.
Another educational point: Easter bunnies are British. Thus the casting of Hugh Laurie and Russell Brand, I suppose (perhaps there’s some influence from Beatrix Potter there?).
In his vocal performance, Russell Brand is amusing enough, although whatever claim he ever had to being edgy is probably pretty well gone after this; we’ll see how he does after “Arthur” opens in a couple of weeks.
As far as the technical aspects go, “Hop” proves we’ve come a long way from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” as the humans and digitally created mammals are seamless in their interactions. On the other hand, a torch song or two from Jessica Rabbit would not be unwelcome.
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