'Hop'-ping in just in time for Easter audiences
By Matt Grantz, Assistant Editor
April 18, 2011
 Think about holiday movies and they’re usually Christmas-themed. However, Easter has finally earned its own time in the spotlight with “Hop.”
“Hop” tells the story of EB (voiced by Russell Brand), whose father (voiced by Hugh Laurie) is preparing his teenage rabbit son to take over the job of  Easter Bunny. This task sounds like a relatively simple thing, but EB doesn’t want to assume his father’s position, and Carlos (voiced by Hank Azaria), Easter Bunny’s lieutenant who also happens to be a chick, desires to overthrow Easter Bunny and become Easter Chick.
EB eventually leaves Easter Island, the Easter Bunny base, and arrives in Hollywood where he hopes to become a famous drummer. While in Hollywood, EB encounters a human by the name of Fred O’Hare (James Marsden) who takes in EB and helps him in his quest to become a star.
Meanwhile, Carlos has taken advantage of EB’s disappearance and tries convincing Easter Bunny to let him take over. Carlos’s first attempts to gain Easter Bunny’s attention are subtle and Carlos is simply ignored. But when Carlos finally overtly mentions his ambition,  Easter Bunny laughs at him and thanks Carlos for telling a good joke. In response, Carlos plans a coup and continues to distract the real Easter Bunny.
These two situations end up coming together in a well-told and funny tale. “Hop” doesn’t try to overwhelm anyone with flashy effects or a highly complicated story. What “Hop” is, however, is a nicely animated, cute story. Additionally, the acting of the live actors on the screen is quite convincing, considering they filmed the sequences with a talking bunny rabbit that they probably couldn’t see.
The only problem I have with “Hop” was that it contains references to the Playboy Mansion and Playboy bunnies and it also includes a few choice words in a movie marketed for younger audiences. Outside of that small issue, “Hop” is a fun, funny and family friendly film that I would recommend to people of all ages.
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