Movie Review - Hop - Starring Russell Brand & James Marsden

Hop is the little live action movie that takes a raunchy British comedienne, in Russell Brand and uses him to portray the Easter Bunny in a family movie. The oddness gets better when they add James Marsden as a slacker and Caley Cuoco as his sister. All of this is wrapped up into an easter egg and sold to families. And, obviously, according to the box office, the families bought it. But, is it any good? Well, I can tell you, as a Hopp, it doesn't tarnish my good name. (Yep, I pulled out the stupid last name joke, what of it?)

The movie is about Fred. Fred is a slacker with no life ambition or goals. One day, he meets E.B., a rabbit voiced by Brand, who is on the run from his responsibilities as Easter Bunny. Now, the two have to help each other figure out their life, and get a job.

The movie is extremely simple. If you have seen Tim Allen's Santa Clause, then you've seen this movie too. That being said, I liked the Santa Clause and I liked this movie too. Both were sweet enough to give you a cavity, like any good easter basket, and this one really had some heart to it. Surprisingly, most of the heart came from Russell Brand, an unlikely source for a kids movie to say the least.

The special effects, mainly the Easter Island work factory were quite good. There were plenty of shots where you could tell they were using camera trickery instead of straight on special effects to save on the budget, but overall, it was pretty good. Marsden is forced to carry the movie on his own, here, as he is often the only real person on screen, and he doesn't do a terrible job. He's entertaining, and he plays off a computer generated rabbit surprisingly well.

Overall, I can't think of any other Easter movie that I would reccomend more than this. (I swear, if someone puts Passion of the Christ in the comments section, I will find a bunny and punch it in the face). This movie was cute, it was entertaining, and the kids in the audience, big and small really seemed to be entertained. Easter is just around the corner, and this movie is a perfect way to keep cool, and entertain the whole family.