E.B.(voiced by Russell Brand) lives on Easter Island, haha, beneath one of the giant stone heads. His father (Hugh Laurie), you see, is THE Easter Bunny and has been training EB to take over the job when its time. That day is very near, making EB fret, for he is into drumming and longs to be a rock star. On the island, the candy-and-egg factory is run quite well by Carlos the Chicken (Hank Azaria). In fact, Carlos thinks that a rooster can BE the next Big Bunny, it shouldn't be a species thing. As the holiday approaches, EB bolts off the island, via a secret tunnel, to Hollywood. At that moment, Fred (James Marsden) is driving away quickly from his digs at his parents house. Mom (Elizabeth Perkins) and Dad (Gary Cole) have just held an "intervention" to explain that Fred must find another job and get his own place. SOON. Naturally, Fred's car bumps into EB but the bunny is okay. In fact, since Fred is going to house sit at a huge mansion in Beverly Hills, thanks to his well-connected sister, EB thinks it is the start of a beautiful friendship between slacker and rabbit. Although the bunny does stir up trouble, Fred manages to get him an audition with the Hoff (David Hasselhoff, as himself) and EB wins over the talent critic and scores a big gig. Meanwhile, Fred loses out on another job opportunity and tries to convince the rabbit that maybe HE, Freddie, could take over the Easter Bunny position. Back on Easter Island, Dad Rabbit is frantic to find his son while Carlos launches a stealth mission to take over the entire operation. How will things resolve? What a beautifully animated movie this is, colorful and so superb at combining computer generated images with live action. See it on the biggest screen you can find, even if it means seeking out the rich relatives' home theater and begging for access. Also, the cast is nice, although Marsden, despite being a charming performer, may be too old for the part of Fred, as other critics have notices. Azaria, Laurie and especially Brand add much to the film with their voices roles and the other actors are nice, too. The sets are likewise very beautiful, especially the elegant Beverly Hills Mansion where the two unlikely housesitters go. Therefore, its near-miss as a must-see belongs to the uneven script and the rather tame and slower direction. There are clever lines and situations to be found but, alas, there's also too much banality. Nevertheless, I do urge families to hop the hop and get a showing of Hop going. It is certainly will be quite a nice view for the crew.
