Hop (film)
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 This is why Illumination hopped away from live-action.
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Hop is a 2011 live-action, animated, fantasy, comedy film directed by Tim Hill from a story by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio and a screenplay by Paul, Daurio and Brian Lynch, produced by Illumination Entertainment in association with Relativity Media and distributed by Universal Pictures, the film was released in April 1, 2011.
Plot
On Easter Island, a young rabbit named E.B. is intended to succeed his father as the Easter Bunny. Intimidated by the calling's demands and ignoring his father's orders, E.B. runs away to Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a drummer. In Van Nuys, E.B. is hit by Fred O'Hare, an out-of-work, job-hopping slacker who was driving to his sister Sam's boss's house to house-sit after his parents forced him to move out. Feigning injury, E.B. persuades Fred to take him in as he recovers, but when E.B. causes trouble, Fred attempts to release him in the wilderness. However, E.B. persuades Fred to let him stay, claiming to be the Easter Bunny, whom Fred had witnessed delivering eggs as a child and became infatuated with Easter ever since.
Meanwhile, E.B.'s father sends his royal guards, the Pink Berets, to search for him and bring him back. In Hollywood, E.B. sees the Berets closing in on him and hides inside a business where Fred is having a job interview. E.B. enjoys a successful recording session with The Blind Boys of Alabama as their substitute drummer, but ruins Fred's job interview. In the process, E.B. gets a tip about a possible audition for David Hasselhoff, and after performing for him, he invites him to perform on his show.
Afterwards, Fred attends his adoptive younger sister Alex's school Easter pageant with E.B. hiding in a satchel. E.B., believing that the Pink Berets have found him due to the three bunny suit shadows on a wall and disgusted by Alex's awful rendition of "Peter Cottontail", dashes out and disrupts the show, forcing Fred to fake being a ventriloquist's act with E.B. as his dummy, and the two upstage the show singing, "I Want Candy". Both Fred's father Henry and Alex are angry about the upstaging, but Fred is inspired to be the Easter Bunny himself. Although skeptical, E.B. agrees to train him and finds that Fred has some genuine talent for it.
Meanwhile, the Easter Bunny's second-in-command Carlos the Chick plots a coup d'état against him to take over Easter. Carlos inspires the chicks to uprise the bunnies and begins training to become the "Easter Chick". The next morning, as E.B. is about to go to Hasselhoff's show, he notices the Pink Berets and prepares a decoy to fake his death, leaving Fred behind. The Berets see the decoy and, horrified that Fred has apparently killed E.B., capture him and take him to Easter Island. Fred is confronted by E.B.'s father and Carlos, who seizes control of the Easter factory, tying up E.B.'s father and placing him and Fred to be boiled alive. Meanwhile, E.B. starts to feel guilty for leaving Fred, and is convinced by Hasselhoff on his show to go back and help his friend.
E.B. races back to the factory, confronting Carlos, but is immobilized in gummy candy and tossed into the chocolate bunny carving line. E.B. survives by dodging the blades of the machine, while Fred eats through the black-licorice ropes, escaping with E.B’s father. Carlos turns into a chick-bunny hybrid due to the magic of The Egg of Destiny, and battles with E.B., defeating him easily due to his size. Carlos then tries to lead the Egg Sleigh out with his sidekick Phil directing, but E.B. improvises a drum session that drives Phil to uncontrollably dance to the beat and provide the wrong signals, causing the sleigh to crash and subdue Carlos. E.B. and his father reconcile, and he and Fred are crowned co-Easter bunnies, while Carlos is forced to pull the Egg Sleigh.
Why It Should Hop Away (Bad Qualities)
- While it's an interesting idea to make an Easter-themed movie, it's poorly executed due to how there's barely any Easter in this film.
- Poor voice acting, mainly from Russell Brand's performance as the titular character, E.B, which is a waste of talent since Russell Brand is an usually actual good voice actor.
- Unlikable and bland characters:
- The main protagonist of the film, E.B., is a generic "main character does not want to be like his father and wants to follow his own dreams" protagonist that has been used so many times previously.
- E.B.'s Father is a generic "I want my son to be like me"-type father character that has also been done in previous better media, and also comes across as very harsh on E.B., yes he's concerned about Easter, but for him to act cruel to E.B. and making him throw away his drums can come across as very cruel.
- In addition to that, E.B.'s Father is also shown to be a hypocrite, as at one point in the film, Carlos, E.B.'s Right-Hand Man states that he could be the Easter Bunny, yet E.B.'s Father just laughs it off saying that it wouldn't work, yet after the "Climax" of the film when Fred-O-Hare ask if he could be the Easter Bunny, E.B.'s Father actually accepts that idea.
- Fred O'Hare is a basic out-of-work, job-hopping slacker, as well as being treated like a butt-monkey.
- Mr. and Mrs. O'Hare's are the genetic parents, and they even act like mean-spirited jerks to Fred, such as kicking poor Fred out of the house.
- Alex(Fred's younger adopted sister) is a stereotypical Little Girl, and is also a mean-spirited jerk to Fred.
- Samantha "Sam" O'Hare despite being the most likable of Fred's family is a generic woman that has been done in previous better media, she also barely impacts the film.
- This film can be summed up in three words, Incredible. Slow. Pacing. As Hop is incredibly boring with not much happening, most of which is consistent with E.B. and Fred O'Hare going from point A to point B, and taking non-relationship stuff.
- Plot elements that are a complete rip-off of the 2007 Alvin and the Chipmunks film(and ironically was previously created by the same director), heck even E.B. uses instruments like Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.
- So much wasted potential:
- As stated in the #1 segment, an Easter-Theme Movie was not only misleading and confusing, yet it is also a huge waste of potential. During the first couple of minutes of the film (including the ending), the plot does focus on E.B. being shown by his father about Easter and showing how Easter Candy is made, the mere moment that E.B. decides to run away from Easter Island which forces E.B.'s father to have the Pink Berets to go after E.B. and later on Fred O'Hare, it gives it the potential of being an Easter-theme film with numerous and tones of hilarious slapstick that's theme on Easter, and chase scenes from the Pink Berets to match as E.B. also face numerous obstacles antagonizing them, while still keeping Fred O'Hare as the secondary character who meets E.B. early-on mid-way in the film and Carlos as the main villain, which the film itself could have easily been about. Not only that but what's also worse is the fact that Easter Island is barely shown.
- The idea of Fred O'Hare being the new "Easter Bunny" was an interesting and fun idea, and could have also made for some hilarious slapsticks, the problem is that it comes way too late in the film.
- Really confusing who the main protagonist is, while E.B. is the main focus, most of the time the film centers around Fred.
- This film has a lot of elements that include racism, such as E.B.'s father not allowing Carlos to take over Easter Island all because he's a chick.
- Most of the characters have missed opportunities that are under-utilized:
- Though out the film Fred's family appears, there could have been a scene were Fred's family could have interacted with E.B. and even have a scene were Carlos also kidnaps them along with Fred before the climax of the film, but besides treating Fred like a door mate(minus Samantha "Sam" O'Hare) and appreciating him for being the Easter Bunny in the ending, they barely do anything in the film
- The Pink Berets are among one the most under-utilized characters in the film, the idea of three female guard bunnies was a very cute and fantastic idea as there could have been some action scenes where the Pink Berets fought as they look for E.B., yet they barely do any fighting, and even worst, is that after they get turn into chocolate by Carlos when they were about to attack the latter during the climax, they're completely forgotten about and are never to be seen or even mention again. What makes this sensory also odd is that aside from a few grunts and peeps, they don't talk at any point in this film (despite all three of them being voiced by Janet Healy), if Illumination Entertainment and Relativity Media were able to get a popular singer like Russell Brand to voice E.B., why couldn't they got two more voice actress to voice the Pink Berets and have them talk too?
- Additionally, one of the Pink Berets is very small and looks to be around the same age as E.B. and pervades comic-relieve elements with them, there could have been a scene where E.B. and the small Pink Beret bunny met and could have fallen in love, yet that also never gets utilized.
- Phil is INCREDIBLE under-utilized, as he could have served as the main comic-relive of the film when along with Carlos (like Hunch from Rock-A-Doodle), yet he barely gets any screen time.
- Carlos is way too obvious that he's gonna be the main villain of the film, heck, even the trailers reviled that he's gonna be the main villain.
- On that topic, Carlos is a terrible antagonist. He literally has no reason to be a villain, his goals aren't malicious, selfish and/or greedy, he just wants to be the head of Easter Island due to the fact that Carlos has been E.B.'s Father's Right Hand Man for years, as well as the fact that E.B. did turn down the offer to become the Easter Bunny. Rather than politely asking E.B.'s Father to let him be the head of Easter Island, Carlos instead tries to take over Easter Island by locking up the Rabbit workers, having his chick minions ambush E.B.'s Father and Fred, and later on try to kill E.B..
- The world in this film is rather inconsistent, some people (E.G the Waitress and Hasselhoff) don't seem to care about E.B. being a rabbit that can talk, yet most people are.
- In a similar case to Chicken Little, some of the characters are too similar to other characters from other media. For example Fred O'Hare's parents and adoptive sister are way to similar to the Parents and older brother character from the Ghost Story film series, both are cruel parents that treat one of their kids like garbage while treating their other kid with respect all the while being incredible runabouts of what that family member did.
- This film has many unexplained plot holes:
- E.B.'s father states that E.B. has to be the Easter Bunny being that Easter is very impotent, given the fact that Easter only comes once a year, why can't E.B. be a drummer and then be the Easter Bunny whenever Easter comes?
- To add salt to the wound, E.B. later acknowledges this after the climax, so why couldn't he have done that?
- Why doesn't E.B. just TELL Fred that he's the Easter Bunny or even say anything that he came from Easter Island?
- Easter Island is shown to have a magical portal that can take anyone anywhere they want with a push of a button, so why do they have a sleigh?
- Why couldn't Carlos just tell E.B.'s father to let him be the head Easter Island?
- How does the Blind Boys Of Alabama know that E.B. is a rabbit?
- Biggest plot-hole: E.B.'s father also states that a bunny also has to be the Easter Bunny, which hints as to why he turns down Carlos on being an Easter Bunny, so this begs a bigger question, why couldn't E.B.'s Father just ask one of the hundreds a-pong thousands of OTHER Easter Bunnies Workers that are on Easter Island to be the Easter Bunny?
- Why does no one at a café realize E.B. is a talking bunny?
- After Carlos obtains The Egg of Destiny, E.B.'s Father states that "it's too dangerous in the hands of a chick", and that "it's power can only be wielded by a bunny", which could also explain as to why E.B.s Father turn down Carlos offer to be an Easter Bunny, so why didn't he say anything like that in the first place?
- E.B.'s father states that E.B. has to be the Easter Bunny being that Easter is very impotent, given the fact that Easter only comes once a year, why can't E.B. be a drummer and then be the Easter Bunny whenever Easter comes?
- Many mean-spirited moments, such as Fred being mistreated and treated like a Butt-Monkey by his family for no reason what-so-ever.
- This whole film in general not only treats Fred like a door mat on a few occasions, but also has the nerve to have Fred get mistreated for something that's not entirety his fault, one such example is scene after Alex's play were Fred gets some respect from the audiences and one of Alex's classmates kindly give Fred the Flowers, not only does Alex cruelly kick Fred in the knee calling him a jerk and snatch the flowers that were given to him by one of Alex's classmates, but later on Henry(Fred's father) berates him for "ruining" Alex's play as well. Yes, Fred(and to a larger extent E.B.) did upstage Alex's show(in which the latter did say that she was really excited to do as this is the first time that they got a female to portray a rabbit), and does deserve to be punished and berated for that. However, he had no control over E.B. or the stage later on and yet he blames him for that too.
- Carlos' plan to upstage Easter is not only generic, but what he's gonna do afterwards is also flawed, Carlos wants to give the children chick food such as seeds and worms as a pose to candy, which even for villain-standers, is an odd and ridiculous plan....why would kids wanna eat Seeds and Worms???
- A plethora of mean-spirited and downright hurtful lines, such as the scene were Alex said: Sometimes I think you adopted me because Fred was such a disappointment.
- Somewhat forced and out-of-nowhere lines, such as during the climax were E.B.'s father randomly says "Oh my bad!" as he gets ambushed by Carlos' chicks.
- The intro of the film outright SPOILERS the ending.
- Despite Hop being labeled as a kid's film, there are many times though out the film where it can get a bit dark and even too disturbing. An example would be the climax and Carlos' transformation sequence into a bunny.
- Misleading Title:
- Despite showing the Easter Island, it barely appears in this film.
- The Pink Berets are shown in the Poster, but(as stated in the #2 of the #9 Segment) they barely appear in this film and are mostly background characters.
- Immature humor, most of which goes to the toilet and public jokes, specie mentions going to E.B. literally pooping out jellybeans, to a rather odd scene where E.B. sniffs Sam's hair after the latter picks him up.
- Although it is somewhat an amusing and funny scene, there is a scene involving a Chinese stereotype where E.B's father is being chased away by a Chinese woman during his failed attempt at delivering Easter candy in China.
- Odd use of pop-culture references, such as E.B. mentioning Harry Potter, a type of media that has absolutely nothing to do with Easter.
- Alex, Mr. and Mrs. O'Hare never gets any comprehances of some-kind for how they treated Fred, and despite them being nicer to Fred after finding out that he's the new Easter Bunny, they never apologize for how they acted to him previously
- Similar to The Smurfs, Woody Woodpecker & the 2020 Sonic The Hedgehog film, It follows many of the big clichés of hybrid films: An animated character ends up in a big city and finds a random guy to live with and silly antics ensue.
- Ironically enough, James Marsden, who plays Tom Wachowski (one of the main characters of Sonic the Hedgehog), starred in this film as Fred O'Hare. Both movies have an animated anthropologic character meeting a live-action human.
- Also ironically enough, Hank Azaria, who portrays Gargamel (the main antagonist of The Smurfs and its sequel) also starred in this film as the voice of Carlos. Which is another movie that has a cast of animated anthropologic characters meeting live-action humans.
- The climax is extremely rushed and anti-climatic, E.B. defeats the Carlos bunny hybrid by.....using a random drum to make Carlos' partner Phil dance so much that he makes Carlos' sled crash, forcing him to drop the scepter... This has got to be the most i-logic and dumbest climax to have ever happened in a family film.....
- Should we remind you guys that this film came out the exact same year that Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, Marvel's Avengers Thor and etc. also came out? All three (and even films made before and after Hop was made) of which HAD actual climaxes?
- The ending also feels somewhat rushed, as we don't even know what happens to Hasselhoff after E.B. quits his band, what's gonna happen to E.B.'s Father after E.B. accepts on being the Easter Bunny or even the outcome of how Fred's gonna be as the Easter Bunny, heck as stated in the #9 segment, we don't even see the Pink Berets after their last scene of them getting turned into chocolate by Carlos!
Good Qualities
- The soundtrack is great.
- There are a few funny moments and a few funny lines here and there, such as the part were E.B. before being hit by Fred's car saying in a witty manner "Oh I see. Car Accident, thank you!".
- The scene in which E.B. trains Fred is well thought-out and written.
- The scene where they all sing "I Want Candy" is nothing short of awesome, despite the very cruel scene after it.
- While James Marsden's character as Fred'O Hare is unlikable, he gives off a reasonably realistic and relatable performance that is pretty great, though it is not that great.
- David Hasselhoff has a very entertaining, show-stealing cameo as himself, and at one point they even reference Knight Rider when he says that his best friend's a "talking car".
- While Carlos is a terrible antagonist, he can be a entertaining character, thanks to Hank Azaria's great performance.
- Decent animation thanks to Illumination.
- Cute character designs, especially the bunnies.
Reception
Box office
Hop earned $108.5 million in the United States and Canada and $75.9 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $184.4 million. To date, it is the lowest-grossing film released by Illumination.
The film was released on April 1, 2011. Hop earned $11.5 million on its first day. The film debuted earning $38 million from 3,579 theaters. Its second-weekend earnings dropped by 42 percent to $21.7 million and followed by another $11.1 million the third weekend. Hop completed its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on August 19, 2011.
Critical response
Hop generally received mixed to slightly negative reviews from critics, audiences, and Illumination fans alike, for its tone, voice acting, characters, plot, and some wasted use of live-action, though some praise was given to James Marsden's performance and animation, and it is considered to be one of the weakest holiday movies and is also one of the worst Illumination films of all time. It’s reception was so weak, it convinced Illumination to stop making live-action stuff after this film.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Hop has an approval rating of 24% based on 139 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10, making it the lowest-rated film produced by Illumination to date. Its critical consensus reads, "It's impressively animated, but Hop's script is so uninspired that not even James Marsden's frantic mugging can give it any bounce." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
The subplot involving Carlos the Easter Chick was considered to be insensitive to Mexican Americans by one reviewer. Peter Debruge of Variety called it "hilariously un-PC".
Accolades and awards
Andrew Arnett won an award for Character Animation in a Live Action Production for work on this film at the 2012 Kids Choice Awards.
Videos
External Links
Hop at the Internet Movie Database
Hop on Metacritic
Hop on Rotten Tomatoes
Trivia
- As of now, Hop remains the first and (so far) only film in Illumination Entertainment to be a Live-Action/Animated Hybrid as appose to being Computer-Animation.
- Hop is also the first film in Illumination Entertainment to not receive any kind of follow-up, sequel and/or prequel (excluding the three Dr. Seuss films).