I feel bad rating this movie so low, because I suspect there was a lot of good intent. There was certainly good casting; the most amusing aspect of this movie is the sly cameo stunt-casting. Hugh Hefner does a voice cameo that's pretty funny, for instance.
And then there's Hugh Laurie as EB's dad. While it may seem at odds with his nearly-amoral Dr. House, once upon a time Laurie provided the voice for Peter Rabbit in the animated Beatrix Potter stories. He reprises this voice here. It almost qualifies as an in-joke; I was certainly amused by it, but it didn't really do anything to advance the story.
I also feel bad for the performers in general. They're good, and they're stuck in the most cynically-written movie I've seen in a long time. There's NOTHING original here. At all. James Marsden is likable enough, as is the near-ubiquitous Russell Brand's EB. The scenes are all pretty much lifted from old Disney movies and Christmas specials (even an incomprehensible nod to "Back to the Future"). We don't really learn a lot about the bunnies and their world, and we don't get anything but the sketchiest motivation for anyone. And while David Hasselhoff's cameo in the Spongebob movie was clever and self-deprecating, here it was just kind of sad.
Yes, I realize the response to this will be "aw, give them a break... it's cute..." The trouble is, there have been tons of genuinely GOOD family movies made in the past several years. Back in the bad old 80s this tired script might have been forgivable. Universal Pictures is making a lot of mileage out of "Hop" coming from Illumination Studios, the same people who did "Despicable Me", because THAT movie was genuinely GOOD. I'll grant that technically, "Hop" is pretty good. But all the technical brilliance in the world won't make up for a poor story.
In all fairness, I'll admit that my 7 year old enjoyed it. My 10 year old, though rates it at about a 3 on the 1-10 scale, so the bar's pretty low. Wait for video.
And then there's Hugh Laurie as EB's dad. While it may seem at odds with his nearly-amoral Dr. House, once upon a time Laurie provided the voice for Peter Rabbit in the animated Beatrix Potter stories. He reprises this voice here. It almost qualifies as an in-joke; I was certainly amused by it, but it didn't really do anything to advance the story.
I also feel bad for the performers in general. They're good, and they're stuck in the most cynically-written movie I've seen in a long time. There's NOTHING original here. At all. James Marsden is likable enough, as is the near-ubiquitous Russell Brand's EB. The scenes are all pretty much lifted from old Disney movies and Christmas specials (even an incomprehensible nod to "Back to the Future"). We don't really learn a lot about the bunnies and their world, and we don't get anything but the sketchiest motivation for anyone. And while David Hasselhoff's cameo in the Spongebob movie was clever and self-deprecating, here it was just kind of sad.
Yes, I realize the response to this will be "aw, give them a break... it's cute..." The trouble is, there have been tons of genuinely GOOD family movies made in the past several years. Back in the bad old 80s this tired script might have been forgivable. Universal Pictures is making a lot of mileage out of "Hop" coming from Illumination Studios, the same people who did "Despicable Me", because THAT movie was genuinely GOOD. I'll grant that technically, "Hop" is pretty good. But all the technical brilliance in the world won't make up for a poor story.
In all fairness, I'll admit that my 7 year old enjoyed it. My 10 year old, though rates it at about a 3 on the 1-10 scale, so the bar's pretty low. Wait for video.