Review of Hop (2011) by Jake M — 14 Apr 2017

Hop (2011) - is one of those rare movies that takes place around Easter. We've seen hundreds and dozens of movies set around Halloween and Christmas but never really Easter. Surprisingly, this movie had such a great concept and I loved the way they establish the Easter Bunny and how all the magical elements of Easter work.

I like how they have this "Willy Wonka" like candy factory that's run by rabbits and how it is surprisingly set on "Easter Island" of all places. Unfortunately at the same time, They push a lot of the creative elements aside to make way for a story that while not bad, is still very awkward and feels like they wasted a very big opportunity.

However, the story has it's moments of charm and I did think the 1st and the 3rd act of the movie are decently strong but there were a couple of things I never really understood. The movie combines animation and live action, but it feels like they meshed your typical animated movie with a typical live action movie and I felt confused as to which they were trying to focus on and I really wished we could have spent more time on "Easter Island" instead of the real world.

The surprise villain is also very confusing and it never felt like it had that much focus. On top of that, making the villain a surprise is already pointless because we already know he's evil why do they need to hide it? Even though the story feels like it's all over the place, I still do think the characters do a decent job of being likable particularly E.

B and Fred. I do sympathize with both characters and even though they have moments of awkwardness, I still think the actors give both characters charming performances. The rest of the characters are mainly there to support but they do a nice job in doing so even if some of them might not be as necessary as others.

I can tell that the actor playing Carlos is having a lot of fun in the movie and he does have moments of standing out, but I felt like he could have been done so much better as a villain. Like I said before, the creativity of the Easter factory is what I think stood out to me the most in this movie and the animation definitely shows that.

Everything about Easter island is so magical and very imaginative. The detail and scope really help make everything about the factory stand out and while it may be trying to hard to be magical like Christmas sometimes, I still give everyone credit for making the factory as unique as possible.

The cinematography doesn't really catch my eye and it's not as impressive as the animation, but it is still nice to look at. The music is not that intriguing and I felt like it could have used a better treatment.

However I do like the song "I want candy" and the opening music for the Easter factory is admittedly scored very well. While Hop is far from a classic, I still think it has it's moments of charm and enjoyment.

It's a guilty pleasure in my opinion, I know it has it's problems but I still like watching this movie around Easter. In fact, I hope one day they reboot this movie and make it fully animated because I think this movie has brought up some great ideas and I think they are to hard for me to ignore.

(B-).