{"id":4022,"date":"2012-03-17T00:35:04","date_gmt":"2012-03-17T07:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=4022"},"modified":"2021-05-28T16:23:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:23:16","slug":"review-hop-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/03\/review-hop-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Hop Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>If you don\u2019t have anything else on the shelf for your kids to watch, then Hop<\/em><\/strong> might be worth a rental. If you don\u2019t have kids, then skip it completely.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nHop (2011)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Genre(s): <\/strong>Comedy, Animation, Family
\nUniversal | PG \u2013 96 min. \u2013 $39.98 | March 23, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Tim Hill
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio (story), Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio and Brian Lynch (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>James Marsden, Russell Brand (voice), Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria (voice), Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Chelsea Handler, Hugh Laurie (voice)<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>April 1, 2011<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>U-Control, Featurettes, BD-Live, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1), French (DTS 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>39.3 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C (unconfirmed)<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When it comes to animated\/live-action family movies, I\u2019m normally forgiving taking into account the target audience. I\u2019ve watched a few which were made solely for kids under a certain age leaving parents to hope the torture won\u2019t last too long. The Smurfs<\/em> was tolerable while the Alvin and the Chipmunks<\/em> and its sequels were often excruciating to get through. So, where does Hop<\/em><\/strong> fit in with the others? Eh, while it\u2019s not god awful, this movie will test even the most patient adult.<\/p>\n

The story follows Easter-Bunny-in-Waiting E.B. (voiced by RUSSELL BRAND) and human Fred O\u2019Hare (JAMES MARSDEN), both of whom must deal with disappointed fathers. E.B.\u2019s father (HUGH LAURIE) has been grooming his son since a young age to take over the family business \u2013 despite the pursuit of chick Carlos (HANK AZARIA) who wants to be the Easter Bunny \u2013 E.B. doesn\u2019t have the passion to take over the business and instead has a love for drumming. Fred is lost in life turning down one job after another and living at home watching crime TV, much to the chagrin of father Henry (GARY COLE).<\/p>\n

Rather than take on the responsibilities of being the Easter Bunny, E.B. runs away to Hollywood in pursuit of his dreams. Meanwhile, Fred is kicked out of the house but receives a lifeline from his sister (KALEY CUOCO) who was set to housesit at her boss\u2019 mansion and take care of his dogs and offers her brother the job as a temporary place to stay. There is one condition: he must stay out of the second floor… so surely nothing will happen, right? RIGHT?!?!<\/p>\n

In a chance meeting, E.B., after being denied housing at the Playboy Mansion, is almost run over by Fred who learns, much to his shock (his alone as nobody else in the film is nearly as surprised), that E.B. is a rabbit who can talk. Faking injury, E.B. manages to talk his way into staying with Fred who relegates E.B. to the garage. Of course, I\u2019m sure the next morning Fred will wake up to find E.B. still inside, right? RIGHT?!?! Nope, Fred wakes up, finds the garage empty and the annoying critter on the second floor drumming on Rock Band and making a mess of things.<\/p>\n

Later in the movie, after some more rabbit shenanigans, Fred assists E.B. in achieving his dream of being a professional drummer by auditioning for David Hasselhoff (appearing as himself) and surprisingly not only does E.B. do real well, but Hasselhoff (and anyone else in the room) seem pretty cool about it being done by a talking rabbit… Sure, makes sense.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back on Easter Island, where the Easter Egg factory is located, the Easter Bunny is desperate to get his son back and sends out the Pink Berets (a Special Forces like unit) while Carlos schemes to take over the operation. The Berets are on the trail of E.B. and through some \u201chilarious\u201d miscommunication in which E.B. fakes his death leading the Berets to believe Fred had killed him. This leads to the big finale that is pretty mundane and obvious.<\/p>\n

Hop<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t a particularly bad movie and when I wasn\u2019t rolling my eyes at some of the weaker moments (as in nobody other than Fred being astounded by a talking rabbit), I did manage to chuckle a few times and, for as little screen time as she had, admire the beauty that is Kaley Cuoco outside her character from \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d.<\/p>\n

As far as the stars are concerned, I can\u2019t really have a quarrel with either James Marsden as he\u2019s serviceable in the primary human role or Russell Brand as the primary voice role. I will say, I\u2019ve never been much of a fan of Brand\u2019s so at least only seeing him for a split second (he makes a cameo near the end as a production assistant). The supporting players are OK as well, albeit largely wasted on a half-baked script with few laughs and average animation.<\/p>\n

Directed by Tim Hill, whose resume includes Alvin and the Chipmunks<\/em>, Muppets from Space<\/em> and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties<\/em>, and with a writing background in comedy (\u201cSpongeBob Square Pants), it seems Hill is the go-to guy when it comes to the live action-animation field. Unfortunately the scripts he\u2019s handed tend to be utter crap and although I hardly think Hop<\/em><\/strong> is at the bottom of the barrel with Alvin 2<\/em>, it\u2019s still far off from many other animated films. It\u2019s not very smart in its storytelling, the voicing acting itself isn\u2019t anything special, the plotline isn\u2019t fit for feature length and worse yet, the jokes, while cute, aren\u2019t that funny.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Blu-ray comes housed in a standard Blu-ray case and an embossed slip cover. It might look like a lot of features, but the featurettes only total 28 minutes and they\u2019re all fluff.<\/p>\n

U-Control<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 In Universal\u2019s signature Blu-ray feature, you can watch the movie with \u201cHop<\/em><\/strong> Tweets\u201d (i.e. pop-up trivia) and \u201cGreen Beret Tracker\u201d (storyboard artwork). It\u2019s really nothing special and probably one of the weaker U-Control features I\u2019ve come across. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phil\u2019s Party Dance (3:14; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 The minor character Phil and Carlos shows off their dancing skills.<\/p>\n

The World of Hop<\/em> (TRT 9:07; HD)<\/span><\/strong> contains a six short and self-explanatory featurettes: A Look at the Candy Factory (1:34)<\/span>, A Look at E.B. (2:02)<\/span>, A Look at Fred (1:19)<\/span>, A Look at the Easter Bunny (1:10)<\/span>, A Look at Carlos and Phil (1:45)<\/span> and A Look at Sam (1:17)<\/span>. Each is short and offers nothing of value.<\/p>\n

All Access with Cody Simpson (2:28; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Singer Cody Simpson (who sung the \u201cI Want Candy\u201d cover) gives a behind-the-scenes look at doing the song. Maybe tweens know who he is and care about this featurette?<\/p>\n

Russell Brand: Being the Bunny (1:07; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 This strange and satirical \u201cfeaturette\u201d has Brand explaining how he prepared for playing a bunny.<\/p>\n

Russell Brand\u2019s Kid Crack Ups (2:57; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 In this mock game show, to promote the movie, finds Brand talking to kids, asking them questions and making jokes in between.<\/p>\n

Carlos on Carlos: The Premiere According to Carlos (3:30; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 The overconfident chick brings his own camera to the Hop<\/em><\/strong> premiere and interviews the actors.<\/p>\n

Emotion in Motion: The Dance of Ken Daurio (2:34; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 This is a mock featurette finds Daurio talk about doing chorography for the Phil animated character. Yeah, it\u2019s not that funny.<\/p>\n

Post Coup Commentary: Carlos & Phil Tell All (2:59; HD)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Hank Azaria, voicing both characters, does a commentary over a few shots. It\u2019s another mock featurette and only *might* be entertaining for kids.<\/p>\n

Games<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 In this submenu, you can play three of games: Drum Along<\/span>, Pink Beret Skill Tester<\/span> and E.B.\u2019s Candu Challenge<\/span>.<\/p>\n

This release also comes with a BD-Live<\/span><\/strong> portal, a DVD Copy<\/span><\/strong> and a Digital Copy<\/span><\/strong> where you get a choice of downloading it onto your computer or utilizing UltraViolet.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Universal presents Hop<\/em><\/strong> in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and although I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an amazing looking transfer, it\u2019s still quite good. The detail level throughout is nice, albeit it looks a tad better when we\u2019re in the real world versus the animated one, though the color array does benefit in those scenes. The transfer itself has a fine layer of natural noise and movie grain only lending itself to the feel of film.
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AUDIO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The disc has a nice sounding 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which is amplified whenever we get into a musical score or some hip, current songs. The dialogue levels are also well done primarily coming from the center channel while the other speakers are used for ambient noises.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, if you don\u2019t have anything else on the shelf for your kids to watch, then Hop<\/em><\/strong> might be worth a rental. If you don\u2019t have kids, then skip it completely. The Blu-ray doesn\u2019t amount to much either with light\/fluffy features though the video and audio transfers are good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>03\/17\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t have anything else on the shelf for your kids to watch, then Hop might be worth a rental. If you don\u2019t have kids, then skip it completely.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1434,793,1432,1093,232,1433,385],"class_list":["post-4022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-gary-cole","tag-hank-azaria","tag-hop","tag-hugh-laurie","tag-james-marsden","tag-kaley-cuico","tag-russell-brand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4022"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26111,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4022\/revisions\/26111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}