Hop Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
E.B., the Easter Bunny's teenage son, heads to Hollywood, determined to become a drummer in a rock 'n' roll band. In Los Angeles, he is taken in by Fred after the out-of-work slacker hits E.B. with his car.
For more about Hop and the Hop Blu-ray release, see the Hop Blu-ray Review
"From the creators of Despicable Me comes an all-new comedy about candy, chicks and rock 'n' roll!" Let's take a quick look at that one. It is on the back of Hop's case, after all, just begging for someone to point out the obvious. While the critically crucified family film certainly hails from Illumination Entertainment, the delightfully eeeeevil masterminds behind Despicable Me, it's neither "all-new" nor a "comedy," at least not in the sense that it's funny, which it most definitely is not. (More on that in a bit.) Released in theaters almost a full year ago (a veritable eon in the world of theatrical-to-home-video release windows), Hop is finally bounding into stores, primed and packaged to, ahem... celebrate the upcoming Easter holiday. Realistically, though, the eleven month delay is as shrewd as it is transparent. The image of an Easter bunny and a pair of cute-n-cuddly yellow chicks would get lost in August or November. But in March or April? With Easter fast approaching? You don't have to be marketing whiz to know parents will see Hop sitting on the shelf at Target and say, "oh, what a cute cover! It'll be just perfect for Jamie's Easter basket!" As opposed to, "wait a minute. Isn't this the flick everyone hated last year? I'll just go with something from Dreamworks or Disney to stuff in Jamie's Christmas stocking." The reason behind Hop's year-long hiatus is simple: it isn't a good film, by any means. Critics got it right, audiences eventually copped to it (after forking over $108 million, that is), and Universal knows it. The only thing the flick has going for it are the words "Despicable" and "Me," and, once they realize what they've subjected themselves to, parents will hopefully think twice before succumbing to another cheap holiday ploy.
When Easter plays go wrong...
Meet E.B. (voiced by Russel Brand): talking bunny, talented drummer, and heir to the Easter Bunny throne. The thought of running the Easter empire, though, fills E.B. with dread, so much so that he takes a one-way ticket through a magical portal to Hollywood in the hopes of starting a new life. There he meets fellow underachiever Fred O'Hare (James Marsden), whose life took a turn for the wacky when he spotted the Easter Bunny as a child. Lazy, apathetic and decidedly dim-witted, Fred has few aspirations, other than to make his eternally disapproving father (Gary Cole) proud. Meanwhile, E.B.'s frantic father, the reigning Mr. Bunny (Hugh Laurie), begins a desperate search for his son with the help of an elite band of bunnies, the Pink Berets. Unfortunately, the search blinds Mr. Bunny to the coup d'etat being plotted by Carlos (Hank Azaria), the hard-beaked leader of his once-loyal Easter chicks (think Santa's elves, but fluffier and nuttier). Can E.B. save Easter? Will Fred make something of his life? Will their dads ever be proud of their sons? Are spoiler alerts really necessary when an outcome is this inevitable?
No, Hop isn't Happy Feet Two awful or Tooth Fairy 2 terrible. It's just awfully uninspired and terribly mediocre. (The fact that Easter movies are few and far between renders it a particularly soulless amalgamation of CG animation, cringe-inducing performances and missed opportunities.) No, it isn't a complete waste of time. Younger kids will get a kick out of its animation, slapstick silliness and bunny-on-the-lam hijinks, and eat up the little yellow chicks flapping, rapping and snapping on screen. (Wait a minute... little yellow minions. Something about that sounds really familiar. I just can'tquiteput myfingeron it.) And no, it won't ruin anyone's Easter weekend. (Sully, maybe, but not ruin.) While it reeks of direct-to-video storytelling, it has enough colorful CG treats and candy-coated antics to give kids a sizable sugar rush. But we've been down this but-my-kids-will-love-it rabbit hole before, dear moms and dads. Offering your children chocolate bunnies for dinner will only lead to tummy aches, cavities, cravings for sickeningly sweet confections loaded with high fructose corn syrup, and late-onset cinematic diabetes (the rate of which is increasing at an alarming rate).
Hop doesn't just pick-pocket Despicable Me. It loots everything from The Santa Clause to Madagascar, and rather shamelessly I might add. Aside from substituting bunnies for jolly St. Nick, candy for presents, and chicks for elves, it's essentially a Christmas movie with Easter trimmings, including a magic sleigh, a faraway factory (on Easter Island naturally), a special night of deliveries, a boy who gets a glimpse behind the holiday curtain, and more. It's intended to be a clever holiday mashup, but there's no surprises to be had. Well, there is one: the Easter Bunny's ability to "produce" piles of jelly beans to the delight of none. But that's the sort of surprise you don't want to find on Easter morning. For all its animated zaniness and genre-flipping trickery, the only real shock is that Hop is as dull and listless as it is. Jokes fall flat, the pacing falls even flatter, Marsden mugs and maws scenery to no avail, and Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch and Cinco Paul's script is a mess from start to finish. Only Brand, Laurie and Azaria deliver, and they're confined to a recording booth. The usually bawdy Brit isn't all that funny, mind you -- amusing, yes, hilarious, no -- but the blame rests squarely on the screenwriters' shoulders. Brand's improv and Laurie's regal charm are director Tim Hill's deadliest weapons... when he remembers to use them. More often than not, though, Hop limps when it should bounce, darts when it should stand its ground, and leaves Hollywood with the same Easter movie void that's been there all along.
Hop's 1080p/VC-1 transfer struggles with noise and other largely inherited issues, most of which hinder scenes in which CG elements have been combined with live-action photography. More often than not, the noise amounts to a mild but uneven grain field. But every now and then, it gets a bit thick and blocky, doing more harm than filmic good. Fortunately, it isn't a debilitating problem, just a slight, intermittent distraction. Colors are bright and bubbly (albeit a tad washed out in sunny Hollywood), black levels are reasonably well-resolved, and skintones are natural, without any serious saturation mishaps to point to other than a few faux-tan faces. Contrast is commendable too, as is fine detail in many of the film's closeups. Hair, fur and feathers are relatively refined (again, when the camera pulls in close), edges are sharp and free of pesky halos, and delicate decorations, jelly beans, sprinkles of sugar and specks of magic dust survive the film's grainy disposition. That said, depth and detail fluctuate on the whole, with soft scenes, flat shots and less-than-spectacular textures lurking around every corner. There are also a few instances of artifacting and banding; some attributable to the source, some attributable to minor compression inadequacies. To be clear, Hop doesn't look bad at all, but it isn't quite as exacting or exciting as it should be. I suspect most will give the transfer a 4.0. My eyebrow was raised one too many times, though.
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is better, although that doesn't mean it's the be-all, end-all of lively lossless mixes. Dialogue is clean, clear and intelligible throughout, and prioritization never drifts into troubling territory. Brand, Laurie and Azaria's voices occasionally struck me as detached from the rest of the soundscape, particularly when their animated characters were interacting with Marsden in the real world, but it's never too jarring. Elsewhere, the LFE channel earns its stripes, throwing its support behind every whirring candy machine, flying sleigh engine, pounding bass drum, and rock 'n' roll beat. Rear speaker activity and precision doesn't disappoint either, even if directional effects aren't always as convincing or whiplash-ingly aggressive as the hyperactive visuals sometimes suggest. It's the music that rules the soundfield, and the music that's responsible for the film's most stirring sonic fireworks. All in all, I doubt Hop's lossless track could do much more. Its original sound design could have used some additional fine-tuning, but Universal's efforts are sound.
U-Control Features: Two U-Control options are available, although neither one involves a behind-the-scenes PiP experience. "Hop Tweets" finds E.B. tweeting sporadic messages on-screen and "Pink Beret Tracker" notes the various locations featured in the film via a pop-up GPS-enabled cell phone. Both are inconsequential.
The World of Hop (HD, 9 minutes): Six mini-featurettes touch on the characters and locales featured in Hop. Segments include "The Candy Factory," "E.B.," "Fred," "The Easter Bunny," "Carlos and Phil" and "Sam." Alas, there's no "Play All" option to be found. (Fortunately, there's always a "Skip All" option.)
Phil's Dance Party (HD, 3 minutes): Whether or not this is the "All-New Mini-Movie" touted on the boxart isn't entirely clear. It isn't labeled as such anywhere. Ah well. Join Phil in "what critics are calling the single greatest dance party of all time." Carlos hijacks said party, of course, but if your kids love Hop's fluffy chicks, they'll enjoy this rapidfire short.
All Access with Cody Simpson (HD, 2 minutes): A two-minute making-of-the-song EPK hardly qualifies as an "All Access" featurette, but here it is, complete with Cody Simpson attending a screening of the film.
Russell Brand: Being the Bunny (HD, 1 minute): Russell Brand gets the animated paper-cutout treatment and talks about the cartoons, movies and childhood experiences that made him the perfect candidate to play E.B.
Russell Brand's Kid Crack Ups (HD, 3 minutes): Brand quizzes kids about the film.
Carlos on Carlos: The Premiere According to Carlos (HD, 4 minutes): Carlos reports from Hop's red carpet.
Emotion in Motion: The Dance of Ken Daurio (HD, 3 minutes): Phil's choreographer discusses his craft.
Post Coup Commentary: Carlos & Phil Tell All (HD, 3 minutes): "No dancing on the job! Is forbidden!" Carlos and Phil talk about their roles in the film, but really just run through the plot.
Games (HD): Three mildly but all-too-briefly entertaining games are thrown in for good measure: "Drum Along," "Pink Beret Skill Tester" and "E.B.'s Candy Challenge," none of which amount to much.
Hop is the hollow chocolate bunny in Illumination Entertainment's Easter basket. It looks tasty at first glance, but there's nothing beneath its sugary, milk-chocolaty shell. As uninspired as it is unfunny, it will leave kids giggling but leave parents groaning and wishing they had exercised better judgment. Universal's Blu-ray release is less underwhelming, but its somewhat hit-or-miss video transfer and superficial supplemental package prevent it from hopping as many hurdles as its DTS-HD Master Audio track. Don't be fooled by Hop's holiday trappings, it's the same mediocre family film critics shunned and audiences yawned through last year.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment will bring Hop to Blu-ray this March. This CGI/live action hybrid stars the voice of Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as E.B., the Easter-Bunny-in-waiting who shuns his destiny in order to become a rock-and-roll drummer. ...
