Hop Website and Movie Trailer
MPAA Rating: PG, for some mild rude humorGenre: Live-action and CG animation/comedy
Runtime: 90 minutes
Starring: James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco,Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Chelsea Handler and Hugh Laurie
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Tim Hill
Release Date: April 1, 2011
Hop - Official Synopsis
Blending state of the art animation with live action, Hop is a comedy about E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand), the teenage son of the Easter Bunny. On the eve of taking over the family business, E.B. leaves for Hollywood in pursuit of his dream of becoming a drummer. He encounters Fred (James Marsden), an out-of-work slacker with his own lofty goals, who accidentally hits E.B. with his car. Feigning injury, E.B. manipulates Fred into providing him shelter, and Fred finds himself with the world’s worst houseguest.
Hop - Fun Facts from Our Round Table Interviews
Along with a group of fellow parent bloggers, I got to sit down with James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, director Tim Hill and producer Chris Meledandri to talk about the movie. Here are some of the fun things we learned through the interviews and production notes:- We've all seen the jelly bean scene in the trailer, you know, the one where E.B. poops jelly beans? Later in the movie, Sam (Kaley Cuoco) innocently eats one of them and declares it to be watermelon flavored. Kaley told us that she had to do the scene numerous times saying a different flavor each time to see which one sounded the best.
- Where did the idea for the movie come from? Producer Chris Meledandri says, "The original notion was to reveal a side of our Easter mythology that nobody’s ever seen before."
- To animate E.B. drumming, footage of an actual drummer doing the set was sent to the animation studio.
- Russell Brand performed all his lines in a recording booth, while Kaley and James had to act with a stuffed bunny, a bean bag, or green tape in the scenes with E.B.
- The Blind Boys of Alabama make a cameo appearance in the movie. They began singing together in 1939.
- Hank Azaria voices both of the two lead chicks in the movie: Carlos and Phil.
- Rhythm & Hues animated approximately 225 chicks to pull the Easter Bunny's egg-shaped sleigh.
