Hop (2011)

(On Cable TV, May 2013) One of the unsung tragedies of parenthood is the cold realisation that tales of teenage rebellion don’t quite seem as cool as they once were.  But, of course, this isn’t the main problem with Hop –a bad script is.  As the story is intent on uniting two teenage losers (a human slacker, and the runaway son of the Easter Rabbit) who seem determined to waste every advantage given to them, Hop forgets to give us a reason to care for them and focuses on various idiot-plotting pratfalls.  At least there is something worth watching in the film’s more fantasy-driven sequences: The film’s introduction answer questions nobody ever thought about asking about the mechanics of Easter Egg distribution, while Peter de Seve’s creature design is almost too cute for words.  Otherwise, there isn’t much to say about the film’s straightforward plotting, short duration or routine direction.  The CGI-bunny/live-action integration is well done, but the human actors are so bland (with James Marsden apparently taking up roles that Seann William Scott is now too old to play) that it’s enough to make us wish for more CGI.  Oh well; More special effects wouldn’t have softened the grating feeling left by Hop’s unpleasant characters.  If nothing else, there are pretty bunnies everywhere in this film –might as well focus on the positive.