In Los Angeles, Fred (JAMES MARSDEN) is a twenty-something slacker who has never found a job that interests him. He lives with his disappointed mother and father (ELIZABETH PERKINS and GARY COLE), who are hoping to push him out of the house and into adulthood. He has a snarky, younger sister named Alex (TIFFANY ESPENSEN) and a supportive, adult sister named Samantha (KELLY CUOCO) who tries to find him employment.

Fred saw the real Easter Bunny as a child. So, when he hits E.B. with his car, he naturally assumes that the talking hare is the fabled holiday rabbit and gives him a place to stay at the Beverly Hills mansion he is house-sitting. Together, they must dodge the Pink Berets, a team of elite ninja rabbits the Easter Bunny dispatches to bring E.B. back. Unbeknownst to all of them, Carlos the chick (voice of HANK AZARIA) -- who runs the Easter Bunny's factory back on Easter Island -- is plotting to take E.B.'s place...by any means necessary.

"Hop" wants to be the Easter equivalent of "The Santa Clause" movies, "Fred Claus," "Santa Buddies," "Elf," and countless other flicks in which everyone's favorite yuletide holiday is in jeopardy only to be saved at the very last minute by Santa or one of his helpers or that old standby...the Christmas miracle. But discount the real meaning of Easter - the movie certainly does - and it's just not as tense to watch the Easter Bunny make moves to ensure all of the kids who believe in him get their Easter eggs and chocolate candy come the morning of the Resurrection as it is watching Santa and the elves scramble to deliver presents on time. If little Billy doesn't get his Nintendo Wii or if little Suzie doesn't get her umpteenth collector's edition Barbie, that's some real tragedy! If the little darlings don't get their Hershey's? Meh, they'll live.

"Hop" starts out promisingly on Easter Island where we are told that a long line of Easter Bunnies has operated a secret, underground factory that has crafted Easter baskets for generations of the world's kids. We meet the Easter Bunny himself (voice of Hugh Laurie) and his only son, E.B. (voice of Russell Brand), who is the next in line to be christened with the scepter-like Egg of Destiny. One problem. E.B. doesn't want the responsibility. He wants to be the drummer in a rock band, and he runs away to Hollywood to make that dream a reality. And since this Easter Bunny didn't multiply like...well, like a bunny, Easter forever after is in jeopardy.

In Los Angeles, meanwhile, we meet E.B.'s human equivalent, Fred O'Hare (James Marsden), a twenty-something slacker who still lives with his parents (Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins) and has never held a full-time job for very long. Fred is unmotivated. But his family has decided to stage an intervention and push him out of the nest. He lands, of course, in a movie-friendly Beverly Hills mansion that he agrees to house-sit while the owner is away. His sister (Kelly Cuoco), meanwhile, gets him a job interview at a video game company.

The main problem with "Hop" is an overwhelming lack of urgency. Almost nothing happens in this film for a good hour. We are told in the very first minute of the film that Fred will eventually become the new Easter Bunny (as a young boy, he actually spied E.B.'s father hiding eggs throughout his neighborhood). So scenes where Fred is preparing for his job interview and then botching it are a colossal waste of time.

At the same time, E.B.'s quest to become a celebrity drummer never makes sense. This is a world, remember, where the existence of walking, talking, intelligent rabbits shouldn't exist. So, if one were to emerge, no one would care if he was the next Buddy Rich or Alex Van Halen. They would care that he is a WALKING, TALKING, INTELLIGENT RABBIT!!!

The movie is very confused on this matter. At times, Fred and E.B. try to hide this fact. For instance, Fred and E.B. put on a fake ventriloquist act at his younger sister's school Easter play to rescue the failing production. At other times, the script just turns lazy and puts the two of them in a diner and an uncaring waitress serving the two lunch.

A villain emerges late in the film in the form of an Easter Island factory foreman, a devious yellow chick named Carlos (voice of Hank Azaria) who tries to take over the operation and name himself the Easter Bunny. But it's too little too late. They called the movie "Hop." It really should have been titled "Flop." I give it 3 out of 10 stars. (T. Durgin)