(Spoilers.) James Marsden is a likable actor, but even he is hard to root for in this piece of nonsense. Aside from one or two brief moments, nothing in it really works, and CERTAINLY not the ridiculous ending, where everyone simply accepts without question the fact that Fred is now the Easter Bunny and is going to fly away in a ship piloted by chicks. The jokes are tired attempts at cliches, the overall plot makes little to no sense, and none of the characters are interesting. I saw this for free at a kids' matinee and virtually none of the occasional laughs I heard came from children, indicating that this isn't even something children will like much. 0.5 stars.
Best Part: James Marsden's initial awkward response when the rabbit starts singing "I Want Candy" and he has to pretend it's him is kind of entertaining. However, that's lost the moment he starts enjoying the song.
Worst Part: That ending. That ending. What were they thinking? "I'm proud of you, son."
FlickChart: Landed at #1477, directly below the 1951 Disney version of Alice in Wonderland and above The Phantom Menace.
3 comments:
I haven't seen Hop but I have to say your continuum is already suspect to me; I absolutely adore Disney's Alice in Wonderland and have it currently ranked #52, between Goldfinger and The Sting...and all three need to be significantly higher now that I'm aware of their rankings.
I've never liked Disney's Alice in Wonderland. I've loved the book ever since I was little and one of the things I love about it is that even when Alice is in danger, there's never any *real* fear. The Disney version, on the other hand, terrified me as a child and has always seemed like a horrifying nightmare rather than a silly lighthearted dream.
Interesting. I, too, am a longtime fan of the source material by Lewis Carroll, but what I like about Disney's adaptation is that they amalgamated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with Through the Looking-Glass and gave the narrative a little more sense of direction than either of the rather leisurely original stories. I never had a sense of fear from it, though. Rather, I would say I perceived it as all quite psychedelic--even before I knew that term existed, I understood the concept and Disney's Alice in Wonderland remains its definition for me.
The hookah-smoking Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat...those trippy Butter-Flies...the iconic, absurd tea party...that movie is weird with a beard!
Without sharing your fearful reaction, though, I respect that has been your experience. The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz terrified the hell out of me as a child, and even now they make me uncomfortable. (Monkeys should be adorable, not evil!)
Though, while I'm off on this tangent I will say that I much prefer the 1939 MGM musical to L. Frank Baum's original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. His novel was actually darker and I found the musical far more magical and charming. So in that sense, I can certainly relate to your preference for the lighter incarnation.
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