Hop (1981 film)

Hop is a 1981 Japanese animated fantasy comedy film produced by Tezuka Productions and released in Japan by Toho and in United States by Universal Pictures, based on the Osamu Tezuka manga of the same name. Directed and Produced by Osamu Tezuka. The film was released on April 1, 1981, in Japan, and on April 7, 1981, in US. Hop stars Hisashi Katsuta as E.B., the Easter Bunny's son who'd rather drum in a band than succeed his father as the Easter Bunny; Tamio Oki as Fred O'Hare, a human who is out of work and wishes to become the next Easter Bunny himself; and Kazuo Kumakura as Carlos, an evil chick who plots to take over the Easter organization. It was released on VHS on March 23, 1982.

Plot
On Easter Island, an optimistic, young, talking rabbit named E.B. is intended to succeed his father as the Easter Bunny. Intimidated by the calling's demands and ignoring his father's orders, E.B. runs away to Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a drummer. His father sends his royal guards, the Pink Berets, to search for him and bring him back. Meanwhile, E.B.'s father's second-in-command Carlos the Chick plots a coup d'état against him to take over Easter.

At Van Nuys, E.B. is hit by Frederick "Fred" O'Hare, an out-of-work, job-hopping slacker who was driving to his sister Sam's boss's house to house-sit, while his parents forced him to move out. Feigning injury, E.B. persuades Fred to take him in as he recovers, but when E.B. causes trouble, Fred attempts to release him in the wilderness. E.B. persuades to help him by claiming to be the Easter Bunny, whom Fred as a child had witnessed delivering eggs.

E.B. sees the Berets closing in on him and hides inside a business where Fred is having a job interview. E.B. enjoys a successful recording session with The Blind Boys of Alabama as their substitute drummer, but ruins Fred's job interview. In the process, E.B. gets a tip about a possible audition for Astro Boy, who invites him to perform on his show.

Afterwards, Fred attends his adoptive younger sister Alex's school Easter pageant with E.B. hiding in a satchel. E.B., alarmed that the Pink Berets have apparently found him due to the three bunny suit shadows on a wall and disgusted by Alex's awful rendition of "Peter Cottontail", dashes out and disrupts the show, forcing Fred to feign a ventriloquist's act with E.B.'s cooperation as his dummy and leading the show in singing, "I Want Candy". Both Fred's father Henry and Alex are angry about the upstaging, but Fred is inspired to be the Easter Bunny himself. Although skeptical, E.B. agrees to train him and finds that Fred has some genuine talent for it. Meanwhile, Carlos inspires the chicks to up-rise the bunnies and begins training to become the Easter Bunny (or, Easter Chick), but seems to lack the qualities an Easter Bunny needs.

As the Pink Berets close in on him, E.B. prepares a decoy to fake his death and leaves for Astro Boy's show. The Berets see the decoy and, horrified that Fred has apparently killed E.B., capture him and take him to Easter Island. Fred is confronted by E.B.'s father and Carlos, however Carlos pretends to be upset about E.B.'s death, silences Fred when he tries to tell the truth, and seizes control of the Easter factory, tying up E.B.'s father and placing him and Fred to be boiled alive. Meanwhile, E.B. starts to feel guilty for acting selfish and leaving Fred, and is convinced by Astro Boy on his show to go back and help his friend.

E.B. finds evidence of Fred's capture and races back to the factory. He confronts Carlos, but is immobilized in gummy candy and tossed into the chocolate bunny carving line. E.B. survives by dodging the blades of the machine, while Fred eats through the black-licorice ropes, escaping with E.B’s father, who couldn’t eat through due to the poor taste of the candy.

Carlos, now a chick-bunny combination due to the magic of The Egg of Destiny, battles with E.B. and defeats him easily due to his size. Carlos then tries to lead the Egg Sleigh out with his sidekick Phil directing, but E.B. improvises a drum session that drives Phil to uncontrollably dance to the beat and provides the wrong signals, causing the sleigh to crash and subdue Carlos. E.B. apologizes to his father for his selfishness, and he and Fred are crowned co-Easter Bunnies, while Carlos is forced to pull the Egg Sleigh.

In a post credits scene, Fred is seen successfully delivering an Easter basket to exactly the same Chinese lady who had an unpleasant interaction with E.B.'s father in a previous scene. When E.B. asks what the lady said, Fred explains to E.B. in perfect Chinese, that the reason why it is difficult to deliver Easter baskets in China is because of talking rabbits being intimidating to Chinese citizens. E.B. is surprised that Fred can speak Chinese.

Japanese version

 * Tamio Oki as Frederick "Fred" O'Hare, Henry O'Hare, An "Astro Knows Talent" production assistant, and Cody
 * Mari Shimizu as Young Fred, Samantha "Sam" O'Hare, Bonnie O'Hare, Astro Boy, Mrs. Beck, Alexandra "Alex" O'Hare, and Young E.B.
 * Hisashi Katsuta as E.B. and Phil
 * Kazuo Kumakura as Carlos and Mr. Bunny

English version

 * Del Lewis as Fred, Henry, the production assistant, and Cody
 * Brian Perry as E.B. and Phil
 * Patrica Kugler Whitely as Young Fred, Sam, Bonnie, Astro Boy, Mrs. Beck, Alex, and Young E.B.
 * Bob Gonzalez as Carlos and Mr. Bunny

Production
E.B. was designed by Osamu Tezuka. The animation of the film was made by Tezuka Productions.

Marketing
Universal teamed up with 92 major companies to promote Hop, including Holiday Inn, Krispy Kreme, Lindt, Kraft Foods, The Hershey Company, Comcast, Kodak, Hallmark, and Burger King.

Home media
Tezuka Home Video released Hop on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 23, 1982, in United States, and on VHS back on August 29, 1982, in the Japan.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Hop received an approval rating of 81% based on 193 critics, with an average rating of 8.95/10. The critical consensus reads: "It's impressively animated, but Hop 's script is so inspired that even Del Lewis' frantic mugging can never give it any bounce." It is the highest-rated Tezuka film on the site to date as of 2019. Metacritic gave the film a 61/100 based on reviews from 72 critics, indicating "positive reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A+ on scale of A to F.

The subplot involving Carlos the Easter Chick was considered to be sensitive to Mexican Americans by one reviewer. Peter Debruge of Variety called it "hilariously P-Chick".

Video games
A video game adaptation based on the film was released exclusively for Famicom and Nintendo and published by Jaleco.

Original score soundtrack
The film's official thirty five track original score soundtrack was released in stores on April 5,1981. However, on iTunes it was released a month earlier in March.

Live-Action/2D animated remake
Universal and Illumination announced the live-action/animated remake of Hop in 2010, and it come out in April 1, 2011 and received mixed-to-negative reviews.

Trivia
TBA