Easter bunny arrives early in ‘Hop’ re-release

Above : The Easter-themed film “Hop” will open at AMC River Park Square on Friday. (Photo/Universal Pictures)

Just in time for Easter, AMC River Park Square is bringing back the 2011 film “Hop” on Friday. Talk about an actual Easter egg.

Directed by Tim Hill from a team-written script, “Hop” is a blend of animated and live-action that features the voices of Russell Brand , Hank Azaria and Hugh Laurie, while live-action stars include James Marsden, Kaley Cuoco, Elizabeth Perkins and – believe it or not – David Hasselhoff.

Here’s a bare-basic plot rundown from IMDB.com: “E.B., the Easter Bunny’s teenage son, heads to Hollywood, determined to become a drummer in a rock ‘n’ roll band. In LA, he’s taken in by Fred after the out-of-work slacker hits E.B. with his car.”

Brand plays E.B., while Marsden stars as the slacker Fred.

Word to the wise: The reviews that accompanied the film’s release were, uh, underwhelming.

Phillip French of The Guardian wrote, “It’s a combination of the worst movies about trouble in Santa Claus’s north pole toy factory and a version of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ lethally laced with sugar.”

Stephanie Zacharek of Movieline wrote, “ ‘Hop’ is spectacularly charmless — there’s no spring in its step. The last thing we need is an Easter movie that comes limping down the bunny trail.”

Meanwhile, Anna Smith of Empire Magazine had a kinder take. “The bunny-gets-injured, slacker-saves-Easter plotline doesn’t pack too much predictability,” she wrote, “but Brand does his best with the material and it’s cute enough for kids.”

Hey, even if “Hop” isn’t the best holiday movie ever made, going to it beats letting your kids pig out (so to speak) on chocolate bunnies.