Muppets for the 4th of July

Ok, a bit later than the 4th, but I figure we here at "Holiday Film Reviews" can stay in the spirit all week if we feel so inclined (and I assure you, we feel inclined).

We were traveling home from July 3rd fireworks (a new Richmond area tradition, that I rather hope continues - we watched from Oregon Hill rather than Brown's Island on the grounds that it would be less crowded, but still fun) and listening to one of our favorite programs (Can't Stop The Music) on one of our favorite local radio stations (WRIR 97.3) while an Impressive Thunderstorm crackled all around us. The program was devoted to quirky, somewhat off the beaten track music in honor of the 4th of July for the evening and they played this:



It's a 2008 clip of the Muppets' take on Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" march and it was brilliant, so I am sharing it with you, dear readers, now.

More 4th of July fun coming later this week!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Premiered April 4, 1971
"Don't be so depressed, Peter. When you are depressed, it's gets to be very...depressing!."
-Seymour S. Sassafras
Narrator Seymour Sassafras (voiced by Danny Kaye), a peddler of "magic and moonbeams" begins by telling us of April Valley, home of all current and past Easter Bunnies. Chief Easter Bunny Col. Wellington B Bunny (also voiced by Kaye) is retiring and has designated Peter Cottontail (Casey Kasem) to be his successor.  His advisors don't think Peter is a good choice, but Wellington says Peter reminds him of his younger self.

Peter has one glaring flaw: he tells fibs. Whenever he tells fibs, his left ear droops. Another bunny named January Q. Irontail (Vincent Price) objects to Peter's appointment and wants to "rule" April Valley as Easter Bunny. Irontail hates children, because a child skated over his tail, he now wears a tail made of iron.  He hates Easter and all its trappings.  When he takes control of April Valley, Irontail plans to cancel Easter forever.  Wellington holds a ceremony where he declares Peter the new Chief, and presents him with the official basket of the Easter Bunny.

Irontail shows up and tells them the constitution of April Valley states the chief bunny will be the one who delivers the most eggs.  He challenges Peter to a contest:whoever delivers the most eggs will be the new Easter Bunny.  Peter accepts the challenge, Wellington agrees, telling Peter he must win to save Easter.

The night before Easter, Peter parties with friends, until very late at night.  He stumbles to bed, setting his alarm-rooster to wake him up at 5:30 am.  Irontail and his pet bat Montresar show up and give the rooster bubble gum.  This causes his beak to be stuck closed, so the rooster is unable to wake Peter in time.  

Peter sleeps all through Easter.  Irontail is only able to give away one egg, but that's one more than Peter.  Irontail wins the contest and takes over April Valley.

Easter is canceled forever, eggs will now be colored "the color of mud."  Chocolate bunnies will be replaced by tarantulas and octopi.

Peter is ashamed of himself.  His irresponsible behavior allowed Irontail to win. Peter walks for miles until he collapses & falls asleep. When he wakes up, Peter finds himself in the Garden of Surprises.  Turns out the Garden is run by Sassafras.

He offers Peter the use of his time machine, the Yestermorrowbile, piloted by Antoine the Caterpillar (Kaye yet again). It has buttons for every holiday, pressing them takes them to Christmas, Easter,etc. Peter can use it to travel back in time and beat Irontail in the egg delivery contest.

They set off, but Irontail sees this and sends a spider flunky to sabotage the Yestermorrowbile, which causes a crash that damages the controls.  Peter and Antoine can no longer choose which Holiday to visit, they just end up on random Holidays.

Along the way, Peter runs into an old friend from April Valley, Bonnie, a talking Easter Bonnet, who joins his quest.  He also meets a bunny named Donna on Valentine’s Day. They are smitten with each other and go on an ice skating date.

While they’re skating, Irontail steals the eggs, and proceeds to dye them green.

Will Peter Cottontail figure out a way to regain the eggs and become the new Easter Bunny?

J.A. Morris says:

This is the best of Rankin-Bass’ three Easter specials. The presence of Vincent Price’s voice alone makes it worth watching, and Casem provides a good voice for Peter.  In some ways, it’s “The Mother Of All Rankin Bass Holiday Specials”, since we see Peter visit virtually every Holiday.  I think the songs are all pretty good & memorable.

The music and songs by Maury Laws are as good as anything he’s done.  Kaye does a nice job voicing multiple characters, and Kasem delivers a solid performance in the title role.  During the Christmas segment, Santa Claus makes a cameo, voiced by Paul Frees (who voiced him in several other Rankin-Bass specials).

Most of the Rankin-Bass specials feature "Celebrity Narrators", but this is the only time I can think of where the narrator interacts with the protagonist, making it unique.  And of course, there’s a strong nostalgia factor, for people who grew up in the 70s.

But I do have one quibble:

We learn early on that Peter is sort of irresponsible and has a bad habit of telling fibs.  He parties too late on the night before Easter. But he doesn’t oversleep on Easter JUST because he’s irresponsible and stays out too late.  He oversleeps because Irontail sees to it that his alarm clock rooster is unable to wake Peter on time. So, it’s not all his fault that he loses the contest, since Irontail had to cheat to win. The lesson about “responsibility” falls a little flat here.

At least during the Valentine segment, Donna tells him he should be forgiven, because anyone can make a mistake.

The muddy lesson is the only thing that keeps this special from getting a 4-Easter Egg rating. 

J.A. Morris' rating:

3 and a half Easter Eggs.

Hop

Released April 1st 2011

Directed by Tim Hill

Hop centers on the story of two characters who are disappointments to their fathers, who bond over this and (eventually) save the Easter Bunny from a usurper.

The film opens on Easter Island, where we’re introduced to a young rabbit named E.B.(Russell Brand). We soon learn that his father is the Easter Bunny(Hugh Laurie), who is hard at work preparing for his worldwide Easter journey. His candy factory(located inside one of Easter Island’s “head” sculptures)is operated by a chick named Carlos(Hank Azaria). The Easter Bunny tells E.B. that someday he’ll take over his job, Carlos is angry thinking he should be the successor.

The story moves to the suburbs of Los Angeles. A little boy named Fred, wakes up early on Easter and catches a glimpse of the Easter Bunny delivering eggs & candy. It’s a memory he’ll treasure all his life.

We cut to 20 years later, Fred(James Marsden) is now an adult slacker who can’t keep a steady job and moved back in with his parents (Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins), who are frustrated with his lack of ambition. His sister Samantha (Kaley Cuoco) gets him a job interview with a videogame company, and asks him to house sit at her boss’s mansion. He’s not interested in the job but tells Sam he’ll humor her and apply.

At the same time, E.B. is due to be appointed Easter Bunny, but he’d rather play drums in a rock band. He doesn’t think he’s cut out to take over for his father. Using a magic rabbit hole, he flees to Hollywood to pursue his rock n roll dream.

The Easter Bunny is furious at E.B. and sends his Pink Berets (a team of rabbit-ninjas) to bring him home. Meanwhile, Carlos and his fellow chicks are plotting a coup against the Easter Bunny.

Fred is driving and accidentally hits E.B.. When he picks up a rock to put him out of his misery, E.B. shocks Fred by asking him not too. E.B. needs a place to stay, so he uses Fred’s guilt to let him join in on his housesitting gig.

Fred tells E.B. not to go upstairs. He disobeys this order, leaving carrot stems all over the house and running a jaqcuzi until it overflows, making a mess upstairs. E.B.’s antics make Fred late for his job interview at the videogame company. The Pink Berets show up and chase E.B. around the office and run into Fred, causing him to botch the interview. E.B. asks Fred to help him get to an audition for a talent show overseen by David Hasselhoff, Fred agrees but says he’s wants E.B. to leave him alone after the audition.

The audition is a success,but the Berets show up again and attack both of them. They escape and E.B. tells Fred his backstory and his reluctance to take over for the Easter Bunny. Fred doesn't believe him until he poops jelly beans. Fred remembers his childhood encounter with the Easter Bunny and decides that he will take over as Easter Bunny. He begins vigorously decorating eggs and gathering candy in preparation for his Easter journey around the world. But before he can do that:

The Berets invade the mansion, E.B. escapes by faking his own death. Fred is accused of killing E.B. and taken to Easter Island. At this point, Carlos takes over, imprisons Fred and the Easter Bunny and is magically transformed into a rabbit-chick hybrid.

Spoiler Alert: E.B. regrets abandoning Fred, so he returns to Easter Island just in time to save his father and Fred. He overthrows Carlos and becomes the new Easter Bunny, just in time for Easter. Fred accompanies E.B. on the journey and becomes his new fulltime assistant, thus finding a job he loves.

JA Morris says:

Hop is entertaining, but just good enough to be disappointing. At “press time”, Marsden is 37 years old and too old to play a “20-something” character, but he’s still convincing as a wide-eyed manchild. It’s not easy acting with animated characters, but he pulls that off too. I don’t care much for Russell Brand, but he’s okay as E.B., but E.B. isn’t very sympathetic as a protagonist. He takes a bit too long to “wake up”, accept his role as Easter Bunny and save the day.

Having the Easter Bunny based on Easter Island was cute, and the candy factory assembly line scene is how I imagined candy was made when I was a kid. And the Easter Bunny’s sleigh was cool too, a nice way of showing how he travels around the globe.

But ‘Hop’ is ultimately not a very good movie. The story jumps around and E.B. isn’t very sympathetic as a protagonist. He takes a bit too long to “wake up” and save the day.

“But won’t kids like it? And isn’t that what matters about a movie like this?”

If I was a kid, I probably would have enjoyed it once, but not cared too much if I ever saw it again. Which is too bad, because the list of Easter movies & tv specials is short.

My review:

2 and ½ Easter Eggs

RigbyMel says:

On the surface this movie had a lot going for it (good voice cast, neat computer animation, pretty good live action cast, fun concept) but the execution left me wishing it was better than it was. As it was, it was mildly entertaining but kind of empty, which is a shame.

My rating: 1 and 1/2 Easter eggs

The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count

Since spring is the season of allergies here in Virginia, I've had this song stuck in my head on and off for the past several days (especially as I've been trying to rid my car of evil, yellow pollen dust ...).

So Holiday Film Reviews now presents a musical interlude linked for your listening/viewing pleasure: "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count" by The Divine Comedy.



This is a fun pop song by the British band The Divine Comedy. It was originally released on their Liberation album in 1993, but the linked version is a re-recording that was done for their 1999 best of compilation entitled A Secret History ... The Best of the Divine Comedy. The single peaked at #17 in the UK charts.

Interestingly, the song points out a bit of a geographical difference as I tend to associate allergy season in Virginia with spring and autumn, but this song is about summer. Summer is generally more of a pollen-filled season in the U.K. than in the eastern U.S. actually, so this makes some sense.

Something to mull over with your U.S. (Virginia) allergies and congestion today.

TTFN