Starring James Marsden and featuring the voices of Russell Brand and Hank Azaria. Rated G. Opens Friday, April 1

Harmless as a neutered rabbit, the semi-animated Hop lopes into our lives, hoping to give that ol’ Christmas treatment to the Easter Bunny. After all, he does work long hours giving goodies to the children of the world—except for China, as is pointed out, where they don’t quite get it.

As with monarchies and Christianity, the big jobs here are hereditary and largely male. In a giant candy factory beneath those giant heads on Easter Island, the reigning E.B. (Hugh Laurie) is ready to retire. His same-named son (Russell Brand) isn’t quite ready for the gig, though; he’s in that rebellious stage—hell, even his accent is different from dad’s—and has his ears up for playing drums in a rock-’n’-roll band.

When Junior flits off to Hollywood to audition for, believe it or not, David Hasselhoff, Senior’s left holding the bag at the family plant, mostly run by chicks—not the kind his son might find at the Playboy mansion, where he heads, misunderstanding the rabbit logo. Meanwhile, Dad has more help than he needs from assistant Carlos (Hank Azaria), a greedy, Spanish-speaking chick who secretly wants to cluck like a bunny.

On the live-action side, the younger E.B. bunks down with Fred (a fiendishly grinning James Marsden), just thrown out of his parents’ house for overstaying his welcome. (Which makes sense, considering that Marsden is 37.) Director Tim Hill makes wittier use of his CGI-human blend than he did in Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, which skewed even younger. Plus this one has a musical interlude with the Blind Boys of Alabama. Still, in keeping this tale soft and fluffy, its big bunny is not as wascally as he could be. And that really Bugs me.