HOP has one of the cutest bunnies you’ll ever see and plenty of other eye candy among its computer-generated visuals, yet there’s not much bounce to the story behind this inter-species buddy comedy.

Letting bad-boy Russell Brand supply the voice of the Easter bunny sounds like a promising way to add spice to a warm and fuzzy family flick. Too bad the movie winds up about as bland as carrot-flavoured jelly beans.

Its gooey sentiment and hare-brained gags are likely to appeal only to very young kids. The film-makers trip up on their scattered attempts to inject some hipness to Hop for older children and parents (a bit about a rabbit apparently cooked in a pot is handled so tepidly, it barely registers as a half-hearted allusion to the boiled bunny in Fatal Attraction, while a couple of Hugh Hefner-Playboy bunny riffs are just dreary).

Directed by Tim Hill, a veteran at blending live action and digital animation on Alvin and the Chipmunks and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, Hop skips and jumps between the fantasy land beneath Easter Island (clever location scouting, huh?) — where rabbits and chicks manufacture holiday candy — and the human world of Fred O’Hare (clever character name, right?)

Fred (James Marsden) is a grown-up slacker living with his parents, who hound him to get a job and move out. As a boy, Fred caught a forbidden glimpse of the Easter bunny making his rounds, and his destiny seems tied to the rabbit realm.

He’s not the only disappointment to his parents. Down under Easter Island, young EB (voiced by Brand) is about to take over the family business from his dad, the Easter bunny (Hugh Laurie). But EB dreams of becoming a rock ‘n’ roll drummer and runs away to Hollywood to find his bunny bliss.

EB just happens to come across Fred at a mansion where he’s house-sitting. Let’s see, mischievous, screwy rabbit, fridge full of carrots, rooms loaded with plush, pricey bedding. Inevitably, EB unleashes mayhem on Fred, who seems to be the only person surprised that a talking rabbit is running loose in Hollywood (in a couple of weirdly self-referential but very unfunny scenes, David Hasselhoff is among those who take a talking bunny in stride).

Written by the Despicable Me team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, along with Brian Lynch, Hop is mostly a lot of slapstick adventures between EB and Fred. They gradually form a kinship, find common ground and go through all the other usual things that arise when man befriends rabbit, including taking on scheming chick Carlos (voiced by Hank Azaria), who wants to turn Easter into a poultry-run holiday.

The vocally dexterous Azaria brings some pep to Hop, but most of the actors, among them Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins as Fred’s parents, are left to doze as if they’d been up all night hiding goodies for the big Easter egg hunt.