My review of Herschel Hopper: New York Rabbit

	I had been looking forward to seeing "Herschel Hopper" for quite a few weeks, yet  I wasn't sure how or when I would see it.  In fact, with the lack of material on the movie at the Rumpus website, I feared that there would be major technical problems with the movie.  However, about a week before the premiere, Rumpus showed its music video "Good Days & Sunshine" which not only featured some good animation but was a great song, and made the movie look great.  A few hours before the actual 3:00 stated debut, I began to watch "Herschel Hopper" with anticipation.  In the process of watching, I was enjoying it throughout.
	The movie started and I was amazed by the cool New York City scenery during a beautiful snowfall.  The animators seem to have put a lot of work into it, and while not going for a realistic touch, the city was nicely done and a number of locations, such as Central Park, Madison Square Garden, a subway station, and the Statue of Liberty were clearly distinguished.
	Since I'm from New York, this movie had everything going for it.  A New York setting as the snow fell, Brad Renfro providing the lead human voice, a good plotline, and major family appeal.  Add to it the fact that I didn't even have to leave my home to see it, and "Herschel Hopper" was ideal.
	Former NYC mayor Ed Koch narrates the story with the right amount of charm.  The opening credits were extremely cool, as the cast were introduced while a hip rap song played in the background.  The rap music worked for two reasons: 1) you could actually distinguish the words and 2) the song was all about Herschel and the cast of characters.
	Brad is the lead human character, and the one we are first introduced to.  Brad lends voice to Tanner, a very cool kid who had to move from Tennessee to New York.  Now Tanner really likes the city, but he is very alone as he feels he has no friends.  Tanner works at Mo's Pet Store, where the owner Mo (Sean Patrick Thomas) is a kind man who treats Tanner great, but as Tanner says in his southern accent, "is like 63".  Everything changes for Tanner when in the new shipment to Mo's arrives a whole bunch of rabbits, among which is Herschel Hopper (Brandon Sexton III) a bunny who talks, sings, and skateboards with Tanner.  Tanner and Herschel become great friends, which is what Tanner has really been looking for.  We see them enjoy life in NYC through a montage featuring the song "Good Times & Sunshine".  This sequence is one of the best in the movie, and the song just really works.
	Things take an interesting turn when the Party Planner (Michael Musto) comes to Mo's Pet Store and offers to buy every rabbit in the store.  This puts Mo in an awkward position because the Planner refuses when Mo offers him every rabbit but Herschel.  Herschel gets separated from Tanner and then gets mixed up in the middle of everything.
	Other celebrities providing voices in the movie were gossip columnist Liz Smith, Jason Priestly as Xavier a cooky exterminator, and TV chef "Multo" Mario Batali.  One of the best parts of its movie, and certainly among the funniest, are the closing credits.  In the style of "Toy Story 2", this movie features a bunch of mock audition clips.  Here we see tons of characters from Rudy Giuliani to Mickey Mouse, the Rugrats, and Bart Simpson.  I won't spoil it for you, but it is very hilarious.
	Throughout the film, the animation is always good enough, never distracting.  It is snowing for much of the movie, a nice touch which Rumpus did a good job covering.  Rumpus really did absolutely the best job I could have expected them to do.
	By the end of the film, I felt great..."Herschel Hopper" was truly a feel good movie.  I truly hope Rumpus decides to release this movie on DVD--an easy task since it is originally computer animated.  The only way they'll do this is if people e-mail them by the masses.
	As for Brad, while he was only in the film in voice, he did an excellent job.  He had some funny lines and the project really was a good choice made by Brad.  I would have to say that this product is his best work most likely since "Tom and Huck".  Perhaps it is because the movie had a good plot, and was a perfect family film.  I liked the Easter theme, and I had long wanted Brad to do a voice in an animated feature.  In fact I had thought about it since at least 1997.  I doubted it would become a reality.  But it did, and what was great is, since it was an Internet-only movie, I was able to see it on opening day.  "Herschel Hopper: New York Rabbit" will always hold a special place in my memory of Easter 2000.
	Unfortunately, I realized a little while into the movie, that I had been connected to the Internet at only 28.8 kbps, so at times the movie would stall (only a minor problem) but the load times between chapters did get a little annoying.  Still this down time was usually only about 2 minutes or so between each chapter, and it didn't really break up the flow much...think of it as commercial time.  Outside of the stalling, which was recurring but minimal and easily remedied by clicking on their stop and play buttons on the bottom left of the screen, the movie was flawless technically.  I'm glad that Rumpus decided to put the buttons on the bottom left of the screen--they were small enough to not distract yet very helpful in times of stalling.  The movie stretches to fit your screen, with the toolbars on top of your Internet browser, the movie takes a ratio of I guess about 1.70:1.  If you want the movie to fill the screen, the characters will seem a little bit stretched vertically, and while the action will fill your monitor at a fullframe TV ratio of 1.33:1, its best off at a wider ratio.  I watched the movie in the Streaming format, only because the "Download" option wasn't available.  What is great is that you can watch it offline afterwards provided that your Temp files are still around.  A hint to all: before you start the movie, make sure you deactivate your screen saver.  If you turn it to None, you won't have to keep moving the mouse every little while.
	The movie lasted about an hour with the breaks, my guess is about 40 minutes of it was the movie itself.  The movie really could work well as a TV special, say something on Fox Family Channel for the Easter holiday.
	Even if it is only the 40-minute movie itself, I think many people would get the DVD if it had a retail price of $9.99 or so.  They already have the menus done (the Select Scene page) and the chapters split up easily.  Rumpus.com has an absolute wonder on their hands, and I recommend everyone see it.  Oh yeah, and Brad's southern accent is out in the film, for all those of you who think it's cool.

NOTE: After watching the movie again offline, I realize it is only about 30 minutes.  It just seems longer when you are downloading the whole thing.