Hop on a train with iTunes

We have discovered this summer that we are simply incapable of staying in the same place for any length of time. So continuing our new living-out-of-suitcase life, we travelled north once again, this time to family in Manchester. Later this week, in our continuing tour of the UK, we will be heading down to the south coast, but that's another blog post.

There is nothing worse than a bored child on a train, but thankfully this time our journey was made so much easier by the chance to watch the movie Hop on iTunes. This was not the result of any forward-planning on my part but due to the fact that we were given a free download to try out the service.

Downloading the film was easy and straight-forward and works in exactly the same way as downloading music using iTunes. The bonus was that we could access the film straight away. So I handed IJ a set of headphones and that was it. She remained engrossed in the film for the entire journey, except when she decided to re-enact the film with her Hop soft toy.

For anyone unfamiliar with the film, Hop from Universal Pictures is a live action comedy that tells the story of E.B (voiced by Russell Brand) the Easter Bunny's teenage son, who is reluctant to take over the role of the Easter Bunny and heads off instead to Hollywood determined to become a rockstar drummer. There he's taken in by Fred, an out-of-work slacker, after he accidently hits him with his car. Mr Bunny (Hugh Laurie) sends his three ninja royal guards to find his son. Meanwhile chicks in the Easter egg factory are plotting to take over the Easter organisation.

The film was watched four times during our stay in Manchester allowing me to redeem myself after previously arriving with battery-less toys and failing to covert the favourite aunty title. Then on the return journey IJ watched the film again on my iPhone. She absolutely loves it.

I’d been unaware you could download films on iTunes but it has proved to us to be a nice and easy way to access movies instantly for the whole family and a service I’m likely to use repeatedly, particularly as we do a lot of travelling and there’s a limit to the length of time a word search keeps either of us occupied.

All new titles are available in all formats from day of release, so you can choose to watch HOP, and a host of other films, whenever, wherever and however you like. Hop is available on DVD, Blu-ray and iTunes download (plus Xbox, PlayStation, Sky Box Office, BT Vision and BlinkBox).

It is also possible, by following a few simple technical instructions, to watch downloaded films on your HD-TV, so we’ll be trying that option next.

Find out more about HOP here: http://www.hop-themovie.com/UK/