Hoppers review

HOPPERS: 

PIXAR (LITERALLY) GONE WILD! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

DISNEY/PIXAR

Mabel in Pixar’s Hoppers

 

            A young girl has her mind put into the body of a robot beaver in Hoppers, the new film from Pixar Animation Studios and director Daniel Chong, who’s probably better known for creating the Cartoon Network animated series, We Bare Bears. I’m always down for an original film from Pixar and/or Disney, especially in this era where Disney keeps cranking out sequels, reboots, and remakes, though I was somewhat concerned (Not worried, just concerned) because Pixar’s last original movie, Elio, released last year, was a massive financial flop despite it being well received by critics. 

            I’m convinced it was because of the competition as Disney’s Lilo & Stitch remake and DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon remake both released roughly around the same time as Elio, with both films stealing its thunder. But it’s become so difficult now to market and release a movie that’s completely original and not tied to an IP and have it be a huge hit, even the internet was making jokes about this movie and the upcoming Toy Story 5 this summer. 

            As a fellow supporter of Pixar, I was going to see this regardless, and all I really need are a good story and compelling characters…Hoppers has those plus ABSOLUTE CHAOS! This might be the absolute craziest movie Pixar has ever made, and unlike Cars 2, this one’s actually good…no, not just good, it’s great! 

            While I can’t say it reaches the height of the original three Toy Story films, Inside Out, Up, or even The Incredibles, I found Hoppers thoroughly enjoyable and consistently funny, especially for a Pixar movie, while still having a ton of heart and exploring very bold environmental themes. I’ll just say it: Pixar beat James Cameron at his own game with the Save the Planet message, and this is coming from someone who likes the Avatar movies. 

            The film follows Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda-A.N.T. Farm, I Didn’t Do It, May December), a rebellious college student who constantly butts heads with the Mayor of Beaverton, Jerry (voiced by Jon Hamm-Mad Men, Baby Driver, Transformers One), as he plans to destroy a forest glade to make room for a highway. When Mabel discovers her biology professor, Dr. Fairfax (voiced by Kathy Najimy-Sister Act 1 and 2, Hocus Pocus 1 and 2, Wall-E) has created a form of technology that can put a human brain into the body of a robot animal known as Hopping, she “Hops” into a beaver and gets plunged into the animal world where she can now understand and communicate with the wildlife including another beaver known as King George (voiced by Bobby Moyniham-Saturday Night Live, We Bare Bears, The Secret Life of Pets 1 and 2). 

            As Mabel tries to rally up the animals to save the glade from demolition, George teaches her about Pond Rules and the Animal Council that commands the wildlife, while she realizes the struggles of coexistence between humans and nature. 

            The film also features the voices of Dave Franco (21 Jump Street, The Disaster Artist, Together) as Titus the Insect King, Eduardo Franco (Stranger Things, Booksmart, Goat) as Loaf, Aparna Nancherla (BoJack Horseman, Corporate, A Simple Favor 1 and 2) as Nisha, Sam Richardson (Veep, Detroiters, Promising Young Woman) as Conner, Melissa Villaseñor (Saturday Night Live, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Toy Story 4 and 5) as Ellen, the late Isiah Whitlock Jr. (25^th Hour, Da 5 Bloods, Lightyear) as Bird King, Steve Purcell (Brave, Toy Story 4, Inside Out 2) as Amphibian King, Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie) as Fish Queen, Nichole Sakura (Superstore, Shameless, Suzume) as the Reptile Queens, Meryl Streep (Sophie’s Choice, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Post) as Insect Queen, and Vanessa Bayer (Saturday Night Live, Trainwreck, Freakier Friday) as Diane the Shark. 

            Overall, Hoppers easily takes the cake as the wildest Pixar film ever made, and this is the same studio that made a movie about a man who attaches a bunch of balloons to his house to make it fly and another one about a young girl who transforms into a red panda as an allegory for puberty. This is a film that fully embraces the surrealism and absurdity of its premise and goes all-out with it, resulting in an entertaining and incredibly funny movie. 

            Pixar has done comedy before in just about all their films, but the movies themselves are mostly focused on deep, emotional storytelling. Hoppers goes straight for the laughs, whether it’s witty dialogue, visual gags, or by how ridiculous the film gets. One of the most consistently funny running jokes is seeing a flock of birds airlifting a giant shark to “squish” the mayor, which is so bizarre that I laughed constantly every time it showed up. 

            There’s also another shockingly dark gag involving the death of the character that happens so suddenly that the audience I was with gasped and then immediately followed it up with laughter. There’s even a cute little nod to the talking dog collars from the Pixar movie, Up, towards the end, that was quite delightful to see. 

            However, with all the chaos going on, the movie does balance it out with a lot of heart and a very mature message about humans and nature coexisting and trying to find a middle ground. If you ask me, this is the kind of message the James Cameron Avatar movies should have had instead of the tired “Nature Good, Humanity Bad” moral because Hoppers uses its environmental message in a significantly more nuanced and thought-provoking way and is less preachy, which will surely lead to very engaging conversations between children and their parents about the environment. 

            But what makes the environmental message effective is the connection the characters have with the forest, particularly Mabel, who frequently visited the glade with her grandmother. So, when Mabel sees the mayor trying to destroy the forest for a freeway, she’s trying to preserve the thing her grandmother cared about the most when she was alive. 

            All the characters are very lovable, but the one that stood out to me the most was actually the Beaverton mayor, who you would think would just be a one-note antagonist, but as the film goes on, he is given a lot more layers to his character and ultimately goes through an arc. They could have easily made him the evil businessman in the suit, but Pixar is smarter than that. 

            Hoppers is a gorgeously animated, unhinged, and surprisingly poignant wildlife adventure that blends witty humor and crazy visuals with bold environmental themes. It’s a much “nuttier” Pixar outing, but their storytelling genius and innovation are still very much intact.