Just when I start to count Pixar out, they pull me right back in. It is no secret that the studio’s track record over the past decade has been mostly hit or miss; I found their last film, Elio, especially underwhelming. Their latest movie, Hoppers, puts them right back on track.
Ever since she was a child, two things were apparent about Mabel Tanaka: her love for wild animals and her wilder temper. She is the type to kidnap the class pet and then snap at you for doing so. Mabel’s love for nature was maintained and fostered by frequent visits to the forest glade next to her grandmother’s house, played by Karen Huie.
Fast-forward to the present, and the now 19-year-old Mabel, voiced by Piper Curda, is engaged in a fierce one-person crusade to protect the now-empty glade from her nemesis, the town mayor Jerry, voiced by Jon Hamm, who plans to turn it into part of a new freeway.
Mabel’s big opportunity comes when she discovers her biology professor, Dr. Sam, voiced by Kathy Najimy, has secretly invented a new technology called Hoppers that allows a human to transfer their consciousness into a realistic robotic animal and communicate with other animals. In other words, it is just like Avatar, which the film directly name-drops. Mabel hijacks the machine, transfers her consciousness into a robotic beaver and escapes to the forest, where she hopes to unite the animals and take back the glade.
“Hoppers is pound-for-pound Pixar’s wackiest movie since Turning Red, and it is all the better for it.”
Helmed by We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong, Hoppers is pound-for-pound Pixar’s wackiest movie since Turning Red, and it is all the better for it. Once the film finishes its initial setup, it is packed with a manic, gag-a-minute spirit courtesy of Chong and Jesse Andrews’ hilarious script. The animation and character designs of the animals, when Mabel is in beaver mode, are expressive, gorgeous and, in certain scenes from the humans’ perspective, downright adorable.
As Mabel fangirls over her new animal form, she learns about the “pond rules” of animal society from the forest’s head beaver, King George, fantastically voiced by We Bare Bears alum Bobby Moynihan. Both Moynihan and Piper Curda are great together, and the pair’s growing friendship is what makes much of the film’s heart work. In fact, I really enjoyed all the characters, and the voice cast is clearly having a lot of fun.
Jon Hamm is enjoyably smarmy as the mayor. Melissa Villaseñor and Eduardo Franco are hilarious as a few of the forest creatures Mabel meets early on. I especially had fun with the animal council, the leaders of the forest’s various species, all voiced by heavy hitters like Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell and even Meryl Streep.
“With Hoppers, Pixar embraces its strangest instincts and delivers one of its most entertaining films in years.”
Speaking of which, the story goes in several directions I did not expect, particularly when Mabel’s attempts to rally the animals accidentally launch a full-scale uprising. The third act, in particular, contains a few visual gags that, like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers references in Elio, are surprisingly and hilariously darker than you might think. There is even a really fun chase scene where some of the animals pull off a creative team-up using one of their own like a wrecking ball. The film’s biggest scene-stealer comes courtesy of Dave Franco as Titus, the Joffrey-esque son of the Insect Queen, who devolves into total megalomania.
As zany and over-the-top as the film is, Hoppers thankfully never undermines its message about appreciating the stillness of nature, protecting the environment and the value of communicating and working together despite differences. Even if the subject matter is not new territory, the film earns those heartfelt moments, and they genuinely resonated with me.
It may not be the most emotionally complex film in Pixar’s catalogue, but I had an absolute blast with Hoppers. It is one of the most fun films the studio has released in a while, and it retains that balance of humour and heart that the whole family can enjoy.
