There’s a moment about halfway through Hoppers when a character voiced by a very famous actor dies. I won’t say who, I won’t say how, and I won’t say why, but you’re watching a scene, everything’s going normally, and out of nowhere, Pow! They die. Then, for a beat, the whole movie stops as every character is as shocked, if not more so, than the audience. It was in that moment that I realized while a lot of recent Pixar movies have been good, Hoppers was great. It wasn’t afraid to take risks, be bold, or go places normal animated films would not.
From there, things only get darker, weirder, and even at times scarier. But of course, this is also a Pixar movie, so those are merely some ingredients in a much larger recipe that gives you all the things you expect from the company behind Toy Story, Inside Out, and Finding Nemo, but with that little something extra.
Directed by Daniel Chong (best known for the Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears), Hoppers centers on a young college student named Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda) who inherited a deep-seated love of nature from her grandmother. When her town’s mayor, Jerry (voiced by Jon Hamm), decides he’s going to destroy her favorite spot in the woods to build a freeway, Mabel goes on a quest to stop him. Only she can’t. That is, until she stumbles upon a secret project at her school where scientists have figured out how to transfer a human consciousness into a lifelike, robot approximation of an animal. “Like Avatar?” Mabel asks. “It’s nothing like Avatar,” the scientists retort.
Like Avatar. – Pixar
Oh, it’s very, very much like Avatar, which is half the fun. Mabel, now posing as a beaver, goes into the woods in an attempt to get the animals to stand up for themselves against the evil mayor. She quickly discovers a large hierarchy of animals, among them the mammal king, a beaver named George (voiced by Bobby Moynihan), whom Mabel befriends. Their friendship and Mabel’s ideals then set off a chain reaction that threatens to shift the balance between not just animals and humans but the world itself.
First and foremost, Hoppers is hilarious. It’s wildly smart and finds jokes in every situation imaginable. These range from very basic stuff everyone in the family can enjoy to some deeper cuts only adults in the audience will enjoy. There’s rarely a moment in Hoppers when you aren’t laughing.
That is, unless you are crying. Because the movie is also incredibly emotional. Mabel’s character is given an almost Up-esque prologue that provides a strong sense of who she is. And, once she gets into the forest as a beaver, you instantly fall in love with almost all of the other animals. Animals that, as we said, don’t all make it through the film, setting up some heartbreaking, devastating, and beautiful scenes.
Mabel meets the group in Hoppers. – Pixar
The film is also highly unpredictable. Once you get past the Avatar-inspired setup, it’s incredibly hard to pin down what’s going to happen next. In large part, that’s because the film does such a fantastic job of building out this world where there are animal kings and specific rules of the forest but also because each animal species is so well defined. It’s the kind of world-building that could very, very easily leave itself open to multiple sequels if that opportunity arises.
Plus, there are probably a half dozen moments in the film that are flat-out shocking. Some are your basic unexpected, out-of-left-field jokes. Others are very intense and dark, especially for a kids’ movie. This is one of those kids’ movies that could really give younger ones a few frights, especially towards the end. But it can also potentially work as a gateway to even scarier things because it never goes too far over the top.
Throughout all of this, Hoppers weaves in a fair share of strong, relatable, important messages, too. It’s very pro-environment, of course. It seems anti-establishment at times but ends up being much more well-rounded about that. There are also threads about found family, individuality, following your dreams, building trust, and more. None of which ever overshadow the overall story or humor and heart that permeate throughout.
Some of the leaders of the animal kingdoms. – Pixar
As for the animation, it is, quite frankly, stunning. Which you’d expect for the most part. Each Pixar movie is seemingly better-looking than the last because technology and computing power get better every day. But with Hoppers, it stands out because the film very specifically delineates between when an animal can be understood by Mabel and when it cannot. When they can’t, they look a little less detailed. A little more basic. But once they are speaking English and we get in close, the furs and surfaces are so rich, you can practically feel them through the screen. That juxtaposition really helps it pop.
I can’t quite say Hoppers is a perfect movie, but it’s very, very close. It does everything you could possibly want from an animated film and then goes above and beyond. The type of film you can easily see yourself watching again and again. A film that will only become more rewarding in the years ahead. And, eventually, a film you can very easily imagine ranking among the absolute best Pixar movies ever.
Hoppers opens on March 6.
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