The newest Pixar flick, “Hoppers,” has just been released, and they have another hit on their hands. Directed by “We Bare Bears” creator Daniel Chong, the film follows Mabel Tanaka (played by Piper Curda), an animal lover who is trying to save the local glade from Mayor Jerry (played by John Hamm) and his planned beltway. Mable discovers ‘Hopping’ technology created by her professor (played by Kathy Najimy), in which one’s mind is transferred into a lifelike robotic beaver to study and communicate with animals.
After Mabel sends her mind into the beaver, she makes friends with the king of the mammals, a fellow beaver named George (played by Bobby Moynihan), and tries to save their habitat from destruction, inadvertently sparking an uprising in the animal kingdom against humans in the process.
“Hoppers” is a really funny film with a heart. The story isn’t super convoluted, and there are plot points you can quickly piece together before they happen, but that doesn’t negate the journey there.
The environmental message the film is trying to say is pretty good overall and is the key theme peppered throughout from beginning to end, although the way the conflict is solved between Mable and the mayor and how that relates to the animals overall, does leave something to be desired and lacks the proper convictions to truly make a good statement.
This is maybe one of Pixar’s funniest films in recent times. Coming from the creator of “We Bare Bears,” it’s not surprising that the amount of deadpan and situational humor is used in the film.
The way the animals are animated when switching from their point of view to how they are animated when humans see them is used for many comedic moments and even some dramatic moments in the story. The voice cast also carries much of the humor in their deliveries.
With an audience and critic score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, I highly recommend this if you want more Pixar originals; it’s unbelievably great. It’s clear Pixar has struck again with another original hit.
