“Hoppers” A Delightful Family Film That Is Also One of Pixar’s Best in Years

What if you could talk to animals and understand what they’re saying? In Disney and Pixar’s all new feature film “Hoppers,” scientists have discovered how to “hop” human consciousness into life-like robotic animals, allowing people to communicate with animals as animals!

This adventure introduces Mabel, an animal lover who seizes an opportunity to use the technology, uncovering mysteries within the animal world beyond anything she could’ve imagined.

While Pixar has been releasing more original stories lately, “Hoppers” is a significant return to form for the animation studio’s original storytelling. The film’s concept is really unique and the overall film delivers a good amount of emotion and humor. “Hoppers” also features some environmental themes that are also important.

The latest Pixar film brings us some more lovable characters, especially all of the animal characters. Even though the lead character, Mabel, is the character we follow, the animal characters are the ones that are the instant favorites and the audience during a showing I attended laughed quite a bit almost every time an animal character appeared on screen. 

The one character, King George (who’s the leader of the beavers) is easily one of the best characters in this film as he balances zany comedic energy with an undeniable sweetness that also serves as the emotional anchor for the story.

There is a creative choice for this film that the filmmakers did that is really great. When we see the animals from the human POV, they look realistic and almost “toy-like” with their beady eyes. And when we see everything from the animal POV, the animals appear more “cartoon-like” with highly expressive faces.

“Hoppers” also features quite a few moments that are both entertaining and hilarious! There’s a fun sequence where a few of the animals and Mabel (who is still in beaver form) are trying to communicate with the Mayor (who’s trying to destroy their natural habitat for a highway) through a text-to-speech app. This entire scene ended up being one of the most hilarious moments in the Pixar film. 

There are also some very fun moments featuring stand out characters King George and Ellen (a grumpy, yet loyal bear) that can really make the entire family burst out with laughter. Also, when Mabel kept mentioning that the scientist's ideas in the beginning of the film almost sounds just like “Avatar”, it’s still very humorous even though the joke is used quite a bit in the trailers.

While “Hoppers” delivers quite a few scenes that are quite funny, there’s also some that are truly heartfelt, especially the opening minutes of the film. Throughout the first moments of the film, after Mabel releases numerous animals from her school, we see a young, angry Mabel taken in by her grandmother and she takes Mabel to a peaceful, secluded glade. The scene transitions into a touching montage of the two caring for the glade over the years until the grandmother passes (which is also where part of the new highway is being built).

“Hoppers” also delivers a powerful message on environmentalism, the importance of protecting nature and also the power of unity. One of the major themes of this film that I really felt is truly endearing is “unity and connection,” showing that humans and animals are part of a bigger, interconnected world.

“Hoppers” is a critically well-received film that’s really filled with fun adventure and a few moments that can get a little dark (but not too dark).

Cast: Piper Curda (Mabel); Bobby Moynihan (King George); Jon Hamm (Mayor Jerry Generazzo); Kathy Najimy (Dr. Sam); Dave Franco (Insect King); Eduardo Franco (Loaf); Sam Richardson (Conner); Melissa Villasenor (Ellen); Meryl Streep (Insect Queen)

Writer/director: Jesse Andrews (writer) (Elio; Luca; Me and Earl and the Dying Girl); Daniel Chang (directorial debut)

MPA: Rated PG for action/peril, some scary images and mild language   (104 minutes)

Make sure to keep on checking my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook for any upcoming films that I have planned on the review front! And for those who don’t have Facebook, here is a tentative rundown of what I have planned for the March 25th edition: Reminders of Him (new release), In Remembrance: John Candy - Cool Runnings/John Candy: I Like Me, The Strangers: Chapter 1 (recent release), The First Wives Club (Dietrich Theater’s Lasting Legacy series) and When Harry Met Sally (Dietrich Theater’s Lasting Legacy series). 

The Dietrich Theater will also be featuring the film “The Way We Were” as part of their Lasting Legacy series. I initially intended to check the film out but I didn’t get to it as planned. So once I see the film, I will have a quick review of the film exclusively available on my Facebook review page!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PypDSyIRRSs

• The original premise of the film was going to be about a human having access to control an Adélie penguin robot. When Daniel Chong first submitted the script to Pete Docter and the heads of Pixar, he stated that the heads of Pixar loved the script, but suggested to him that he changed the robot in the story to something else. The reason being is that according to Pete Docter, there are no shortage of penguin animated films. So upon rewriting the script twice, it was finally greenlit based on the concept of the robot being a beaver instead of a penguin. And it was also based on Chong learning how beavers are like the ecosystem engineers of nature and feels that they would work well with the story in general.

• This is Pixar's 30th feature film.

• Daniel Chong's first feature directorial effort for Pixar, after working as a story artist on TV specials and Inside Out (2015).