‘Hoppers’ Review

With its high sci-fi concept, grounded human story centered on grief, and its mixture of humor and action for children and adults alike, ‘Hoppers’ delivers on the tried and true Pixar formula. While it is never quite as triumphant as Pixar’s true classics, it is nonetheless an original, heartwarming story bursting with big ideas and bigger heart.

‘Hoppers’ opens with young Mabel (Piper Curda), a student with a passion for animals and issues controlling her anger. One day, after being sent home from school after trying to free all the classroom pets, Mabel is brought by her Grandma (Karen Huie) to a glade by her home, where she insists that Mabel listen and watch the beautiful nature all around them. Mabel learns the lesson that whenever she feels so angry, she should remember nature and the miracle of connection.

Fast forward to present day, where Mabel is now nineteen and just as committed to environmental activism as she was when she was a child. Mabel’s latest project is to fight against a new beltway project being pushed by an ambitious Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm), that would destroy the very glade she grew up going to with her Grandma, who has since passed away. Finding herself unable to gather other humans to her cause, Mabel’s life is turned upside down when she discovers a secret experiment being done at her university, in which scientists have created the ability to transfer human consciousness into animal robots and communicate with the local wildlife. Mabel seizes her opportunity, has her consciousness transferred into a robotic beaver and rushes out to warn all the animals of the impending destruction of their habitats at the hand of the humans. Once among the animals, Mabel discovers the complexity of local animal politics and finds that her challenges are only just beginning.

No matter how strongly the character of Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) denies the comparison, ‘Hoppers’ plays out like a Pixar version of ‘Avatar’, with a sprinkling of ‘Game of Thrones’ political intrigue that results in some of the film’s most surprising humor. The film strives to raise ecological consciousness, while also exploring the difficulties in coalition building. In the beginning, Mabel goes door to door in her advocacy against the beltway project, with such a clarity of moral purpose that she is baffled when, again and again, people turn down her petition, unable to see the worthiness of her cause.

Then as Mabel becomes a beaver, she goes straight to the animals themselves, confident that they at least will see the justness in her mission. Yet once again, she fails to instill her morality on an unwilling populace, unable to comprehend or work within existing belief structures, blinded as she is by her own righteous fury. It’s an interesting political narrative that feels especially jarring in a children’s film, and yet the high-mindedness never gets in the way of the film’s entertainment value.

Ultimately, ‘Hoppers’ remains functionally a family film, and thus some of the plot developments are a little too cutesy, a little too saccharine for me to fully embrace, even as I understand the value to a Pixar audience. While I would have enjoyed the film more had it leaned even more fully into the political machinations of life in the animal kingdom, I recognize that such a creative decision would have risked losing its primary audience: children.

As it is, ‘Hoppers’ is a winning formula for Pixar success, with a delightful mixture of sci-fi action and grounded human drama, populated with memorable voice actors and distinct character work.

Hoppers
Rated PG for action/peril, some scary images, and mild language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

Director Daniel Chong
Writers Jesse Andrews
Stars Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco
Rating PG
Running Time 104 Minutes
Genres Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi