THE STORY – A 19-year-old animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination.
THE CAST – Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Dam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Ego Nwodim, Vanessa Bayer & Meryl Streep
THE TEAM – Daniel Chong (Director) & Jesse Andrews (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 104 Minutes
When considering what we think of when we say the phrase “Pixar storytelling,” most people point to moments like the opening sequence of “Up,” where deeply felt emotion is combined with a charming premise and unforgettable characters. And while Pixar movies are often very funny, they wouldn’t necessarily be classified as “comedies.” With their new release, “Hoppers,” that changes. Without sacrificing heart, “Hoppers” is off-the-wall hilarious, leaning into the sillier side of Pixar in the best way, with nearly non-stop laughs that you never see coming. It’s a burst of originality, a sci-fi mashup that throws a hundred ideas at the wall, and thankfully, they all seem to stick. It’s the studio’s wildest comedy, and somehow it’s still pure Pixar. This may sound like a hyperbolic statement, but it’s true: “Hoppers” is Pixar’s funniest movie ever.
Piper Curda voices Mabel Tanaka, a 19-year-old environmental activist hellbent on saving her beloved pond from being paved over for a new highway project. She’s the thorn in Mayor Jerry’s (Jon Hamm) side, disrupting his construction plans at every turn. Mabel has a special connection to this pond; she would come here with her grandmother growing up, and the peaceful sounds of nature would help calm her overactive and angry state. This place, these animals, the pond, it all means so much to Mabel. But Mayor Jerry can’t proceed with the construction as long as animals are there, which is why he’s driven them out. Running out of options to save it, Mabel seeks out her college science professors, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) and Nisha (Aparna Nancherla), and stumbles upon their top-secret research project that they call “hopping.” Using advanced 3D-printed animals, they transport a person’s mind into animal counterparts, allowing them to observe animal behavior much more closely. “It’s like ‘Avatar,'” Mabel says, much to the professors’ dismay. The scientists aren’t willing to help, but Mabel forces her way in, puts on the headset, and before long, finds her mind in the body of a beaver. But all of this is just the setup to get Mabel in and around these animals. “Hoppers” speeds through these plot points absurdly quickly to get to the good stuff, where Mabel can find some beavers to return to the pond, build a dam, and stop the construction.
Daniel Chong, creator of Cartoon Network’s “We Bare Bears,“ makes his directorial debut with “Hoppers,“ and he brings his comedic chops with him. This is humor-first, plot second. Do all of the minutiae of Mabel getting into the beaver robot make much sense? Is it sped through too quickly? Yes and yes. But it doesn’t matter much. Once she’s in the forest and encounters the beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan), the adventure gets so outrageous that you forget how quickly we blew by the mechanics of the plot. The jokes-per-minute ratio in “Hoppers“ is off the charts. There’s a relentless barrage of gags, whether it be from quick one-liners or the hilarious way in which this animal world operates.
Chong, along with writer Jesse Andrews, does a brilliant job of balancing the laughs while keeping the story moving forward as Mabel tries to recruit the animals to rebel against the humans and protect the land. When Mabel and King George present their proposal to fight back against the humans to the rest of the animal council, made up of other kings and queens, things quickly get out of hand. Mabel and George face off against the animal council, Mayor Jerry and his construction crew, and Dr. Sam and Nisha, who are looking to rescue Mabel from the robotic beaver. It’s a madcap, insane adventure where you never know where the story will take you, but it always seems to lead to the most logical destination, while making you laugh along the way.
The high level of craftsmanship that anyone expects from a Pixar film is still here, too. The gorgeous animation falls somewhere between the studio’s reliable realism and a more stylized world. In a brilliant choice, the animals are animated differently depending on whether we’re seeing them from a human or an animal’s perspective. When humans are watching the animals, they have simple black dots for eyes, and have a more believable posture, but when we’re in the animals’ world, they’re more cartoonish, with big, expressive, human-like eyes. It really reinforces this universe and draws us into this absurd story all the more. To top it off, the forest’s details are stunning, with beautiful hand-drawn textures and unbelievably fluffy animals.
While “Hoppers“ is a comedy above all else, that doesn’t mean its more emotional moments don’t land as well. In true Pixar fashion, Mabel’s grief and connection to her grandmother pushes her through at all costs. Yes, she wants to save the pond, but she also desperately wants to restore this empty place in her heart. In the end, it’s the community that she finds among the animals, and seeing how they all support each other, that helps Mabel find herself again. While some might decry “Hoppers“ as a bleeding heart environmentalist story, it isn’t preachy or heavy-handed.
Curda’s performance as Mabel fills the film with enough angst, energy, and passion that we can believe she would go to these crazy lengths to save the land. But it’s Moynihan’s turn as King George that truly steals the show. He’s painfully kind, always looking on the bright side, and wanting to trust everyone. We’ve always known how funny Moynihan can be, but here, he also grounds the story with an impossibly big heart. Joining them is a huge roster of talent from Meryl Streep and Dave Franco to Ego Nwodim and Vanessa Bayer, along with Isaiah Whitlock Jr. in his final film role.
Is “Hoppers” Pixar’s best film? Probably not. But it’s easily their most amusing ever, and an absolutely delightful fun time. It’s exactly the kind of solid entertainment, with the right mix of laughs and tears, that reminds us of the genius-level storytelling the good folks over there are capable of. It’s precisely what the animation studio needed at this time and fits comfortably alongside some of their upper-tier offerings.
