Hoppers Review

Hoppers is Pixar's Funniest Movie in Years

By: Marc Kozak

Hoppers

Hoppers is Pixar's Funniest Movie in Years

By: Marc Kozak

Whenever a new Pixar movie comes out, there’s an almost automatic desire to try and compare it to the string of hits that made up the animation studio’s “glory days.” To be fair, they did set the bar pretty high for themselves. Everything they produced — from Toy Story in 1995 all the way until Toy Story 3 in 2010 — seemed to be can’t-miss events, with critics and audiences rabidly anticipating whatever was coming out next. Even when they announced a seemingly ridiculous project about an old man with a house lifted in the air by a ton of balloons, there was no doubt that it would come out as a masterpiece. And it did. Of course it did — it was Pixar.

Although they each have their defenders, the run of Cars 2, Brave, and Monsters University in the early 2010s dissolved the studio’s bulletproof reputation, and it’s been pretty hit or miss since then. For every Soul or Coco that threatens a return to glory, there’s a Good Dinosaur or Lightyear to bring expectations back to reality.

I realize that comparing or ranking movies in such a way is pretty meaningless and unfair to an incredibly accomplished movie studio — of course they weren’t going to keep making five-star masterpieces for 30+ years — but it’s those kinds of conversations that are catnip for movie fans, myself included. I only bring it up because the kids who grew up during Pixar’s “glory days” are now parents (and even critics) themselves, and as they try to evaluate if the newest Pixar movie is worth their time and money, there is an almost built-in sense of disappointment that the new stuff will never measure up to WALL-E.

Which all brings us to Pixar’s latest original project, Hoppers, directed by Daniel Chong, the creator of Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears. At first glance, it might appear fairly underwhelming; cute talking animals aren’t exactly groundbreaking stuff in the animation world. Still, trailers and marketing material can be deceiving – it turns out that Hoppers is one of the best Pixar movies in years thanks to consistently funny gags, a timely and inspiring message, and some genuinely surprising twists and turns. And for those of you looking for a sense of where it stacks up to past glories, I’ve got you covered – no, it doesn’t reach the heights of Pixar’s finest tear-duct-draining classics, but it sits comfortably on the high-quality tier just below them.

" Hoppers is one of the best Pixar movies in years thanks to consistently funny gags, a timely and inspiring message, and some genuinely surprising twists and turns. "

We first meet Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Lila Liu as a child and Piper Curda as a college student) as an angry young girl who repeatedly tries to rescue and release classroom pets, even biting her terrified teachers when they try to stop her. Her busy mother doesn’t know what to do with her and drops her off with her grandmother (Karen Huie), who lives in a beautiful glade full of plants and animals. They form a meditative routine of sitting on a large rock in silence, being very still and listening to all of the life going on around them. “It’s hard to be mad when you feel like you’re part of something big,” Grandmother tells Mabel.

Time passes and Mabel is now 19 years old, mourning the loss of her grandmother and losing herself in various environmental causes that increasingly keep her away from attending her college classes. She is desperate to stop the town’s mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), in his attempt to replace her grandmother’s glade with a freeway and is dismayed that the local populace seems to support the mayor’s vision. She discovers that the glade’s wildlife has already mysteriously vanished from the area in advance of the wrecking crews moving in and believes that if she can get a keystone species like beavers to come back to the area, the animals will return and the mayor will be forced to stop construction.

Things start to get increasingly wacky from here. Mabel discovers one of her kooky professors (Kathy Najimy) has created a device that allows the human consciousness to be transferred into lifelike robot animals (“Like Avatar!”), allowing the professor and her small team to study animal behavior. Mabel ignores the team’s warnings and ports herself into an adorable beaver robot, which is immediately snatched up by an owl and dropped into the glade.

As Mabel realizes she can now understand what all animals are saying, she begins a delightfully absurd journey through an animal community run by a relentlessly cheerful beaver named George (Bobby Moynihan), the king of the mammals. George walks Mabel through “The Pond Rules,” which are designed so that all animals can live together in harmony. One of the movie’s highlights includes a segment where George explains that part of this system means that “hey, predators gotta eat,” and their victims meet their demise with an “aw shucks” attitude of resignation and good humor.

Things become even more insane from here, as Mabel convinces George to convene a gathering of all of the leaders of the animal kingdom in an attempt to put together a plan to save the glade. The jokes come at a rapid-fire pace as our animal community grows to include birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. An early contender for scene of the year includes the introduction and fate of the insect queen (Meryl Streep) and her cartoonishly villainous son (Dave Franco). I could’ve watched several more hours of these various animals interacting; it’s really a ton of fun.

The breakneck pace continues as we get a series of unhinged action scenes that include a car being chased by a giant shark carried by birds, and a group of animals holding the professor and her team hostage until they port the insect queen’s son into a robot body that looks like the mayor. The animation team really outdoes itself in these sequences, as they seamlessly blend lifelike renderings of the human world with the comical cuteness of the animal world.

Despite the chaos, we are never far away from the movie’s core message of empathy for others and the power of community. Adults might be a little too jaded to accept the simplistic nature of a statement like “the only way to save us is to work together,” but that doesn’t make it any less true, nor does it make it any less of a crucial message to instill in children. Jesse Andrews’ script also does a good job of repeatedly showing how Mabel’s anger often causes her to leap into thoughtless action, which ultimately causes more harm than good.

All told, the real strength of Hoppers is how consistently funny it is – I would go so far as to say it’s Pixar’s funniest movie to date. The animal scenes are bursting with energy and creativity, which is impressive considering the sheer number of existing movies that utilize cute anthropomorphic animals. As per usual with Pixar, there is plenty here to enjoy for both kids and adults alike. You may not be left pondering the nature of life and the immortal soul when it’s done, but maybe that’s for the best. Pixar has done that already – maybe the next period of “glory days” for the famous studio is just full of movies that are having fun.