Pixar’s Hoppers Stands as one of Pixar’s Craziest Films of All Time!
Image Courtesy of Disney
By Luis Zonenberg
While Pixar is one of the few companies that can be rivaled today, they have been falling short lately like most Disney films. A good portion of Pixar films lately have been succumbing to failing to get creative with their movies or even with their animation. While their last film, Elio, proved to be entertaining in their own right it couldn’t help but fall short of the creativity and innovative animation of past Pixar films. With the company’s latest film, Hoppers, currently playing in theaters, I decided to check it out and see how it stacks up against the company’s other films.
The story focuses on 19-year old college student Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) fighting to protect the forest glade by her home from the city’s greedy mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm). Generazzo plans to replace the glade with a freeway to reduce traffic in the city, especially since the animals have mysteriously disappeared from the area. Fearing she could lose the glade forever, Mabel works to find out what made all the animals disappear and, hopefully, finds a way to bring them back.
Mabel’s quest leads her to Dr. Samantha Fairfax (Kathy Najimi), who has developed advanced “hopping” technology that allows the human consciousness to “hop” into a robot animal and experience life from their perspective. Mabel steals one of their robots and hops into it, becoming a beaver as she races into the forest to search for other animals. Her quest leads her to King George (Bobby Moynihan), a beaver who looks after displaced animals. They soon work together to take back the glade, but might unfortunately start a war in the process.
The movie is the brainchild of director Daniel Chong, who is perhaps most famous for the Cartoon Network show, We Bare Bears. The movie utilizes the same type of humor as that show, but also doesn’t shy away from some tough lessons. It addresses the ethical implications of technology as well as how activism can quickly be weaponized. While the film executes this in a rather silly way, it makes it digestible enough for children to follow while still introducing them to larger topics they can start thinking about.
The film has great messages for kids as well as the family to take into consideration, though the pitfall is that it only really dives into those concepts about halfway through the film. The first half of the movie starts out strong, with decent jokes thrown around, but it’s not until halfway through that they introduce a new twist that turns the movie on its head. From there, the movie turned up to eleven and never stopped, delivering countless knee-slapping jokes while not skimping on the more dramatic moments.
The voice cast was excellent, though, rising to the challenge of making this film as funny and heartfelt as it turned out to be. Piper Curda does a great job of making Mabel a relatable character while not making her too annoying to watch. She walks a tight rope of silliness and aggression, but strikes a good balance between the two. The absolute standout was Bobby Moynihan as King George, whose laidback demeanor perfectly contrasts Mabel’s persona. Other supporting actors like Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimi, and Dave Franco were all entertaining in their own right as well.
The animation utilizes the same animation style as other Pixar films like Turning Red, Luca, and Elio. The animation is very expressive and lively, but brilliantly leans into a different color palette that suits the overall themes in the film. It utilizes a lot more subdued, natural colors one would find in nature, which really helps in creating a believable atmosphere that’s also stunning to look at. While I feel Pixar might be leaning a little more towards this style, I feel it’s effectively utilized here.
While at first it may seem like any other Pixar film, the film pulls a fantastic bait-and-switch halfway through that really elevates the movie to new heights. The last half relentlessly got crazier with its action scenes and silly jokes while laying out some interesting concepts for children to think about. Daniel Chong proved to be a force to reckon with here, creating one of the most unique experiences you’ll have watching a Pixar movie. While it takes a while to get going, Pixar’s Hoppers proves to be an entertaining and outright crazy film that audiences are sure to enjoy!
Hoppers is now playing in theaters.
Rating: ★★★★☆
