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Hoppers – Film Review

Cast: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Meryl Streep, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Director: Daniel Chong

Synopsis: A nature-loving teenager hatches a plan to save a deeply meaningful spot of land by using technology that transfers a human consciousness into robotic animals…

Review: For more than 30 years across their distinguished filmography, Pixar Animation Studios have never failed to find innovative ways to tell stories that tug on our heartstrings. Toys that come to life, an overprotective fish forced to embark on a perilous journey across the ocean to find his son, a final adventure for one man to keep the promise he made to his beloved wife, the emotional struggles of the emotions in our minds, and the importance of family, tradition, and the everlasting power of music. Whatever they turn their hands to, chances are they will find a way to charm us with characters and moving storytelling that audiences won’t forget in a hurry. They do all this and more with their 30th film, which is one of their funniest in years.

Mabel Tanaka (Curda) is a free-spirited animal-loving college student who lives in the town of Beaverton. Thanks to her grandmother, Mabel grew up with a deep appreciation for nature and, in particular, for a forest glade and all the animals that call it home. Thus, she is left furious when the town’s smarmy mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Hamm having a ball), announces plans to build a freeway straight through the glade, since all the other animals have left. With her options limited, Mabel hatches a plan to utilise technology developed by her college professors, known as the Hoppers programme, to transport her consciousness into the body of a robot beaver and convince the other animals in the glade to return before the mayor’s urban expansion project irrevocably destroys it.

“It’s like Avatar!” Mabel exclaims after being told by her college professors how the Hoppers programme works. The inherent similarities between the technology on display here and that of the Avatar programme in James Cameron’s behemoth franchise are undeniable. However, director Daniel Chong and screenwriter Jesse Andrews choose to use these similarities as a funny, self-aware joke rather than emulation. Having also been inspired by nature documentaries where a robotic animal is deployed with a camera to observe animals in their natural habitat, the film gleefully combines elements of science fiction, a coming-of-age story, a spy/heist movie and comedy, and the result is a riotous blast of furry energy that delivers laughs by the dam load throughout its 104-minute run time.

Hoppers wears its animal zaniness firmly on its sleeve, or should that be fur? But like all the greatest films the studio has produced, it packs a deeper meaning. You only need to burrow beneath the surface of the humour and the truly wild set pieces that shall not be spoiled here, as it bears an important message about the value of nature and the environment, and how humanity would be wise to cherish these spaces for the benefits they bring us and the wildlife that calls them home. Furthermore, it underscores how urbanisation at the expense of rural land can be catastrophic for the survival of certain species, and humanity would be wise to heed this warning.

Pixar have given us plenty of likeable protagonists over the years, and Mabel is no exception. An animal lover to her core, having tried to rescue and set free the classroom pets when she was a child (spot the Finding Nemo reference), she becomes determined to take a stand against the mayor’s urbanisation expansion, especially since no one else seems willing to do so. As a species, it would be fair to say humanity is fixated on its own survival needs, and that in doing so, we forget that millions upon millions of others also call this planet home. Allowing Mabel to venture into the animal kingdom offers a witty interpretation of how animal societies might function, and absolute hilarity ensues when the human and animal worlds collide, with one moment in particular a hilarious standout moment. You will know it when you see it.

Through all the humour, spectacular animation, stellar voice work across its entire cast, and animal-related shenanigans, the case could be made that Pixar has somewhat faltered in its ability to consistently hit the audience on an emotional level as it has in the past. However, let their 30th feature film bear witness to the fact that they remain very much at the top of their game and can still beaver away to bring delightfully wacky and heartfelt adventures for the whole family to gnaw on and enjoy.