Review | ‘Hoppers’ is a dam good time
Illustration by Zoe Arntsen, Illustrator
If you thought a Pixar movie about a 19-year-old girl swapping her consciousness with a robotic beaver to dismantle a corrupt local government was missing from your life, you might just be in luck with the studio’s latest: “Hoppers.” Wacky, adventurous and hysterical, the movie loses some of Pixar’s tear-jerker value, but makes up for it with renewed originality.
Pixar’s release slate over the past decade has been something of a mixed bag. Even though the studio has held fast in producing original works in an age filled with sequels and reboots, its most financially successful films of the 2020s have been franchise films like “Inside Out 2,” with the upcoming “Toy Story 5” expected to perform similarly. As for their original works, while not without their fans, “Elio” and “Elemental” largely failed to capture the charm of Pixar classics like “Up” and “Toy Story” despite their best efforts.
And, to be frank, “Hoppers” doesn’t fully succeed in the way of harkening back to the sentimentality of Pixar’s past. The emotional beats are rushed, and Mabel (Piper Curda) lacks the nuance expected of classical Pixar protagonists. But “Hoppers” doesn’t feel restrained by striving for that classic Pixar feel. From the vibrant animation style to the absurdist and gag-centric structure, “Hoppers” feels more like an attempt to revitalize the studio’s original concept formula for Gen Alpha audiences.
Directed by Daniel Chong, previously best known for the Cartoon Network show “We Bare Bears,” his comedic tendencies unquestionably make “Hoppers” Pixar’s funniest film to date. There is clearly loads of love and affection poured into every frame, with Chong spending six years developing the project. Brimming with anarchic meme-esque humor, Chong seems apt at applying this randomness to relevant topics. Bits such as the animals communicating with humans using text-to-speech with emojis on a phone are funny in isolation, but also are utilized to more broadly connect to this film’s themes of political communication and environmental rights.
As the film follows Mabel, a 19-year-old fighting to stop Mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm) from destroying the local glades for plans to expand a freeway, the social themes in “Hoppers” are anything but subtle. That being said, this is a welcome change for a family film. Unlike “Avatar,” one of the film’s main points of comparison — which is directly acknowledged in the movie itself — “Hoppers” wears its political messaging on its sleeve without hiding behind allegory. In this sense, the spontaneity and randomness of the humor in “Hoppers” becomes a core piece of its advocacy for dismantling oppressive structures.
Some parents have criticized “Hoppers” as being too dark, with some considering its intensity akin to body horror. Swapping minds with a robot, there are some potentially frightening images in “Hoppers,” but nothing that comes close to body horror, or is any worse than what’s seen in “Turning Red.”
But these criticisms aren’t entirely unjustified, as “Hoppers” has a surprisingly nonchalant approach to death. With prominent characters dying without a moment’s notice and with little time to grieve, the animal rule of “when you gotta eat, eat” leads to some shocking moments. But again, the spontaneity throughout all of “Hoppers” is one of its greatest strengths in adapting the Pixar format for Gen Alpha audiences.
The voice performances also add to the comedy in the movie with standouts like Bobby Moynihan’s King George. Particularly in their original projects, Pixar has maintained a high-standard of casting voice actors for their talent rather than an over-reliance on celebrity recognition, and it pays off in the thrilling performances throughout “Hoppers.” With a tight script and a brisk pace, the voice cast does a superb job of bringing each character to life with a vibrancy that truly sells the absurdity of the film’s concept.
As noted, getting swept up in the adventure of “Hoppers,” it’s easy to lose sight of a central emotional connection. While this doesn’t feel too egregious when the film otherwise succeeds, the constant flashbacks to Mabel’s grandma felt cheap and out of place. It would have perhaps been more worthwhile to spend some of that time fleshing out the opening scene a la “Up” to garner a stronger emotional North Star. While this bothered me a lot at first — being someone who adores crying in a movie theater — I’ve come to appreciate how “Hoppers” doesn’t feel restrained by forcing the expected emotional beats of other Pixar movies.
Originality is hard to come by in Hollywood today, but it seems like “Hoppers” is in sync with a change within the industry. With countless family films attempting to adapt to a new generation of audiences, “Hoppers” feels like it settles on a meme humor that’s typically difficult to adapt to film. While it’s missing some of the emotional weight expected from Pixar, “Hoppers” is an outrageously fun hour-and-a-half.
