Disney might have the next Zootopia on its hands with Hoppers, a lively, brilliant, and jokey riff on Avatar that has all of the heart and soul we’ve come to expect from Pixar. Ostensibly about protecting the environment and the habitats within, it’s also about standing up for what you believe in, even when the world seems to be fighting against you. It’s also about Disney’s love of anthropomorphic animal characters, taking us inside their way of life and their heads, while communicating with the one human who wants to be like them more than anyone.
Hoppers may have just created Disney/Pixar’s next great character in rebel environmentalist Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda), who developed a reputation for fiercely protecting animals from a very young age. Bring a pet to “show and tell” at school and Mabel is likely to rescue it from its cage. Her anger at being unable to do more inspires her grandmother (Karen Huie) to show Mabel the calming influence of nature when you just sit and listen to it. Years later, and 19-year-old Mabel is still fighting the good fight, especially against Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) who plans to run a freeway right through the beloved forest glade, all to save people a whole 4 minutes of commute time. For Mabel, who already hates the way people disregard nature, this is unacceptable.
So where does the whole Avatar thing come in? Mabel stumbles upon research by biology professor Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) that allows a human to “hop” into the body of a robotic animal, to communicate easily with the real ones out in the wild. Mabel hijacks her way into the device and hops into a robotic beaver, in an effort to lure a single beaver back to the glade. See, the animals have abandoned the habitat, for mysterious reasons, leaving it open for Jerry to demolish.
Hoppers gets most of its zany energy from the nutty relationship between robot Mabel and King George (Bobby Moynihan), a beaver (yes with a little crown on his head) who leads the forest animals in a secluded but crowded sanctuary. There are “pond rules” that must be followed if all of these species, predators and prey alike, are to live together in harmony. George is pretty good at leading them all in group aerobics and stuff, but managing everything is tough. When Mabel breaks one of the pond rules, she uses it as an opportunity to enlist George and the others in the fight to save their natural habitat.
Directed and co-written by Daniel Chong with co-writer Jesse Andrews, Hoppers might be Pixar’s purest comedy in ages. The number of hilarious scenarios that emerge from this mixing of animal and human societys keep things moving briskly, with too many great one-liners and crazy characters to keep track of. An apex predator shark (voiced by Vanessa Bayer) carried through the air by a flock of birds, a stoner beaver pal Loaf (voiced by Eduardo Franco, appropriately) who would rather chill than help out, and so much more. We discover that all of the different species have their own rulers, like Meryl Streep as the most feared Insect Queen, and Dave Franco as Titus, her psychotic son with authoritarian instincts.
While laughs are clearly what Hoppers is aiming for most, it manages to hit you in the feels, too. George and Mabel’s growing friendship is the emotional core, and grounds the story even as the action grows more intense and somewhat out-of-control. It’s hard not to fall in love with George and the trust he places in others to do what’s right. When he gets disappointed, it’s a heartbreaker, but it’s also rewarding to see how George breaks down Mabel’s tough exterior.
The only thing that doesn’t quite work is Mayor Jerry, who is slightly underwritten as a nemesis and even more so later in the film. In a way, it’s understandable the decision to not paint him as a completely evil corporate politician; one of Hoppers‘ major themes is that every rival is just a friend in waiting, but it also doesn’t make for the most compelling story when there’s a clear outcome that we all want to see.
Leave it to Pixar to make a call to activism in a film that has grumpy talking bears and a Fish Queen who gets transported around in a mobile fish bowl. Hoppers is unabashedly goofy, but like the best Pixar movies, it manages to blend humor with real world concerns and a heaping dose of humanity.
Hoppers opens in theaters on March 6th.
