A 19-year-old animal lover uses technology to place her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries in the animal world beyond her imagination.
Pixar has been struggling lately due to streaming services, COVID-19, and people’s demand for sequels and reboots rather than new original movies. The latter reason is hard to endure with that recent film, “Elio,” flopping at the box office while the sequel, “Inside Out 2,” released in 2024, became a box-office hit, making over $1.6 billion and becoming the highest-grossing Pixar film ever (as well as the highest-grossing film of 2024). “Hoppers” follows animal-loving college student Mabel, who transfers her mind into a lifelike robotic beaver using a new technological device called “Hoppers” to communicate with animals and save their habitat from human destruction, inadvertently sparking an uprising in the process.
Piper Curda voices Mabel Tanaka, a 19-year-old Japanese-American college student who grew up with her grandmother in a forest glade rich with wildlife. Inspired by her late grandmother, Mabel develops a strong appreciation for nature and continues to protect the glade. When Beaverton’s mayor, Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), plans to replace the glade with a freeway, Mabel campaigns to stop the project, despite public frustration and her biology professor, Dr. Sam Fairfax’s (Kathy Najimy), disapproval. Mabel discovers the “Hoppers” program, a technology that lets users transfer their consciousness into robotic animals. She uses this technology to become a robotic beaver, escapes the lab, and heads to the glade. There, she befriends Mammal King George (Bobby Moynihan), a beaver monarch who shelters displaced animals. Together, they team up to save the glade.
Daniel Chong (the creator of “We Bare Bears”) directs his first Pixar film and second feature overall, following “We Bare Bears: The Movie.” After returning to Pixar, Chong began developing “Hoppers,” with Curda, Moynihan, and Hamm joining the cast. The animation stands out, and the direction and writing are consistent. Mark Mothersbaugh’s score is also noteworthy. As Mabel’s character develops, the animators use her emotions and actions to share educational insights about animals and highlight the importance of her mission. While the plot draws comparisons to James Cameron’s “Avatar” and “The Wild Robot,” “Hoppers” offers a deeper exploration of Mabel’s connection to wildlife and her efforts to protect it. Notably, the animals’ facial expressions change when interacting with humans, giving them a classic cartoon quality, but revert to natural expressions when not understood.
Pixar’s “Hoppers” delivers a delightful, heartwarming tale about animals, science, nature, and wildlife. This film could easily be one of Pixar’s best original films yet. The animators and voice cast did a tremendous job (despite not including John Ratzenberger), and I believe the science and nature community will appreciate how well this film integrates science and wildlife. With a 104-minute runtime, this movie is a must-watch for families and children of all ages. Recently, the film has earned over $375 million at the box office, an impressive feat for an original Pixar film. It shows that it gave us a golden opportunity to support original movies rather than sequels, reboots, and remakes. Speaking of sequels, “Toy Story 5” is coming this summer.
Now available on Digital, and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, & DVD June 2nd
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