Hoppers is a fun family movie, but struggles to live up to the standard of Pixar’s best. Photo: Disney/Pixar.
In recent years, Pixar has been the most mismanaged asset in Disney’s catalogue.
Following the pandemic, Disney thought it would be a clever idea to take the most popular animation studio in history and strictly release its new films on its streaming service.
It then decided that cinemas were the way to go, but instead banked on sequels that should have been released years earlier. Now, they’ve jumped back into new IPs, but for some reason, they’ve decided not to promote them, leaving movies like Elio (2025) and Luca (2021) to die before their short cinematic releases even get off the ground.
Thankfully, Disney seems to have learned its lesson with its newest film, Hoppers, which has been impossible to avoid for anyone with a smartphone and internet access.
Hoppers focuses on Mabel, a young environmental warrior who is trying to protect a wetland that is near and dear to her heart from being turned into a highway.
Unfortunately for Mabel, the animals that inhabit the wetland have all left, leaving no reason to prevent the mayor from coming in and destroying the site.
However, upon visiting the local university, Mabel stumbles across a secret project that can transfer her mind into a prosthetic beaver, allowing her to communicate with the local animals.
With the technology, Mabel attempts to convince the animals to move back to the wetland and learn what forced them to leave in the first place.
Hoppers is a weird movie, and not in the wild-and-wacky kinda way, either.
The story is fine. It fits into the Pixar mould of picking a topical issue and presenting it in a fashion kids can understand, but the issue is, it just isn’t very engaging.
It switches from a quite simple premise to something completely over the top, with the back half of the film almost parodying the first half.
It gives the audience whiplash.
What starts as a film about a kid loving nature turns into a movie in which a shark is airlifted by ducks with the intention of dropping it on the town’s mayor.
That is wild.
Before you come at me with your pitchforks, telling me it’s a kids’ movie and I don’t need to be so critical, just remember, the likes of Toy Story, Monsters Inc and the other Pixar classics are classics because they mastered the balance between children’s entertainment and quality writing/filmmaking that transcends age.
Hoppers doesn’t.
It’s not a bad movie by any means, but when you’re having a family movie night, you’re more likely to pick Inside Out or The Incredibles than Hoppers, purely because they are more entertaining.
This is even more representative in Hoppers‘ animation. It’s tidy, sure, but it’s not very engaging.
Think of the last two years alone of animation. K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wild Robot, Spider-Verse, and even Pixar’s previous film, Elio, all have unique styles that make each scene pop.
Hoppers feels so safe in its animation yet so wild in premise, and as a result, the entire thing just kinda feels lost in itself.
I will give this film its flowers; it is quite funny in a sketch comedy kinda way.
Some scenes put animals in preposterous situations, and these individual gags are entertaining. However, they don’t lend themselves to improving the overall story.
The voice acting is also solid.
Piper Curda, Dave Franco, Jon Hamm and Bobby Moynihan are all very solid in their respective roles.
Each bounce off each other fairly well, with the interactions between Curda and Hamm being specific high points.
On one hand, Hoppers is a step forward in Disney’s handling of Pixar. It’s an original IP that isn’t going straight to streaming while also being advertised to the public.
On the other hand, it’s a bit too much without really doing much, and for that, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.
Hoppers is currently showing in cinemas across the country.
Original Article published by Jarryd Rowley on Region Canberra.
