TL;DR – A perfectly charming if conceptually muddied film.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid- and end-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Hoppers Review Introduction –

There was a time when Pixar could do no wrong, when every film they dropped was gold, and they were adored at the box office. We are no longer living in that era, with several of Pixar’s recent films being dropped straight to Disney+, which is never a good sign. But we are now jumping back to the cinemas with an original story, and that is worthy of checking out.  

So, to set the scene, Mable (Piper Curda) always grew up with a special connection with her grandmother (Karen Huie). She would take Mable down to a local glade where she could find her calm, watching the animals go about their lives. Well, Mable is now 19, her grandmother is now gone, and the spiteful mayor of Beaverton, Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), is trying to destroy the glade to put up an expressway. Mable is fighting with all her energy, but no one else seems to care, which is when she spots a lone beaver doing something odd. She follows it back to Beaverton University when she discovers her professor, Samantha “Sam” Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), has created Avatar technology allowing you to enter a robot animal and understand the world around you. Well, Mable just needs one beaver to move back into the glade, and she can stop the construction … So maybe it is time to download herself into a robot and try to find that one beaver who can make a difference.

Charm as a Superpower

To be honest, this is a film that understands how charming it can be and weaponises it from the start. You absolutely feel that Mable is right in saving that turtle, though maybe not the biting, and that endears her from the start. You get her energy, you get her drive, and you understand the legacy she is working in. The animation also does a wonderful job bringing her more chaotic side to life. Because you have that buy-in right from the start, you are willing to give Mable a lot of leeway when things start going pear-shaped.     

Another of the ways the film is charming is through the animation, which cleverly switches style depending on whether you can understand what the animal is saying or not. It is such a small choice, but it revolutionises the film and the way you connect with the characters by creating that extra visual layer. You want to explore the animal world even more than the film does because you want to know all the secrets it can reveal. It also neatly sidesteps the issue that a lot of films have when they want to have photo-realistic-ish animals that also speak human.

The Cast

Every member of the cast is a delight. Piper Curda absolutely nails Mable and helps translate what is not a cookie-cutter character to the big screen. Every moment that Bobby Moynihan is on the screen is made better by Bobby Moynihan being there. He becomes the emotional core of the film. Hoppers is a film that has Meryl Streep turn up and let her cut loose like there is no tomorrow, and that is still not the wildest thing that happens in the film … looking at you, Vanessa Bayer. John Hamm is fine as the antagonist, but I do think they should have probably kept Eman Abdul-Razzak as the voice of Titus. But that might just be a me thing.

Conceptually Muddied

There are times when you are watching a film that you need to keep in mind who the target audience is, which means that if you are pitching the film to a demographic who might not have thought about the concepts on display, it is okay if you are taking them through an introductory exploration. Think Barbie with feminism. However, even keeping that in mind, I am not sure they got the messaging on the environment locked down. It honestly feels like the screenplay was originally a lot more revolutionary, which would probably be the outcome of the film if we could talk to animals in real life. However, their rationales and explorations on responsibility feel messy and confused. It felt like it wanted to pull back on having an outright villain, for a ‘we can all be better’ message, but it just comes off as disingenuous character development. Much like their odd understanding of how you put out a canopy fire, it doesn’t torpedo the film, but it does leave you with moments of going “wait … what..?”        

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Hoppers? Look, you are probably reading this as a parent wanting to know if you can take your kids to this during the upcoming school holidays to give you some respite. On that front, I can tell you that the Lizard meme barely happens in the film, so it shouldn’t become a nightmare for you. However, while a lot of the film is a delight, it cannot pick a fight it wants to take on, which means you’ll walk out of there with very little idea of what the film wanted to say.   

Have you watched Hoppers? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Hoppers, we would recommend Luca to you because it also explores that moment when you come into your own as an adult and the impact of the world around you.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Hoppers
Directed by – Daniel Chong
Story by – Daniel Chong & Jesse Andrews  
Screenplay by – Jesse Andrews
Music by – Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography by – Jeremy Lasky & Ian Megibben
Edited by – Axel Geddes
Production/Distribution Companies – Pixar Animation Studios & Disney
Starring – Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Karen Huie, & Melissa Villaseñor
With – Lila Liu, Eman Abdul-Razzak, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Steve Purcell, Ego Nwodim, Nichole Sakura, Meryl Streep, Vanessa Bayer, & Joe Spano
Rating  – Australia: PG; Canada: G; Germany: 6; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: U; United States: PG