Wacky is a descriptor that gets thrown around a lot when talking about animation, but it’s rarely one that applies to Pixar movies. They don’t often use the medium in a way that recalls the most cartoonish roots of the genre. That’s not to say that their characters don’t get up to various hijinks through their stories, but they are rarely matching the manic aesthetic made popular by the Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry or the number of other cartoons that were popular in the early days of film and TV. Pixar often strikes what would be close to a 50-50 balance between serious storytelling and off-the-wall jokes.
Though there is a nice emotional core at its center, the balance is more like 80-20 in favor of comedy for Hoppers. The latest original Pixar film shares most in common with 2022’s Turning Red, an extremely charming and unabashedly silly film about puberty. That was director Daniel Chong’s first movie as a part of Pixar’s Senior Creative Team (Domee Shi of Bao fame actually directed the film). Chong has been with the company since Cars 2 in 2011, and Hoppers is his directorial feature debut. He also has a background at Cartoon Network, working as the creator of We Bare Bears, a 140-episode animated sitcom that ran in the late 2010s. My point is that much like what happens in the plot of his film, Chong’s brain appears to be a blend of all of the tools needed to make a multi-faceted, entertaining and touching animated movie.
Hoppers’s story is a good blend of the tropes expected from a Pixar movie and some truly out-there plot developments. Set in the fictional town of Beaverton, Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is a rebellious college student whose defiance and stubbornness is both her greatest strength and weakness. She is an extremely vocal environmental activist, raised by her recently-passed grandmother (Karen Huie) to love all things in the natural world (in an interesting twist on the formula, Mabel’s parents aren’t really in the picture). The two of them bonded over the serenity of the Glade, a once-lush habitat for wildlife that has been disrupted by Mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm) and his plan to expand the city’s highway right over the natural land. Jerry is a smooth talker (he looks like Gavin Newsom) and is well-liked by everyone but Mabel, who frequently protests and demonstrates at his various events.
We’re told that Mabel is a gifted student, though we never actually see her in class. She has a good relationship with Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy), which is why she’s especially shocked to learn that the doc and her two assistants Nisha (Aparna Nancherla) and Conner (Sam Richardson) have learned how to transplant their consciousness into the bodies of robotic animals (the titular “Hoppers”). Mabel hijacks one of the beaver robots in an attempt to save the Glade. She needs at least one beaver to be spotted in the area, but instead of just going there herself (a plot hole, I must admit), she finds and recruits King George (Bobby Moynihan), the leader of the area’s mammals.
The introduction of George and his merry group of animal friends is where the comedy of Hoppers really kicks it up a notch. They all have fun personalities–my favorites were the grumpy bear Ellen (Melissa Villasenor) and a happy-go-lucky lizard named…Tom Lizard (Tom Law). Moynihan is obviously a very gifted voice actor and comedic talent, and he creates a lot of great runway as the lovable, slightly in-over-his-head beaver monarch. His philosophy of animal and human coexistence clashes a bit with Mabel’s frustration with human greed, and her anger issues escalate in ways that are too amusing to spoil here. I’ll just say this; when it comes to riling up these animals to take back their rights and seek lethal revenge on the humans, Mabel is as convincing as Che Guevara.
After a solid but familiar set-up, Hoppers really hits a groove when it embraces the sci-fi and horror elements of its story. The animation looks unsurprisingly great. The characters move with a freeness that is reminiscent of the best of old cartoons, with a little dash of anime styling thrown in there for good measure. The voice cast matches the energy of the director and the animators. I wasn’t very familiar with Curda before this, but she brings Mabel to life in ways that define the specifics of her personality perfectly. Hamm is a great casting decision as the mayor, who you feel like you should hate, yet never do. There are some A-list talents in the supporting cast, including Dave Franco and, of all people, Meryl Streep in roles that play crucial parts in the film’s truly insane second act.
Pixar gives Chung a lot of leeway to go off the rails, and as he plays around, you see the influences. The movie directly name-drops Avatar to get that comparison out of the way, but there’s dashes of The Lion King, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Over the Hedge and, I kid you not, Game of Thrones in this stew. Hoppers is not the best Pixar movie by a long shot, but I guarantee you it’s the only one that can draw all of those comparisons, and that makes it a more-than-entertaining watch alone.
Hoppers is in theaters Friday.
