Check out our thoughts on Pixar’s Hoppers! Photos provided by Disney/Pixar PR for this review.
Hey All!
Within the first 30 minutes of Pixar’s Hoppers, the film, by way of dialogue, overtly acknowledges its connection to James Cameron’s Avatar. The scene itself refers to how University Scientists have designed a device to put the consciousness of a human into the artificially designed animals as way to study animals within their habitat; hopping bodies.
The story also resembles Avatar with its themes on protecting the environment and how nature is often suffers in pursuit of the civilized progression of humankind. The same themes are also found in other animated classics such as Fox’s Fern Gully and Studio Ghibli’s Princess Monokoke.
The part of the story in Hoppers which is not covered in the aforementioned films is that the animal kingdom in Hoppers decides to strike back. This is more reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s Pom Poko, in which racoons band together to fight the development of suburban homes and a golf course. In Hoppers, the mayor of Beaverton is wanting to destroy a creek and the land to make way for a highway.
Where Hoppers stands apart from all the previous iterations of this story is how the human champion of the wildlife and the land is connected. The heroine of Hoppers is Mabel Tanaka, a young university student who has been trying to liberate animals and fight industrialization since she was a child. In addition to always being a champion for animal freedom, Mabel also developed a connection to the creek which is in jeopardy by way of spending years of her life at said creek with her equally nature loving grandmother who, in Pixar and Disney tradition, is now deceased.
When the film catches up to Mabel (Piper Curda from May December and Teen Beach Two) in present day, we see she has the spirit of a fighter and combats, what looks like, every single development the mayor of Beaverton (Jon Hamm from Mad Men) initiates; they are on a first name speaking basis. The latest development is the destruction of a creek to make way for a highway.
She learns from one of the university professors, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy from Hocus Pocus) that if a beaver takes residence in the creek, them rebuilding the dam will bring back the other animal inhabitants and reestablish the ecosystem and halt development. While attempting to lure a beaver, Mabel encounters an artificial beaver and follows it back to the source which begins the adventure.
On this adventure, Mabel, with her consciousness in the artificial beaver, learns of the various animal kingdoms and the rules by which they live. The King of the Mammals is a beaver named George played by Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live alum) with whom Mabel builds a very strong friendship and finds a place of value as the “Paw of the King”, a not so subtle but very cute Game of Thrones reference. Mabel, with her fiery passion, inspires an animal kingdom revolution which ends up being more intense and dangerous than she bargained for.
Hoppers is very much a story about revolution in that it asks people to change their paths and how they live their lives; the revolution in question is the ability for humanity and nature to coexist. When presented with the concept of the animal revolution, many of the kingdoms side with a more intense approach by stating they want to “squish” the humans the same way the humans squish them.
King George’s passiveness prevents the contrasting view of a more peaceful revolt which Mabel is both more practiced in and in favor of. From this point in the film, we see how the effects of a more intense revolution and why a more peaceful revolution in which we change how we work today by seeing one another’s perspective, provides a favorable outcome to everyone involved.
Fans of Pixar in general will also enjoy the wealth of easter eggs sprinkled through the film. References are made to Up as the schematics for a talking dog collar are revealed, a young turtle named Crush (same name as the sea turtle from Finding Nemo) is liberated in one scene, Mabel’s last name is Tanaka like one of the characters from Big Hero Six, and the caterpillar who is Prince of the Insects resembles Heimlich from A Bug’s Life. And, as per usual, the animation is perfection.
Pixar’s technology and art development maintains the highest of animation standards with its illustration of the trees, water, dirt, etc… of nature; I have always believed that no animation studio captures water the way that Pixar does and Hoppers is just another notch in the belt of proving that belief correct.
The messages of Hoppers to be both peaceful in how we change our lives as well as why it’s important to protect wildlife and nature, are made very clear so that the intended message is understood by the intended youthful audience. The moments of humor in Hoppers is also very big and the laughs come easy.
