Pixar Finally Lets Itself Go Off the Rails
Hoppers feels like Pixar finally remembered how to be weird. For the last few years, it felt like the studio was stuck in a cycle of high-concept therapy sessions, which is fine, don’t get me wrong. But you have to admit that there’s a specific kind of magic that happens when they just let a filmmaker go slightly off the rails. And that my friends has resulted in Hoppers being an absolute delight with equal parts chaos, humour and charm.
Activist Energy in a Beaver Body
Director Daniel Chong, in his first feature with Pixar, spins a narrative that’s weird, wild, and unexpectedly wise. At its core is Mabel, with the perfect amount of “done with everyone’s crap” energy, voiced by Piper Curda. Mabel is a determined young activist, who is mourning her grandmother and is trying to save a local glade from a bypass. To do it, she “hops” her consciousness into a robotic beaver to infiltrate the animal kingdom. She literally becomes the change she wants to see. Yeah, I know it’s a high-concept hook, but it’s one that gives the movie room to zig when you expect it to zag.
The “Pond Rules” and Looney Tunes Logic
At first glance, you’re probably thinking that this sounds like a cartoon for a Saturday morning. right? But then the movie actually starts, and you realise it’s operating on Looney Tunes logic. The best parts of the film are the “Pond Rules.” There’s this community of animals led by King George (Bobby Moynihan, who is a delight), and they have these dryly practical laws. One of them is basically: “If a predator needs to eat you, just let it happen, after all it’s all part of the circle of life. So don’t be a jerk about it.” When Mabel tries to intervene and save a beaver from a bear, it doesn’t lead to a heroic moment but to a bureaucratic nightmare and, eventually, a full-on animal uprising.
A Visual Trick That Makes the World Feel Alive
Visually, there’s this brilliant trick where the animals look different depending on who’s looking at them. When humans see them, they have those beady, realistic “real world” eyes. But when we’re in Mabel’s perspective as a beaver, they transform into expressive, cartoonish characters. It’s a subtle touch, but it makes the world feel lived-in and personal rather than just a tech demo.
Chaos, Sharks, and a Machiavellian Insect Prince
I’m sure you will find this movie to be hilarious regardless of your age. It leans into absurdity without ever feeling disconnected from the story’s emotional core. Yet for all its kooky energy, the movie has a lot of heart. There’s a clear message about empathy and connection woven into the core of the adventure. Mabel’s mission to protect the glade from destruction becomes a broader call for coexistence and understanding, not just between humans and animals, but among all kinds of beings. It’s a theme Pixar has used before, but here it’s delivered with a lightness of touch that keeps it from feeling preachy.
Beneath the Absurdity, A Story About Grief
Now I am not saying that the movie is perfect. I mean, there are some really chaotic scenes that will get you in a twist. For example the third act has a flying assassin shark and a Machiavellian insect prince voiced by Dave Franco, who is doing a lot in the best way possible. It moves so fast that some of the logic starts to fray at the edges. Not to mention the villain, played by Jon Hamm, who is much like a caricature of every “progress-at-all-costs” mayor we all know too well. But that didn’t bother me at all. I was too busy laughing at the beaver jazzercise. I also really enjoyed the animation style which was familiar but refreshingly inventive. From scrappy rodents to a chorus of feathered and furred denizens, each brings their own colour to the woods’ as the riotous cast of critters.
Messy, Vibrant, and Deeply Human
Hoppers is a story about grief and how anger that makes you feel like you’re fighting the world alone. It’s got that classic Pixar “cry-in-your-popcorn” moment especially in the scene involving Mabel’s grandmother. That really pulls at your heart strings. But it is also joyfully ridiculous everywhere else. It’s the most fun I’ve had at a Pixar movie in years. It’s messy, it’s vibrant, and it’s deeply, weirdly human. If this is the new direction the studio is taking in valuing a good gag and a strange idea over a polished, safe narrative, then consider me in.
