Reviews

In an age where a lot of animated films are sequels, prequels or spin-offs, Pixar has brought us the highly original Hoppers.

The family comedy revolves around “hopping” technology, which allows a person to transport their mind into a life-like robotic animal.

Enter Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda), a 19-year-old animal lover, activist and university student who is determined to fulfil her late grandmother’s wish and protect their favourite place, the glade.

She has tried everything to stop Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) from destroying the glade to construct the city’s new highway and she’s getting desperate.

When she discovers her professor Dr. Sam’s hopping technology, Mabel takes matters into her own hands and hops into the mind of a beaver and heads to a nearby pond, trying to get some of the animals to return to the glade.

Hoppers, which is essentially Avatar with beavers (something the film acknowledges itself), is unusual, inventive and laugh-out-loud hilarious.

But it’s not just light fun; the film is also filled with heart, stars a realistically angsty lead character, and delivers an important message about saving green spaces and caring for wildlife.

The story peaks when Mabel uses the hopping technology and visits the pond for the first time in her new beaver form. She is introduced to this whole new world by beaver George (Bobby Moynihan), the king of the pond, who teaches her “pond rules”, how to swim and make a dam.

The Pixar team does a fantastic job of building the world of the pond, creating distinct, quirky characters and trying to see things from the animals’ perspective.

Unfortunately, director Daniel Chong loses his strong grip on the story when the action moves away from the glade and into the city, where Mabel tries to save Mayor Jerry from vengeful animals. It’s still entertaining, but it’s not as exciting as the pond-based action.

Curda is perfect as Mabel, a teenager channelling her grief through rage, while Moynihan is adorable as the sweetheart George, and Meryl Streep and Dave Franco are the standouts as the formidable Insect Queen and King.

Despite the dip during the Mayor Jerry section, Hoppers is still an enjoyable, fun-filled film for all the family that reminds us why it’s important to protect Mother Nature. A strong return to form for Pixar.

In cinemas from Friday 6th March

By Hannah Wales

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