Hoppers

More fun and inventive than the premise itself might suggest, Hoppers is great family-friendly entertainment that provides some genuinely unexpected plot developments and surreal comedy alongside the traditional Pixar humour.

Premise:  College student Mabel Tanaka is determined to save a local wildlife habitat from development by Mayor Jerry Generazzo, when she stumbles across a secret science experiment that would enable her to transfer her mind into the body of a robotic beaver.

Review:

I’ll confess that the premise of Hoppers didn’t leap out at me as a “must see” movie – partly because it does sound like a kid-friendly retread of the plot to Avatar (which is a point the film even acknowledges with a joke where the scientist who invented the technology to transfer a human consciousness into an artificial body in order to observe indigenous wildlife unconvincingly protests “it’s nothing like Avatar!”).  But the truth is, there’s much more to Hoppers than just its basic premise, and the story really doesn’t unfold in the way you’re probably expecting.

The first half of the film does play out more like a typical Pixar film, starting with the introduction of its passionate heroine, Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda).  But even then, Mabel has some key differences from many of Pixar’s other lead characters – not only is she a college student (so neither a child nor an adult), but she also feels like a very contemporary character, as she’s consumed by a drive to make the world a better place and to protect it from the damage caused by the older generations, but she finds herself facing (at best) apathy from her community and (at worst) open hostility from those in power.  All of which seems (sadly) to speak very much to today’s society.

“…the humour becomes a little more surreal & absurdist…”

Her desperation to make a difference by saving a local glade leads to her eventually transfer her mind into a robotic replica beaver, in the hope of bringing enough wildlife back to the area to force the authorities to halt Mayor Jerry’s (voiced by Jon Hamm) plans to concrete over the glade in order to extend a freeway.  Once in her new beaver body, Mabel crosses paths with a brown bear called Ellen and another beaver called Loaf, before eventually being taken to the Beaver King, George.  This first half of the movie is entertaining enough, but doesn’t hold a great many surprises and plays out pretty much as you’re probably expecting (not that that is likely to be a problem for the younger members of the audience).

But at around the halfway point, Mabel and her group go to see the Animal Council ... and from there, the film spun off in directions I wasn’t expecting.  The humour becomes a little more surreal and absurdist (in a good way), and culminates in the genuinely unexpected arrival of a character called Diane (who I won’t spoil here).

“…a well-judged blend of heart & humour…”

Overall, Hoppers isn’t likely to define a generation like some Pixar films have – but that’s perhaps an unreasonably high bar to set for any animated movie.  It still has some real thought and a message at its heart, but it’s also very funny – I would say the second half will definitely reward older viewers who have taken younger viewers to see this.

The film includes a couple of amusing mid-and-end-credit scenes, but its final scene before the credits sums up the film perfectly, with a well-judged blend of heart and humour.  While it may not be a “must see” movie, it’s hard to imagine anyone having anything less than a good time if they do give Hoppers a go.