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That wild man Film Brain reviews this Pixar sci-fi comedy, which might be the craziest premise they've had in one of their movies to date: Avatar with beavers!
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00:00Pixar is going wild in every sense of the word when you leap into the world of their sci-fi
00:05comedy, Hoppers.
00:22Set in the city of Beaverton, environmental activist Mabel Tanaka, voiced by Piper Curder,
00:27is trying to stop Mayor Jerry Jean Razzo, voiced by Jon Hamm, from building a freeway through a glade that
00:32means a lot to her.
00:34One night she discovers that her college professor, Dr. Sam Fairfax, voiced by Kathy Najimy,
00:38has developed a secret technology called Hoppers,
00:41enabling people to transfer their minds into robotic animal bodies to study their behaviours.
00:46Mabel hijacks a Beaver Hopper and integrates herself into the animal world by befriending King George,
00:51voiced by Bobby Monaghan, but her attempt to get them to help save the glade
00:55accidentally leads to an animal uprising.
00:58I think this has to be the maddest premise for a movie that Pixar has done today,
01:02and that's really saying something when you think about it.
01:05This is a studio that has proudly made films about a girl that transforms into a giant red panda,
01:11a Romeo and Juliet romance in the world of elemental people,
01:15two movies set in personified emotions of a girl's psyche,
01:18and a film where a pensioner uses balloons to fly his house into the air.
01:22Oh, and that last one featured a dog with a talking collar,
01:25which, amusingly, gets a little in-joke in Hoppers, fittingly.
01:29So it isn't really that Pixar doesn't make movies with outlandish concepts,
01:34because they absolutely do all the time.
01:37But in a weird way, the execution of those ideas means that you're never really thinking about that,
01:43because they always carefully balance the tone.
01:45They always focus on the emotional heart of those stories,
01:48which means as fantastical and whimsical as they get,
01:51there's always something to ground them.
01:54Hoppers feels a bit different.
01:56Now, that's not to say that it doesn't have those emotional elements,
01:59because it absolutely does, and we'll get to that in a bit,
02:02but a lot of it is absolutely madcap in a way that they've rarely done before.
02:07It's Pixar with a screw loose,
02:09which is why it feels so unique and absolutely so much fun to watch.
02:14Hoppers is directed by Daniel Chong,
02:16and this is the first film he's helmed for the studio.
02:18But he's actually got a long history of Pixar,
02:20having been a story artist on the likes of Cars 2 and Inside Out,
02:23and more recently, he's been part of the Pixar's senior creative team,
02:27overlooking their output since 2022.
02:29He's also the creator of the hit show We Bare Bears,
02:32which, in many ways, Hoppers feels like the spiritual successor to that,
02:36more than a lot of Pixar's own work.
02:38Chong came up with the story with writer Jesse Andrews,
02:41who previously did the script for Luca,
02:43and it definitely seems like the approach with Hoppers
02:45was not just to lean into the weirdness of the high concept,
02:48but double down on it,
02:50and it's probably the closest that Pixar has come to going full-on Looney Tunes.
02:55It is nuttier than a Skrull's treehouse stash.
02:58The idea of people putting their consciousness into synthetic animal bodies
03:01definitely owes a lot to the Disney-owned Avatar,
03:04so much so there's even a gag where Mabel points that out
03:07and Dr. Sam screams,
03:08this is nothing like Avatar!
03:10But it's certainly an amusing send-up of that idea,
03:12especially because,
03:14and I'll just come out right here and say it,
03:16this is a better film than any of the Avatar movies,
03:19because it has that same environmental message,
03:21though with a lot more nuance,
03:22and isn't anywhere near as preachy or self-serious.
03:25And it doesn't have the weird indigenous appropriation either,
03:28so Hoppers is a clear winner in my book.
03:31But once you buy into an idea as bonkers as this one,
03:34almost anything goes from that,
03:36and the gags in this are so absurd
03:37that they border on the downright surreal at times.
03:40Probably my favourite running gag
03:42is the repeated visual of a shark being air-lifted by a flock of birds,
03:46which is just such a delightfully bizarre visual
03:49that it cracked me up every time it comes up.
03:52And the humour is surprisingly dark at times too.
03:56One of the things this reminded me of
03:58was DreamWorks' The Wild Robot,
04:00which similarly puts sci-fi into nature.
04:03This doesn't quite have the same emotional punch as that film did,
04:07but what it does share with it
04:09is the same sense that death is a casual part of the natural world in its order.
04:13You've got all of these displaced animals from around the glade
04:16that are forced to live together around this pond,
04:19so they all exist by pond rules.
04:22And rule number two is,
04:23when you gotta eat, eat.
04:25So a very minor character might be chatting away to Mabel,
04:29and then suddenly they're swallowed up to their death in an instant,
04:32casually killed off.
04:34Both this and The Wild Robot just accept
04:37that that's the way The Animal Kingdom works,
04:39and it's amusingly brutal for a U-certificate movie.
04:43I think part of the reason why it feels so different
04:46is that the animation is also somewhat uncharacteristic for Pixar.
04:50The aesthetic of Hoppers has a far more cartoonish and exaggerated quality to it.
04:53There's a rapid-fire, almost manic vibe to it that you don't usually see from them.
04:59It's especially noticeable when Mabel has those moments of blinding rage,
05:03and you get these crash zooms into her face,
05:05which becomes very sharp and comic book-y,
05:08especially around the eyes.
05:10Those moments feel like they've drawn a bit of inspiration
05:12from what Sony Pictures Animation has been doing lately,
05:15especially something like The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
05:18I would say K-pop Demon Hunters,
05:20but that was in production at the same time as this.
05:23The character designs and animations are sometimes pushed to the extreme,
05:27but there are scenes where you get those more traditional moments of wonder
05:30when it comes to nature,
05:32especially the formations in the air when the council is called,
05:35and you get all these different kings and queens making dramatic entrances.
05:38It looks spectacular.
05:40Pixar has always been great at that kind of thing,
05:43even back in the days of A Bug's Life and Finding Nemo,
05:46and obviously they've improved dramatically since then.
05:49As you would expect,
05:50the animation here is consistently fantastic,
05:53although many of the other studios these days
05:55are very close to Pixar's quality,
05:57so there's not as much of a gap as there once was.
06:01But obviously nature is a major part of the film,
06:03especially thematically.
06:05I think a lot of movies about protecting the environment
06:08generally assume that saving nature in the woodlands is a given,
06:11because it's a good thing that we should all want,
06:14but they don't tie into their stories on a deeper level,
06:17so the message can seem a little hollow,
06:20and Hoppers absolutely make sure that the audience
06:22has an emotional connection to this theme.
06:24Much of this is through Mabel's grandma,
06:26who frequently used to visit the Glade as a place of peace and tranquility,
06:30and taught her granddaughter to do the same,
06:32to deal with her rage.
06:34It's during these scenes that the film allows us to slow down
06:37and absorb the beauty and silence.
06:40And this is where Pixar's signature empathetic storytelling comes into play,
06:45because the grandma only appears in a handful of scenes and flashbacks,
06:48but they tell the story of how Mabel came to be so close to her
06:52in a very economical and largely visual way.
06:56They're genuinely moving and poignant without being heavy-handed.
06:59Even the coat that Mabel wears through the film
07:02is something handed down from her grandmother.
07:05So through that, you understand why Mabel is fighting so hard to save the Glade,
07:10in that it's not just purely ideological,
07:12it's about preserving what was so precious to her grandma
07:15while she was alive, after she's gone.
07:18And that's a gift that she has passed down to protect.
07:21So no matter how zany Hoppers can get,
07:24and it does get pretty zany,
07:26it always has that anchor that brings it back to its heart ultimately.
07:30That's the part that reminds you this is a Pixar film.
07:34It's also a movie that I think is very much geared towards Gen Z,
07:38especially with the way that Mabel has characterized.
07:40We first meet her as a kid trying to free her class's pet turtle
07:44and a whole bunch of other animals from their school,
07:47and that sets up her defiant, rule-breaking spirit
07:49and a strong sense of injustice and connection with animals.
07:53She's very punk-coded,
07:55especially riding into frame as a teenager on a skateboard
07:58backed by Bikini Kill's Rebel Girl
08:00and from the fact that her arm is actually in a cast.
08:03So clearly she gets up to a lot of good trouble.
08:06She's impassioned and wants to change the world for the better,
08:09but the world isn't changing as fast as she would like.
08:13She feels like she's overlooked and ignored,
08:16and that fuels that deep sense of frustration she can barely contain.
08:20And when she feels like she isn't being listened to,
08:23she just erupts.
08:24And unfortunately, when her temper gets the better of her,
08:28that usually makes the situation much, much worse.
08:32She's principled, but she's also rash and impulsive.
08:35And I feel like I can relate to that on some level.
08:37And Piper Curder gives a fun voice performance in the role
08:40that's not shrill and unlikable,
08:43as the insect queen humorously describes Mabel at one point.
08:46I think what the story is really about is communication.
08:49After all, the Hoppers were designed as a way to interact with other species.
08:53And through that journey,
08:54Mabel gets to see a whole different world with new eyes.
08:58But she also learns to see her own differently too.
09:01Her interactions with King George are crucial to this,
09:04voiced by Bobby Monaghan, re-teamed with Chong from We Bare Bears.
09:08Apparently, George's father was more of a tyrant,
09:11but George is the most relaxed ruler that you can imagine.
09:14He's someone who's very open and friendly to everyone,
09:17and leans with kindness and acceptance.
09:20He doesn't judge, which of course makes sense,
09:22given that he has a pond of all different species
09:25that are forced to cohabitate with each other.
09:27Is he a bit naive?
09:29Absolutely.
09:30And he struggles to assert himself at times,
09:32but he has a more compassionate and forgiving view of others
09:35and the world around him,
09:37trying to assume the best in everybody.
09:40He doesn't hate humans or technology either,
09:42as one of the odder running gags
09:44is that he likes to carry around an old cassette player that he's found
09:47and get the wound to stretch to 80s exercise tapes.
09:51He's a beaver after all,
09:53so he understands that he's part of a bigger ecosystem
09:56where everyone plays their part,
09:58and that includes humans.
10:00It's that which he teaches to Mabel,
10:02who too often assumes the absolute worst in people
10:04and tries to go at things alone.
10:07She absolutely despises Mayor Jerry,
10:09especially that he is absolutely the enemy.
10:12And while Jon Hamm is perfectly cast as a smarmy egocentric,
10:16Jerry isn't an evil man, but a misguided one.
10:19He's doing what he thinks is right for his career
10:22and doesn't really understand why what he's doing is wrong.
10:25So while George definitely is too trusting,
10:28and there is that tension that he doesn't know
10:29that Mabel isn't who she says she is,
10:32I mean, she is basically the equivalent of that
10:33Spy in the World nature documentary
10:35where they disguise cameras as animals just if they could talk,
10:38his mindset is much better for diplomacy.
10:41The best way to affect change
10:43is if you can come to an understanding
10:45than through conflict,
10:47and especially if you don't, say,
10:49inadvertently argue the case to put a hit out on them.
10:52Just saying, that's going a bit too far.
10:56But there's also the fact
10:57there is a literal language barrier between the species.
11:00Humans can't understand the animal world and vice versa.
11:03When a hopper has their mind in the animal body,
11:05humans can't understand them
11:06because it sounds like squeaks and squawks.
11:09So the only way that Dr. Fairfax can understand Mabel
11:12is by communicating with her through a special earpiece.
11:15Of course, that's if Mabel wants to hear her,
11:17because she often chooses to switch her off.
11:20It's basically using advanced technology to talk to animals,
11:23but later on, the animals try to get past it
11:26via somewhat more primitive methods,
11:28namely by using the text-to-speech function on smartphones,
11:31which leads to the gags you've seen in most of the advertising,
11:34where the lizard can't stop mashing the emoji of itself.
11:37So this is not really a simple binary of
11:40nature good, technology bad,
11:42which this could have very easily fallen into,
11:44but more about how technology can be used
11:46for both good or ill,
11:48like Jerry is using with those high-frequency speakers.
11:51But if one truly wants to talk,
11:53it requires a bit of ingenuity
11:54and the ability to listen.
11:57I also have to give a bit of credit
11:58to Disney's marketing team
11:59for not giving away the third act of this movie at all,
12:02because that's where it gets truly unhinged,
12:04especially as the stuff where Jerry clearly tips his hat
12:07to things like the birds and jaws.
12:09It's also where you get the film's villains,
12:12including an amusing guest appearance
12:13from Meryl Streep as the butterfly insect queen
12:16who orders the attack on Jerry
12:17and her son Titus,
12:19who is voiced by Dave Franco
12:20when he matures into a butterfly.
12:22Well, maturing relatively speaking physically,
12:25but definitely not mentally.
12:27Franco's performance here is just scenery-chewing craziness,
12:31voicing a very insecure and furiously angry butterfly
12:34who is hungry for power.
12:36It's a very outsized ego for such a tiny insect,
12:40and Franco knows he can overact to his heart's content
12:43as he appears in the film's most outrageous scenes,
12:46which are just hilariously warped.
12:49So as you can probably work out at this point,
12:51I had a lot of fun with Hoppers.
12:52It's an out there idea,
12:54but the execution is so damn funny.
12:57Get it?
12:58Damn funny?
12:59Eh? Eh?
13:00Because beavers.
13:01But yes, I laughed a lot during this,
13:04and it's probably one of those family films
13:05that might actually be funnier for adults
13:08than it is for kids.
13:09But it also has a lot of the heart
13:11that we've come to expect from Pixar's films.
13:14It might not be the very best of their work
13:16because that's an exceptionally high bar,
13:18but it's highly entertaining and surprising.
13:21There is genuinely one moment in this
13:23where I heard people gasp around me in the audience.
13:26And it's a shame that much of Pixar's upcoming schedule
13:28is dominated by sequels
13:30like Toy Story 5, Incredibles 3, and Coco 2,
13:34which are playing it safe
13:36like a lot of Disney is right now
13:37by just following up to the hits.
13:40And that's understandable
13:41given how much of a rough time Pixar has had
13:43with their original films in the last few years,
13:45and especially with the outright flop of Elio last year.
13:49And it is a shame
13:51because these original films
13:52are where the spirit of early Pixar
13:54and the incredible run of first films
13:57can still be most felt,
13:58taking chances on bold concepts
14:00and turning them into feats of pure imagination.
14:04Luckily, it seems like Hopper's is set
14:05to break that wobbly box office track record.
14:08And I hope it sends a message
14:09that Pixar is at their best
14:10when they embrace the weirdness.
14:12And I would be very happy
14:14if they beavered away on much more things
14:16like Hopper's going forward.
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14:40Until next time,
14:41I'm Matthew Buck,
14:43feeding out.
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