Director: Daniel Chong
Starring: (voices of) Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Meryl Streep
Certificate: U
Run Time: 104 mins

Hoppers is the first of two Disney Pixar films this year, an original work from director Daniel Chong, who cut his teeth at the studio as a storyboard artist. It has quite a high-concept plot – Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is a 19-year-old with a deep love for the natural world. When the town mayor (Jon Hamm) announces plans to build a freeway that would cross over a pond, where a colony of beavers formerly lived, Mabel actively campaigns against him. She discovers her university professor is developing a technology called the ‘Hoppers program’ where a human can ‘hop’ their consciousness into a robotic animal to communicate with their respective species – a little like Avatar, if you will. After Mabel hops into a robotic beaver against her professor’s wishes, she makes friends with the local animal community to help save their habitat from destruction. Although Turning Red and Inside Out 2 both performed very well, Pixar’s recent crop of films haven’t been up to the studio’s usual standard in my view. Does Hoppers finally put them back on track?

Although not top-tier Pixar, Hoppers is one of the studio’s better efforts in recent years. It’s energetically paced with a sharp and fast-paced script with some decent jokes and puns, although it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny. More importantly, Chong’s film is a smart parable for climate change and the detrimental effects to the environment humans have, as well as showing kindness to animals – a good message for younger audiences. There’s some fun set pieces too, especially a chase sequence at the end of the film’s second act, as well as a spirited score by Mark Mothersbaugh.

As is customary for Pixar, Hoppers is beautifully animated and occasionally touching, especially an early sequence of Mabel spending time with her inspirational grandmother. Many Pixar films try to tug on the heartstrings, and although Hoppers has some tender moments, it gets the tone right in and the film never feels emotionally manipulative.

Where Hoppers looses its footing a little is in the villain department, where the story feels a little awkward as the film reaches its third act climax. But otherwise, this is a perfectly fun effort that should appeal to children and adults alike, with an important message at its core that anything can be accomplished if we work together. Hoppers might not be top-tier Pixar, but it’s certainly the studio’s strongest film since Turning Red.