“This is nothing like ‘Avatar!’” screams Kathy Najimy’s Dr. Sam after hearing the premise of Pixar’s “Hoppers” repeated back to her. This biology professor has invented technology that allows humans to port their minds into robotic animal bodies and communicate effortlessly with real creatures. And to top it off, her lab has devised an earpiece that enables interspecies translation.
To the 19-year-old environmental activist Mabel (voice of Piper Curda), the “hopper” device seems like a godsend. She’s been fighting to save a forest glade from her nemesis, Mayor Jerry Generazzo (voice of Jon Hamm). He’s clearing the area for a freeway to save citizens all of four minutes in transit, which she abhors not only for its ecological impact. For this animal lover, who has long bristled at the apathy of how human institutions disregard nature, the site marks a sacred space of memory where her beloved grandmother once taught her to find stillness amidst the chaos.
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But the final authority Mabel must convince lies not within her own species. Animals vacated the watery habitat, leaving the dam unattended and clear for legal demolition by the city. She needs to lure a single beaver, the keystone species of the ecosystem, back to reinhabit the area. And in the body of her robotic beaver, she finds that this might be a heavier lift than anticipated. King George (voice of Bobby Moynihan), the head of the beaver lodge, appears perfectly content to spend his days leading the community in a Jazzercise-like aerobics class instead of repopulating their former home.
This might sound like a lot of plot mechanics to take in for a family movie, and that’s because it is. Director Daniel Chong, who also wrote the film’s story, moves breathlessly through an intricate web of human and animal organizations that stem from its sci-fi premise. There are the “pond rules” governing who gets to eat whom in the wild, which are themselves downstream from a whole-animal council uniting the species in law and order. All of them have to contend with Mayor Jerry, too, who will stop at nothing to see the centerpiece of his re-election campaign built. It’s rare to see a political power struggle so effortlessly masquerading as children’s entertainment.
And yet, “Hoppers” possesses enough madcap entertainment to help blunt the impact of whatever messiness might derive from Jesse Andrews’ screenplay. Pixar movies have always balanced humor and heart, but Chong hits the gas on comedy like few films from the studio have before. Some of its expertly executed gags might feel more at home in a DreamWorks Animation film. But plenty of the big laughs come from an incredibly game voice cast willing to put the pedal to the metal, most notably Dave Franco as an insect prince full of outsized imperial ambitions. This manic swirl is deliriously enjoyable, if perhaps a bit overwhelming on top of the overstuffed action-comedy story.
This pervasive sense of loopy, lovable fun helps compensate for the fact that “Hoppers” never gets close to opening the tear ducts. The film does contain several touching emotional moments, however, mainly rising from the mild-mannered King George slowly melting Mabel’s hardened heart. The rodent monarch’s willingness to trust that anyone’s better angels will prevail, even if a stranger, baffles a strident crusader trained to expect the worst from influential individuals.
The blossoming friendship and partnership between Mabel and George give “Hoppers” a sincere and solid center, even when the saga swirling around them grows chaotic. Something is intriguing yet underdeveloped in the dynamic with Mayor Jerry, who gets pulled into the fight in unexpected ways, as more than just a mere foil for Mabel. The suggestion that any enemy is just an unconverted ally makes for a worthy wrinkle in a film that resists categorizing any character into a neat box.
Thematically, this acts as a form of separation from “Avatar” as well. Where James Cameron fixates on humans restoring balance with the natural world, Daniel Chong’s focus lies on the impact people have on the institutions they construct for themselves. In a moment of clarity, Mabel notes that she fixates on changing a small thing, like stopping the freeway, because it’s the only way to make an impact in a world that otherwise feels broken beyond repair.
Remarkably, such an incisive insight into the impetus for activism can sit neatly within a story that also features a gaggle of birds swooping into the ocean to retrieve a giant shark that they can fly through the air. But such is the Pixar magic: to distill abstract human concerns into concrete illustrations that empower young viewers with the tools to face a challenging future. Amidst all the noise and nonsense, “Hoppers” makes a winning case for the enduring value of dignity and respect for all creation. [B]
“Hoppers” opens in theaters on Friday, March 6.
