by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
19-year-old Mabel (Piper Curda) loves nature and the animals of the forest around Beaverton, where she lives. So, when Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) announces plans to destroy a glade of the forest to make way for a freeway, Mabel concocts a plan to repopulate the glade with animals. Along the way, she discovers an elaborate undercover operation at her university that enables her to interact with the forest’s animals as a beaver. With the help of the mammals’ leader, King George (Bobby Moynihan), Mabel fights to prevent the forest’s complete destruction and, along the way, discovers the animal world has a few other secrets.
Pixar is back with another original story featuring a powerful message with Hoppers, before the more highly anticipated sequel later this year. Although when I say ‘original,’ I use that term loosely, only because it’s not a sequel. After all, the premise here touches on the environment. It involves the main character using technology to become a member of a group with whom they are negotiating. In doing so, they fight back against the big, evil entity that are trying to destroy things for profit. Yeah, it’s a good thing Disney owns that James Cameron franchise, too. The main character even verbalizes how similar the setup is to Avatar early on, a tactic I’ve never really understood; acknowledging plagiarism doesn’t make it okay. It doesn’t help that that setup was already pretty familiar to the film audience, even in 2009 when Avatar came out. With that said, Hoppers makes up for its lack of originality in its story with a more unique presentation. It does a good job of making this familiar idea seem more original, with a vibrant collection of characters and a variety of interesting visuals.
What’s interesting about the James Cameron style of the setup is that it’s probably the least interesting thing about the whole story. Things become far more compelling after Mabel enters the animal world and learns about their society and rules. At the forefront there are two rather contradictory ideas: if you get caught by a predator, you allow them to eat you, and everyone looks out for each other, no matter how small. These confusing rules, along with every animal going along with this way of running things, give Mabel and, in turn, the audience an interesting fish out of water feel for a world she thought she understood. The sharp dialogue and diverse characters help give the world a more comedic vibe, suggesting that nothing is meant to be taken too seriously. The large number of different characters tells Mabel different things, and many are attempting to stop her from achieving her goal for various reasons, which makes the opening act somewhat confusing. I was never quite sure who I was meant to trust and who was actually in the right in what they were saying. However, perhaps this confusing mixed message is intentional. In real life, there is no clear right or wrong answer to big questions about the environment.
One clear way this story differs from Avatar is that there isn’t a comic book-style villain like Colonel Quaritch. Pixar has often prided itself on rarely having clear, full-fledged villains. The typical villain of a Pixar story believes they are the hero of their own story. So, it’s interesting that the character of Mayor Jerry is played up as more of a rival in the first half of the story. Later, other characters are introduced who could also be seen as villains, but who present different ideas for dealing with the situation. There is also a debate scene that, in many ways, reminded me of Game of Thrones; in fact, a character is even given the role of “Paw to the King” at one point. The story seems to set up the world as having many different tribes of animals, none of which are good or bad; they simply all have their own needs and positions on things. However, they spoil this idea in the final act with a twist villain played more for laughs, with their master plan being to get someone eaten by a shark, on land!
However, outside of this last-second villain, the final act is a lot of fun. The action sequences are visually masterful, with Pixar utilizing all its talent. The water and fire in this are photorealistic, and the other environments are similarly visually impressive. These visuals are accompanied by fast-paced and thrilling chase and fight sequences. The climax is very reminiscent of Finding Dory in that you are never quite sure when things are done, and more and more stuff keeps happening. The dialogue is similarly tight and constantly witty. Writer/Director Daniel Chong, best known for the sitcom We Bare Bears, has written many humorous one-liners that, at times, are delivered like a machine gun of gags. The final act is frantic and simply never stops.
With all the fast-paced humor in the dialogue, the cast had an important job: deliver it in a way that keeps you engaged while also laughing, and they all do a first-rate job. A particular standout is Moynihan; the humor in his delivery is very enjoyable and adds a lot of likability to his character. I also enjoyed Kathy Najimy in a supporting role as one of the scientists, who has plenty of fun moments.
All in all, despite being up front about it, Hoppers doesn’t borrow too much from Avatar in terms of messaging or its core story. While it starts a little convoluted with some of its ideas and character motives, the story becomes a lot easier to get behind by the second act. There is a fantastically quick pace to the action and humor for much of this, and while it is a lot to take in, things never get dull; there is always something new happening. Some of the themes seem a little muddled to me, but that may be because I’ve only seen this once; it may become clearer with repeated viewings. But there seems to be a similar message here to WALL-E about the environment, and while it’s certainly not on par with that masterpiece, it does have a few good moments that convey it without feeling preachy. Hoppers is unpredictable and greatly entertaining throughout.
Rating: Liked It
Hoppers is now playing in theaters
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