‘Hoppers’ Review

Featuring the voices of: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Steve Purcell, Ego Nwodim, Nichole Sakura, Meryl Streep, Karen Hule, Vanessa Bayer | Written by Jesse Andrews | Directed by Daniel Chong

Pixar make a welcome return to form with Hoppers, a delightful sci-fi comedy that’s consistently inventive, full of heart and very, very funny. It’s only March, but this is already one of the best films of the year.

A prologue establishes young Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) as an anger-prone animal activist who’s caught freeing every caged animal in her school in the opening scene. Afterwards, her kindly grandmother (Karen Huie) takes her to a peaceful woodland glade by a beaver dam, which becomes her happy place.

Years later, Mabel is now a 19-year-old college student and a fierce animal-rights activist, especially when she learns that smarmy Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) plans to blow up her beloved glade to make way for a motorway, since all the animals have mysteriously disappeared. Sneaking around the glade at night, Mabel makes an astonishing discovery: her biology professor, Dr Sam (Kathy Najimy), has perfected a technology called “Hopping” that allows a human to transport their brain into a robot animal avatar and communicate with animals.

Having hopped into a robot beaver avatar, Mabel heads to the glade, where she befriends mild-mannered Beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan) and tries to persuade him to help save the animal community. However, taking action will require a consensus from the rest of the animal council, including Meryl Streep as a haughty Insect Queen butterfly.

Hoppers is directed by Daniel Chong, the creative genius behind Cartoon Network’s wonderful We Bare Bears animated series (Moynihan voices Panda on the same show). It’s also written by Jesse Andrews, who previously wrote Luca, one of Pixar’s best films, and together they make quite the formidable team – here’s hoping they get to collaborate on another Pixar project in future.

Andrews’ script is packed with hilarious gags – indeed, it has more big laughs than any other animated comedy in recent memory. Highlights range from a very funny line about Avatar to a lovely running gag about animals discovering emojis to another inspired running gag about animals accepting the fact that they might get eaten by bigger animals and that’s just the way it is.

Chong’s direction is equally impressive. There’s a lot going on and he juggles it all beautifully, maintaining both a thrilling pace and a high gag rate. He also orchestrates some delightfully off-the-wall set-pieces, such as a freeway chase that involves an airborne shark named Diane (Vanessa Bayer).

The voice work is wonderful too. Curda makes a lively and passionate lead, and Hamm brings surprising layers (eventually) to what could easily have been a standard villain role – the moments when Mayor Jerry and Mabel are just shouting at each other are lovely throwaway gags.

There’s also strong comic support from Moynihan, who brings George a charming, warm-hearted quality, and from Najimy, who gives Dr Sam a very funny schoolmarm–ish mad professor vibe (with just a dash of Peggy Hill). Similarly, Dave Franco is a stand-out as the Insect Queen’s caterpillar son Titus, a tyrant in waiting.

One expects a high standard of animation from Pixar, and Hoppers is no exception – the character designs are lovingly detailed and the landscape work and general world-building are both striking. In addition, there’s a superb score from Mark Mothersbaugh.

In short, Hoppers is an absolute joy from start to finish, a laugh-out-loud sci-fi comedy that will appeal to adults and kids alike. Stick around for both a mid-credits and a post-credits scene, if you like that sort of thing.

***** 5/5

Hoppers is in cinemas now.