“Rule number two,” explains King George (Bobby Moynihan) to fellow beaver Mabel (Piper Curda). Mabel learns this rule of the animal kingdom a bit too quickly when she bursts into the pond and tries to save sleepy beaver Loaf (Eduardo Franco) from the jaws of a hungry bear. Mabel, see, actually hails from the human kingdom. She doesn’t know the rules of the pond, but needs to learn them to protect them environment and animals that she loves.
Mabel arrives at the pond in beaver form through a complicated, but totally delightful, adventure. Her rabble-rousing activism inspires her to protect the pond, since it was a safe space she cherished with her late Grandma Tanaka (Karen Huie). All the animals have left the pond, and Mabel wants to know why, especially since that allows suave but sneaky Mayor Gerry (Jon Hamm) to bulldoze the beautiful oasis to make way for a new road. Mabel’s professor, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimi), advises her that beavers are cornerstone animals. If one returns and starts to build a dam, more animals will too and the ecosystem will rebound.
It takes a hop, skip, and a jump to get that beaver back. Actually, it’s a firm hop, since Mabel stumbles upon Dr. Sam’s research, which entails “hopping” a human mind into an astonishingly realistic facsimile of a beaver. Mabel daringly hops and vows to trigger the cycle of renewal in the pond.
Director Daniel Chong and screenwriter Jesse Andrews find in Hoppers a joyous adventure through the animal kingdom. The film distills a rather complicated premise into one that should spark the minds of all audiences. Hoppers builds one of the stronger worlds of the Pixar kingdom of late. Much like the Inside Out universe, the pond of Hoppers is a contained space with its idiosyncratic rules. But the laughs come bigger and better since it’s not needlessly complicated in the way that some recent animated films are as they aim to create distinct worlds. Chong, Andrews, and their team smartly use the perceived simplicity of the natural environment to their advantage. Hoppers doesn’t get bogged up in explaining the rules of the game because so many viewers will already relate to them.
Beaver Mabel and her animal friends also show off some top-notch design. The animals’ fur has soft and downy textures, and Hoppers finds the sweet spot between respecting animal traits, movements, and mannerism without fully anthropomorphizing the characters once Mabel hops into their world. There’s a great sense of play in the fine line that distinguishes humans from their animal friends.
As Mabel navigates the animal space, her beaver-bot contains a language encoder that enables her to understand creatures’ dialect. Hoppers finds a really fun gag that conveys the on/off language switch. The animals have eyes that are fully black—cartoonishly so—when in “animal mode” and they develop white eyes with black pupils when they have the ability to communicate with humans. Besides offering a wonderful sight gag that furthers the narrative switches, Hoppers subtly invites a story about animal sentience. The film conveys how animals have rich thoughts and emotions, but ones that we simply don’t understand in our limited human capacity.
As Mabel learns to talk with the animals, she sees the pond anew. Loaf introduces Mabel to King George, who takes an immediate shine to her. Mabel learns that each class of the animal kingdom has a monarch—a Mayor Gerry, if you will—and King George summons the animal council at her suggestion to mobilize all the leaders to work together to reclaim the pond.
This council meeting inspires an unexpected twist, and a riotous, laugh-out-loud hilarious turn of events that perfectly captures the madcap sense of play that Hoppers brings to the table. The animal council includes a chorus of A-list names, including Meryl Streep in her first film since Don’t Look Up . It’s a brief, but memorable performance as she reigns supreme as the Insect Queen. This rare performance in an animated film by Streep accentuates her ability to sublimate her star persona into any variety of unrecognizable voices. She’s deliciously evil here as she summons “a squish” on Mayor Gerry with an eye for world domination.
But before the pond can cry “Hail to the Streep!” Mabel’s mission challenges her to unite all animals, both human and non, as she recognizes Mayor Gerry’s right to be part of the community despite their differences. Hoppers’ adventure takes flight with a clever and compelling environmental call to action. It uses its fable smartly as it unfolds a story about what it means to be a responsible person in a wider ecosystem of which humans play a small part. Mabel offers a strong young lead to take audiences along for the ride, and Curda’s engaging vocal performance lends the film a spark of vitality that serves the message well.
The film’s lesson about sustainability respects the intelligence of its younger viewers, but also speaks in an accessible way for generations who share Mayor Gerry’s mindset about the land as something ripe for humans to develop and harvest. Through Mabel’s spunky spirit and her ability to harness the call of the wild, the film creates a refreshingly productive portrait of community. Hoppers reminds audiences with heart and humour that we’re all part of the same jungle.
