Hoppers Review
This middling Pixar entry does little to buck the norms, and once again resorts to an animation style that looks distinctly uninspired.
Mabel (Piper Curda) is a 19 year old animal lover, whose favourite place in the world - a little glade - is being destroyed to make way for an overpass by Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm). Mabel uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver in a bid to bring the wildlife back to her glade and stop the construction, but in doing so uncovers a mysterious animal world beyond her imagination.
Hoppers plays around with some body swap concepts that can, perhaps, be considered a somewhat out there swing for the famed Disney Pixar. But that’s about it when it comes to big swings for this film.
Instead, what we’re mostly fed is semi-cute animals rendered in vague detail, presenting an environmentalist message that never truly hits, with a tacked on family melodrama that feels intensely forced. Hoppers is the sort of low-hanging fruit that has set Disney Pixar back decades, and barely can stand in the shadow of their former glory.
That said, the one thing that can be said for this middling film is that it is mercifully short. For kids with short attention spans, this might be a better choice than some of the longer and better kids fare out there - but it’s a small tradeoff for having to sit through what can at times be an intensely mind numbing experience.
