Charles Merritt says that Pixar’s new film out this weekend serves up laughs, furry escapades, and a timely message about loving our neighbours—and the world God made
Film: Hoppers
Age rating: U
Runtime: 105 minutes
See this if you liked: Elio, Turning Red
Synopsis
Mabel Tanaka is determined to save the local glade from being turned into a highway so, when an opportunity presents itself to enter the body of a robotic beaver, she jumps at the chance to convince the animals to move back to their original habitat. However, messing with nature’s laws comes at a price…
Review
PIXAR used to be the standout animation studio, churning out instant classics like Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, the list goes on. But recently, their films have felt a lot smaller in scale, less ambitious. Perhaps it’s the increase in competition from other studios like SONY animation and Illumination but they’ve lost a little of their edge that used to make them feel so unique.
Unfortunately, Hoppers is one of these smaller films. It’s not bad but it doesn’t blow you away either and I’m not sure how memorable it’ll be in comparison to some of those earlier PIXAR movies I mentioned. Although there are some fun easter eggs to look out for that connect it to the legacy of old!
The film centres around Mabel, a feisty teenager who stands up for what she cares about
The film centres around Mabel, a feisty teenager who stands up for what she cares about. When the mayor, Jerry (voiced by John Hamm), decides to build a new highway that cuts through the glade that Mabel’s grandmother used to take her to as a way of relaxing, Mabel is understandably upset. Despite her protests, the mayor isn’t swayed by her love of the natural habitat – pointing out that the animals that once used to live there have all moved away.
Then the movie goes from 0 to 100 with the introduction of a technology that allows users to place their mind into a robotic animal body that allows them to communicate with other animals. The movie funnily calls themselves out at the blatant rip off of Avatar but sadly this movie doesn’t share the same scale or visual beauty of the Avatar movies.
Mabel enters the body of a beaver and manages to find the missing animals whilst learning about the complicated world of the animal kingdom
Mabel enters the body of a beaver and manages to find the missing animals whilst learning about the complicated world of the animal kingdom, where they help one another out (even if that means they need to become food for someone else…).
The animal characters are very charming and provide a lot of comedic moments that help pick up the pace of the film, although there aren’t really any standout characters in the same way other Disney movies have. King George the beaver is an overly trusting creature who finds himself trusting Mabel too much, only to then get in trouble with the rest of the Great Council – each animal group represented by a creature wearing a tiny crown. It’s at this point that you realise you have to really suspend your sense of reality and accept the laws of the movie. Unlike Toy Story or A Bug’s Life where you feel like you get to see the secret world of toys or bugs, this movie plays fast and loose with reality (especially when a flock of seagulls lift a great white shark out of the sea…).
Overall, it’s a funny movie, with some genuinely touching moments
The animation is a mixed bag – the animals are very stylised, looking too much like something from Secret Life of Pets at points than feeling like real creatures. The scenery and atmosphere is beautiful and reminds you of how great PIXAR can be. Towards the end of the movie, I was getting distracted by the light bouncing off the dust particles in the science basement they find themselves in - such a small detail but one that really puts PIXAR in a class of their own.
Overall, it’s a funny movie, with some genuinely touching moments and there are certainly worse ways to spend two hours in the cinema, but I’m not sure you need to rush to get a seat. You’d have just as much fun watching it on Disney+ three months down the line…
Faith thoughts
Inevitably for a film that has a lot of furry creatures, Hoppers picks up on the themes of stewardship and looking after the planet. God gave us responsibilities to care for the creatures He has made but, in our quest to constantly evolve and make things easier for ourselves, the human race has allowed our own comfort and ease to be prioritised above that of the natural world. And it’s not just the animals that we kick out of their natural habitats, we can also forget those who live in places that are affected by climate change and our greed to mine the earth’s natural resources for commercial profit and consumer satisfaction.
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Both Mabel’s grandmother and King George the Beaver spell out the moral messaging of the movie early on. It’s all about being part of something bigger than ourselves. I don’t know whether the movie was intentionally quoting High School Musical, which turns 20 this year, but the phrase ‘we’re all in this together’ came up again and again and again. And it’s true, this world is much bigger than our own personal worlds that we can sometimes retreat into. Our needs can often take up so much of our brain space that we pay very little attention to the needs of others, those close to us and those on the other side of the world. If we were to truly ‘love our neighbours’, we would take time to consider the impact of our actions upon the planet and all living things that live on it.
Revenge isn’t the same as justice. It doesn’t solve the problems you have; it simply creates new ones
For children and young people, and even for us as adults, we can at times feel powerless. We see the needs of the world, we hear the cries from our communities but can feel as though our little efforts don’t amount to anything. Mabel feels the weight of powerlessness when trying to stand up to the mayor but also when she tries to take matters into her own hands only for it to horrendously backfire.
Read more:
GOAT reminds Christian families to cheer for humility over hype
The problem with feeling powerless is that we can be tempted to take revenge on those who have made us feel that way. Revenge isn’t the same as justice. It doesn’t solve the problems you have; it simply creates new ones. Sometimes we have to accept the fact that people might not change, despite our best efforts and despite our prayers, and we must learn how to live with those that we disagree with. But we can find power in the Church and in the Body of Christ. We can find power in one another and ultimately in God who is the only one who can make things right. We all have our part to play in bringing the Kingdom of God closer day by day. And it is the Kingdom of God we ultimately want, not the Kingdom of the Beaver…
