Hoppers

Grade: A

I’ll spoil one funny line from Hoppers. A minor duck character uses the phrase “cluck around and find out.” The sound mixing made me think he said the regular version of the expression. Critics who saw it in a crowded theater have reported that the moment elicited an audible collective gasp, followed by laughter. Except for maybe Fackham Hall, this is the most I’ve laughed during a film in years, and it might be Pixar’s funniest that I’ve ever seen. It has a sense of humor that clicked with me and my weird little brain, with moments like this that happen again and again.

It’s not just funny. It’s a triumph in so many other departments as well. It’s visually beautiful from the very first shot, which immediately locked me in. A couple of songs on the soundtrack will bring some one-hit-wonder bands a wave of clicks, downloads, and YouTube comments such as “I’m here because of Hoppers.” It’s narratively beautiful. Every interaction and relationship between characters is sound, strong, and doesn’t feel like a throwaway. Getting back to the humor: it’s an eclectic selection. It could be a sight gag, a pun, a Disney in-joke, or just about anything from the bag of tricks.

In the city of Beaverton, we meet Mabel. She has such a dislike for animals in captivity, that an opening scene has her getting in trouble for stealing her class’s pet turtle, and attempting to set it free. Her grandmother, looking like a typical elderly person from the Pixarverse, lives by a forest glade inhabited by a beautiful melting pot of wild animal life. We jump ahead to the present day, where Mabel is a 19-year-old college student. The glade is barren, as the animals have moved on. Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), Beaverton’s mayor, has announced plans to tear what’s left of it down to build a freeway, which promises to improve commutes by up to four minutes. That gets the citizens excited.

The only thing that would halt the project and justify saving the glade is if there turned out to be any remaining life at all – even if it was just one beaver. Mabel goes undercover posing as one, via a new technology her school professors are secretly working on. A human consciousness can inhabit a robotic animal and experience life as that species. If the explanation of how this works is too cerebral, the movie then simplifies it to make it more understandable. In other words, as they say, “this (points to their brain), goes in this (points to the head of the robotic beaver).”

The talking animal plot point may sound like a cliche, and the environmentalist angle could have come across as didactic, but both are handled with utmost heart, love, life, originality, humor, and energy. The animals love Mabel, the new beaver in town. Bobby Moynihan is a show-stealer as the king of the beavers. His backstory will sound familiar. I usually don’t give voice work the credit it deserves, because it seems like one of the easiest acting jobs. You’re in a comfortable studio, recording your part at a time that is convenient with your schedule – especially if you have the clout and experience of Moynihan or Jon Hamm. The latter is hilarious as Mayor Generazzo. The animation and overall production will sell you on living with the land as well as a certain Jamaican crab sold us on how great it is to live under the sea.

Even most of the action scenes are exciting and inspired – particularly the introduction of the shark, and how she’s used. If an old road is traveled on (like the early tearjerky montage similar to the one in Up), or I simply didn’t care for some bits as much as others, I remember that some of my favorite songs have parts that I don’t like. When it works well, which is most of the time, I’ve rarely seen anything better from Pixar. Hoppers is a breath of fresh air, and up there with the studio’s best.

Grade: A