Pixar Knows It's Running Out of Ideas, and That's Okay

"This is nothing like Avatar! insist the defensive scientists who came up with the central conceit of Hoppers: a technology that, much like the one in Avatar, allows humans to mentally inhabit the artificially generated bodies of animals. It might be the best joke in the film and an unlikely bit of corporate self-deprecation - an acknowledgment by the mighty Pixar studios, once so dominant culturally and critically and financially, that they might be starting to run out of ideas."

"Hoppers follows Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda), a young animal lover desperate to stop a beltway development that threatens to do away with the beloved glade where she once found so much harmony and peace. Investigating the reasons why the many animals that once inhabited the glade have vanished, Mabel learns that once the beavers left, everyone else did too."

"It's to director Daniel Chong's and screenwriter Jesse Andrews's credit that they make it all go down so easy. (It helps, of course, that Avatar already familiarized us with this technological concept.) Once the plot eases into Mabel's experiences as an animal, the film comes to life."

Hoppers follows Mabel Tanaka, a young animal lover who discovers that researchers have developed technology allowing humans to mentally inhabit artificially generated animal bodies. When she learns that beavers have abandoned a beloved glade threatened by development, Mabel uses the Hopper technology to inhabit a robot beaver and investigate. She enters the animal world to understand why the creatures left and to stop a corrupt mayor's beltway project. Director Daniel Chong and screenwriter Jesse Andrews streamline the complex setup effectively, allowing the film to gain momentum once Mabel experiences life as an animal. The film demonstrates competent filmmaking with charm and engagement for younger audiences.

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