Words Aaron Potter

You can always rely on Pixar for wildly inventive story concepts that other studios simply wouldn’t touch. Case in point: Hoppers. The latest offbeat family comedy from the creators of Toy Story and Inside Out isn’t the A Bug’s Life spin-off the title might suggest, it’s in fact a far more high-concept and original tale.

This one’s about angsty teenager Mabel who discovers she can “hop” into the mind of a robotic beaver via nifty newfound tech that allows her to befriend a whole forest of creatures. What begins as a wild experiment becomes a journey of unexpected connection and discovery as Mabel learns more about the animal kingdom, and herself, than she ever bargained for.

Hoppers marks the second feature-length movie from director Daniel Chong, the creative force behind Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears and an experienced Pixar artist with credits on favourites: Cars 2, Inside Out, Turning Red, Elemental, Elio, and more.

With rich animation, colourful critters of all kinds, and a voice cast that includes Meryl Streep, Dave Franco, Jon Hamm, and more, Hoppers is a throwback 
to the kind of weird and wildly imaginative Pixar comedies some say they don’t make anymore: one that’s as crazy as it is creative.

So “hop” to it, lose yourself in a zany adventure where nature and technology collide.

Animal Avatars

Here's your blueprint to the brilliant body-swapping tech at the heart of Pixar’s latest. Think Avatar meets Doctor Dolittle, where human consciousness can now be transferred into extremely lifelike robotic animals. For Mabel, it’s a dream come true: going undercover as a beaver and being able to talk to, and understand, animals! However, the infamous cinema adage about scientists being so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should still rings true. The consequences may not be quite as deadly as Jurassic Park, but the dangers are real. As Mabel meddles with the natural order and risks breaking the circle of life, she’ll learn the hard way what happens when tech goes too far.