Pixar’s Hoppers: A Return to Original Storytelling Excellence

by

Pixar’s latest film, Hoppers, feels like a return to the studio’s golden age. Recently, there’s been discussion about whether Pixar still creates the same incredible movies it used to. From the mid-90s to the early 2000s, Pixar consistently released animated classics like Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles – it was a truly special era for animation.

Pixar had a brief setback with Cars, a movie that wasn’t particularly original or emotionally resonant. However, they quickly recovered and created some of their most beloved and impactful films, including Up, WALL-E, Ratatouille, and Inside Out. More recently, though, after Disney released some Pixar movies directly on its streaming service during the pandemic, the studio has struggled to regain its former creative strength.

Following disappointing box office results for Elio and Elemental, and the surprising success of Inside Out 2, Disney seems to have decided that sticking to sequels is a safer bet for Pixar. We’ll see Toy Story 5 this summer, and Incredibles 3 soon after. However, Hoppers—Pixar’s latest original film—demonstrates why continuing to create new stories is so important.

Hoppers Is Pixar’s Best Original Movie In Years

I’m so excited about this new show, Hoppers! It’s about this amazing girl named Mabel who’s a total nature lover, and she’s determined to protect animals no matter what. The story starts when they destroy the pond where she used to go with her grandma – the mayor wants to build a highway right through it! It’s heartbreaking, but then Mabel decides she’s going to do everything she can to bring the pond back to life and repopulate it with creatures. I can’t wait to see what happens!

Mabel, with some reluctant assistance from her college professors, manages to transfer her mind into a robotic beaver. She then unites the local animals to save their pond from the mayor’s planned highway. While it might seem similar to movies like Avatar and Furry Vengeance, Hoppers is arguably Pixar’s most creative and successful original film in years.

While recent Pixar films like Elemental and Turning Red had appealing characters and stories, they didn’t quite reach the broad, relatable emotional impact of classics like WALL-E and Finding Nemo. Elio, though sweet, wasn’t as impactful as beloved films such as Monsters, Inc. or The Incredibles. However, Hoppers feels like Pixar is getting back on track, delivering a film that’s more reminiscent of their earlier successes than anything we’ve seen in a long time.

This animated adventure has everything you want: it’s a fun, quick-moving, and visually stunning film that’s both heartwarming and hilarious. It delivers that classic Pixar humor that appeals to everyone, making the whole family laugh. It’s the strongest new story from Pixar since its films started going straight to Disney+, and possibly even better than Coco.

The voice acting in Hoppers is excellent. Piper Curda shines as Mabel, bringing both humor and genuine emotion to the lead role. Bobby Moynihan is reliably funny as King George, but also delivers some surprisingly touching scenes. Jon Hamm is hilariously arrogant as the mayor, Dave Franco is delightfully chaotic as a villain, and Meryl Streep makes a memorable cameo appearance.

Hoppers Is A Blast, But It’s Also A Timely Environmentalist Parable

Hoppers is a really fun movie! It’s full of hilarious moments – there was one particularly surprising scene with a squished bug that had everyone at my showing laughing – and the cute animal characters are exactly as charming as you’d hope. Beyond the laughs, the movie also has an important message about protecting the environment.

Pixar’s most beloved films always offer meaningful lessons. For example, WALL-E predicted concerns about climate change and the power of large corporations. Ratatouille encouraged viewers to look beyond appearances, while Inside Out helped a generation understand the importance of sadness. And Coco showed children how to cope with loss and grief.

Hoppers is a story that warns us about the dangers of prioritizing industrial growth over protecting nature. The town is considering building a new highway to ease traffic, but this would come at a cost: increased pollution and the loss of valuable trees that naturally clean the air.

The movie Hoppers powerfully shows that we’re all connected when the mayor’s actions lead to an environmental crisis impacting both the town and the natural world. It emphasizes that everyone – people with different beliefs and values, and animals alike – shares this planet and has a responsibility to protect it and create a healthy environment for all.

Pixar Shouldn’t Give Up On Original Stories

Looking strictly at box office results, it seems logical that Disney would ask Pixar to concentrate on making sequels to its most successful franchises. Inside Out 2 was a huge hit in 2024, but Elemental just barely made back its money, and Elio resulted in a substantial financial loss for Disney.

It’s easy to understand why Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, might focus on making sequels. The numbers suggest they’re a safer bet financially than original stories. A movie like Toy Story 5, which is coming out this summer, is almost guaranteed to be a big success, even if it’s not a great film. This could lead to Disney making more sequels like Inside Out 3 and Cars 4.

I loved Hoppers, and I’m hoping Pixar continues to take risks with new, original stories. While sequels like Toy Story 5 or Inside Out 3 are predictable, Hoppers was a complete surprise – it was fresh, unique, and explored characters and worlds we hadn’t seen before in a Pixar film. That kind of originality is hard to find in a sequel.

It’s also worth remembering a long-standing point about original movies versus sequels: successful franchises like Toy Story, Inside Out, and The Incredibles all began as completely new stories. If Pixar stops taking risks on original films like Hoppers, they’ll eventually exhaust their options for making sequels.

Read More

2026-03-07 00:39