“Hoppers” sets out to bring a fresh and unique story back to Pixar’s filmography, and achieves this with the movie’s plot, dialogue and overarching message about grief and environmental awareness.
The film follows a college student and amateur activist, Mabel Tanaka, whose mission is to save the glade behind her late grandmother’s home from being destroyed by the creation of a freeway directly over it. She goes on a mission by jumping into the body of a life-like robot beaver.
Mabel discovers that her college professor, Professor Sam, has been experimenting with fake animals purely for the gathering of scientific information. Mabel uses the technology for her own self-interests and jumps into the fake beaver body.
While the film is funny, heartfelt and chaotic, it definitely sends another message. From the viewer’s standpoint, the film’s message on animal activism and the idea of humans interfering with the ecosystems that don’t need them, stands at the forefront.
Daniel Chong, the film’s writer, did a sit down interview on a podcast talking about the creation and message of the film. He recalls trying to find an animal that would be appealing to audiences, after being told by studio heads that his first choice of penguins wouldn’t substantiate in this era of animal movies. Chong says he then turned to real ecological discoveries within past decades.
One ecological experiment Chong used as inspiration for the film’s story, was the reintroduction of gray wolves within Yellowstone National Park. According to the Yellowstone website, gray wolves slowly disappeared due to government eradication programs to protect elk and deer populations.
With the wolves gone, ecosystems suffered from losing a secondary consumer on its food chain. The animals within it suffer from lack of biodiversity and over competition of resources.
When the gray wolves were reintroduced to the National Park in 1995, it helped restore the surrounding ecosystems. Along with the restoration, beavers were the unsung heroes in the process.
Beavers are strong defenders of their dams, and the wetland ecosystems it protects. With beavers protecting the wetlands, other animals can return to the ecosystem safely. Animal scientists and ecologists gave beavers the name ecosystem engineers, to which these species/organisms help modulate the ecosystem and everything within it, from the population to its resources.
Chong then took this idea of beavers being the unlikely heroes to an ecosystem, and translated it into the plot of the film.
The film’s subtle push for animal activism and environmental advocacy from a viewer standpoint bring awareness to our National Parks and local conservatories. When we meet Mabel’s grandmother in the beginning of the film, she’s seen wearing the jacket of a park ranger. The forest green jacket with the Tanaka last name etched under the collar, which is then passed down to Mabel.
It can be inferred that Mabel’s social justice tendencies come from the forward beliefs being instilled in her at a young age. Her love for animals and what the glade holds within it are worth fighting for.
While struggling with the grief of losing her grandmother alone, Mabel finds unlikely friends in the animals of the glade as she pushes them to fight for their home back. She leads them on an adventure of fighting back and being heard. All while fighting with that own dilemma herself.
When we first meet Mabel, she’s helping rescue the class pets from her elementary school, which inevitably gets her in trouble and sent to her grandmother’s. But, it can be seen that her grandmother and the home is a place of comfort. The glade behind the home holds memories that are worth so much more than one can assume. This is why Mabel’s quest to save the glade is so important to her and how she’s able to translate that to the animals that also used to inhabit the glade.
The most heartfelt part of the story is Mabel expressing that life can be hard when you feel unheard and unseen, and her unlikely animal friends seeing that courage immediately who push her to believe it herself.
While yes, “Hoppers” is a kids movie about beavers, the storyline about grief, self discovery, environmental awareness and most importantly, fighting for what you believe in shines through all its rambunctiousness. “Hoppers” definitely feels like Pixar’s most fresh and feel-good movie in almost a decade.
For a contrasting view, read Lucy Rivas’s review of “Hoppers.”
