Hoppers

Hoppers is an odd film. For those who enjoy when Disney or Pixar go a bit further off the more established path (while they are also preparing yet another Toy Story sequel and a live-action Moana), that still hits on established themes of family and nature, there's certainly something here worth considering.

Our main character is rebellious teen Mabel (Piper Curda) attempting to save the demolishment of a forest glade, which meant the world to her and her recently-departed grandmother, while a Beaverton career politician prepares to move forward with demolishing the area to complete a massive highway project. Although not a traditional villain, Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) does use some underhanded tactics to clear the land.

Out of ideas, Mabel stumbles upon some university scientists working on Avatar technology allowing them to put their mind in robotic animals that can blend in and communicate with other animals. Stealing a beaver, Mabel sets out to save the glade, make a few friends, accidentally go too far, and eventually learn from her mistakes and find a way to compromise.

For most of the story we get Mabel in the beaver body interacting (and at times overstepping) with other animals including King George (Bobby Moynihan), Titus (Dave Franco), and Diane (Vanessa Bayer), leading to near disaster for all involved. With the studios so strongly in sequel mode, you might see the need for something like Hoppers to push Pixar into a more out-of-the-box direction. And to that point, Hoppers delivers. It may not be great Pixar, but there's certainly a large amount of wacky nonsense to enjoy.

• Title: Hoppers
• IMDb: link