Hoppers

I REALLY liked this movie, the best Pixar movie in years for me. To be fair, maybe that's just because of me being an environmentalist myself, but hey, in the end, reviews here are supposed to be subjective, I guess! Mabel, the main character, is a lovely main character. An environmentalist since childhood, depicted by her actions of demonstrating, collecting signatures, blocking building sites and even being carried away by police. And while all of this is depicted in a "funny", child-friendly way, it does actually do a nice job of displaying her doing all the things an environmentalist encounters. She's friendly, dedicated and...no, that one in a bit. First: Visually, the movie is, as one is used from Pixar, beautiful. Lovely hairs and fur, beautiful water and DAMN, clothes, single strands of fabric, it's SO beautiful and detailed! Everything that is not a character is SO detailed and visually impressive! Not to say the characters don't look nice, though. The humans are fine, the animals are lovely and cuddly, and, in case that's a thing that matters for you, it's NOT a movie to use the infamous "bean mouth" design. (I think) Many jokes are quick and funny, the trailers showed the humor quite well as a reference to what to expect. The messages are what you'd expect: humans destroying animal's home in their greed and ignorance, how nature as a whole is one big thing, including humans, and that everyone should do their part. And here are the two things that make the movie really important and lovely for me personally: The thing that we're all part of something bigger, something we're in together, all creatures, is an important part of my life. It's why I love the message of "Sisi Ni Sawa" (We are the same) in "Lion Guard" so much. To see humans not as a single thing, but as the part we are with all other creatures. And in addition, and that's the other part of Mabel that is depicted nicely, but I still wish had gotten more time: The constant feeling of sadness and anger that you get thinking that you are the only one that cares about something that is SO important to you. And that's really why I love her, because she's SO relatable to me as environmentalist and vegan. The music in the movie is also really nice, and really the only downside I can see is: I wish it was half an hour or so longer. More time to depict Mabel's feeling of being alone and misunderstood, more time to show how humans forcefully change nature and of course a bit more time for the hilarious chase scene. So, yeah. I wish the movie did more of what it does, because it does it so well. I really enjoyed the movie and I wish its message, as peaceful as it was (sadly?) transported, would stick with anyone longer than the cinema visit. I recommend this. And greetings to my fellow environmentalists! You're not alone, just like Mabel isn't! ❤️

The town’s mayor wants to built a beltway around his city, and it’s almost complete. The only missing segment is over a lake that has been dammed by some now absent beavers. “Mabel” is determined to thwart the constructors, but with all the animal life having seemingly relocated to pastures/ponds new there seems little she can do to stop their dynamiting. Then she learns that if she can reintroduce some wild critters to the waters, then it will be saved. How, though? Well one evening she espies one but it doesn’t like the look of the new surroundings and moves on. She follows it and after a bit of subterfuge, finds herself in a secret laboratory where her college teacher has perfected a scientific technique to link human brains to robotic bodies and so recreate animal. “Mabel” is not to be stopped on her quest, and so promptly finds herself with a new fur coat and introduced to the mammal king “George” who now hosts all the displaced from the motorway. She knows that she must get him and his fellow monarchs from above and below the water to ally if she is to have any chance of restoring the equilibrium of nature. what chance she can rally them all to defeat the bulldozers, though? The environmental message is all pretty blunt, but it is delivered in an amiable fashion with some fun (and puns) from the writing, a lovely scene depicting regal succession in the insect world and even a flying shark as we are gently reminded that humanity is but one of the creatures that lives on our Earth. This also manages to stay clear of sentimentality - not always so easy when the plot is all about all things furry, feathery or fishy, and it’s also refreshing in it’s targeting of the civic administration as the “baddie” here, rather than just opting for those pesky and evil corporate types. It’s reminding us that as usual, it is our own convenience that usually drives projects that destroy and/or pollute the natural resources we all need to survive. The animation is all fairly standard, but it is of an high standard and this has enough for the grown-ups amongst us to keep it worth a watch.