To its credit, Hoppers isn’t trying to hide the influence of other Disney properties. During a crucial bit of exposition regarding the film’s brain-hopping technology, Mabel exclaims, “It’s like Avatar!” A defensive Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) responds, “It’s nothing like Avatar!”
Maybe Dr. Sam is one of those “Avatar had no cultural impact” types, but the story of a human infiltrating a different species using an artificial body to prevent human-derived ecocollapse is a bit like Avatar, a film that has itself felt the ire of Fern Gully fans for nearly two decades. The tossed-off shorthand for explaining the film’s manic premise clangs throughout the rest of the movie, as one recycled Pixar trope, theme, or design after another hops on screen. A young girl transforming into a red mammal? Check out the superior Turning Red. Secret hierarchical societies hiding under humanity’s nose can be found throughout the Pixar oeuvre, from Toy Story to Elio. Not to mention, Hoppers is just the latest Pixar to use a dead or dying grandma as character motivation. By the film’s end, as if to answer the nagging, “Haven’t I seen this before?” question on its audience’s mind, Dr. Sam reveals her next invention: A dog collar that translates dog speech. It’s like Up!
Depending on one’s opinion of Cars, Pixar’s first 15 years are as flawless as a movie studio could ever hope for. Unsurprisingly, as Pixar churned out masterpiece after masterpiece, its competitors churned out pretenders to the throne. Bug’s Life had Antz; Finding Nemo had Shark’s Tale. With a little distance, DreamWorks looped back around to make Megamind to mirror The Incredibles and Turbo for Cars. Pixar set itself apart not only through its superior technical prowess but also through its original and effective story construction. Each new Pixar film was a chance to see something entirely new. Now—perhaps more embarrassing than getting bested by DreamWorks—IMDb users are noticing that the premise of Hoppers is very similar to that of The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature, which also follows woodland animals saving their home from an evil mayor.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, DreamWorks left Pixar perpetually blushing. More recently, though, Pixar’s been more content to flatter itself and the wider Disney Vault. We wouldn’t be the first to notice the story similarities between Pixar’s two afterlife romps, Coco and Soul, separated by about four years, nor to see Elemental as a reskinned Zootopia. (Speaking of which, the proximity of Hoppers‘ release to the talking-animal juggernaut Zootopia 2 isn’t doing the former film or its creature designs any favors, which is going to be a nightmare for overworked and slightly confused parents everywhere.)
None of these familiar elements prevent Hoppers from being a fun—even good—movie, and even at its most repetitive, Pixar can reach creative highs. Coco and Soul have no problem finding meaning in different versions of the afterlife, showcasing Pixar’s various strengths by flexing different muscles. But beneath Hoppers‘ motormouthed humor and flying sharks is a film that’s too reliant on what has worked in the past. It comes in a likable enough package, but we should expect more from Pixar, a company that used to set standards of quality, not struggle to meet them. If the script has to use shorthand akin to Office Space‘s Michael Bolton explaining his scheme as “like the plot from Superman III,” it’s time for a rewrite.
Keep scrolling for more great stories.