Stream it:
|
With: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eman Abdul-Razzakk Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Steve Purcell, Ego Nwodim, Nichole Sakura, Meryl Streep, Karen Huie, Vanessa Bayer, Demetri Martin, Lila Liu (voices)
|
Written by: Jesse Andrews, based on a story by Jesse Andrews, Daniel Chong
|
Directed by: Daniel Chong
|
MPAA Rating: PG for action/peril, some scary images and mild language
|
Running Time: 105
|
|
Date: 03/06/2026
|
|
|
|
Leave It to Beavers
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Pixar is great at making movies about death and anxiety, and that is much appreciated, but the studio's new film Hoppers is a nice change, rambunctious and loony, and yet still powerful and timely. Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda) was raised by her grandmother learning to appreciate nature and animals. As the movie opens with a flashback, young Mabel launches a daring plan to free the classroom turtle from captivity. Her plan turns to chaos; one teacher asks of another, "is that the Mabel?" As a 19-year-old she is determined to stop the smarmy Mayor Jerry (voiced by Jon Hamm) from pouring concrete over a beloved glen. She learns that if she can coax beavers to re-populate the area, then the mayor will be forced to cancel his freeway project.
Luckily, her professor, Dr. Fairfax (voiced by Kathy Najimy), has invented a device that projects human consciousness into a robotic beaver, so that wildlife can be observed without interference. Mabel leaps into action, enters the robot, and immediately begins trying to convince beavers to move back to the glen. She is brought to the Beaver King, King George (voiced by Bobby Moynihan), who happily agrees to help. But the craziness keeps mounting, including a sequence that wouldn't be out of place in Sharknado. The movie has an enveloping visual design, gorgeously celebrating the natural world, and it moves at a solid comedy clip as the jokes keep flying. Better still is the movie's message that humans are a part of nature and have no business destroying it. And better than that is that we learn a little something about beavers, and they are awesome!
|
