**This article contains spoilers for Hoppers**
Would you look at that, Disney can still make original movies! I went into watching the new Pixar release, Hoppers, blind. Before I knew it, the water works kicked in, and I’m not talking about the rushing river from the film.
This animated movie follows the conservationist story of Mabel Tanaka, and how she wishes to preserve her grandmother’s special slice of paradise, “the glade,” from Mayor Generazzo’s development plans.
After discovering an engineering program at her school dedicated to “hopping” from human to animal animatronic bodies for research purposes, Mabel develops a wild mission.
Spoiler warning! If you want to see this fuzzy film yourself without preconceived notions, you might want to watch it before reading any further (come back, please, the kids will miss you).
Like Looking in A Mirror
Off the bat, my jaw dropped when they revealed that Mabel was a 19-year-old girl in college. This is something we’ve never seen from Pixar: a main character navigating collegiate life and interacting with the “real world” as Mabel does.
While Monsters University is an established film from a freshman perspective, it doesn’t tap into human realities and womanhood as Hoppers does. It’s been so long since I’ve pointed at a screen and thought, she’s just like me.
Mabel mentions in a later part of the movie that she feels every time she tries to help, she only makes it worse. This is a callback to the opening scene, where, as a child, she attempts to save all the class pets at her elementary school but instead causes a commotion and floods the school when teachers catch her in the act.
When watching a young adult girl have such a strong passion, be vocal about it, and feel ostracized because of it, it truly hits home. I think Pixar made a clever choice in making Mabel’s character a woman, one who closely resembles modern-day life.
The parallel to Mabel and Greta Thunberg also struck me unexpectedly. They’re both young women who walk their own path, don’t feel the need to please others, and are insistent about their love for the environment to politicians’ faces. There’s significance in choosing a female lead for a movie about conservation and activism; it reminded me of how women are often the backbone of larger movements.
Turning a New Leaf
Throughout the film, Mabel’s at odds with the mayor up for re-election, Jerry Generazzo. I don’t think this last name was unintentional at all, given that he’s a careless and greedy politician (at first).
The mayor’s grand plan to excavate the glade for his highway system is a classic political dynamic we’ve seen in Florida time and time again, with calls to develop establishments in the Everglades or strip state park lands into golf courses.
We, as an audience, can be satisfied by Mabel’s unrelenting pushback on the degradation the highway plan may cause to a place so dear to her. What was refreshing was Mayor Generazzo’s eventual change.
Jon Hamm, the actor who voices the politician, even mentioned how moving this character was in an interview. Hamm credits Generazzo for eventually understanding the needs of wildlife, taking accountability, and reversing the highway plans after a symbolic fire ensues due to their feuding.
Wait, You’re Scaring Me
When Mabel converses with the species of the pond and fellow beaver, George, she tries to mobilize the animals to reclaim their land in the glade. She does this by educating them on the terrors Mayor Generazzo wishes to bring to their land and how humans in general have a lack of consideration for the well-being of wildlife.
She can move everyone back to their nests and burrows in the glade, everyone making a team effort to rebuild the dam that once was. This launches her as George’s “paw” or right-hand beaver for all his administrative needs and support. Those of the glade praise Mabel for her hard work and help her take form as an established “rebel leader” against human interference.
Mabel, being fuzzy and fiery, asks George to call “the council” (the panel of animal royalty that represents different animal kingdoms) for something to be done about Generazzo and his work. During this meeting, Mabel doesn’t follow George’s advice to keep quiet when her initial proposal for collaboration is declined by the council.
Instead, she unleashes a monologue of how damaging humans have been to the biodiversity and livelihood of animals, vilifying all they’ve done. Throughout this speech, she’s overrun by emotion, almost having an evil wash over her.
George and all other animals in attendance are covered in fear, yet equally moved to act. This leads to the council calling for Mayor Generazzo to be “squished” or killed, and Mabel immediately regrets what she’s done.
The drama only continues when Titus, the new insect king, captures Mabel, the mayor, and her professors to take form as an animatronic Generazzo and speak at his final rally. Titus goes on an erratic spiel of how damaging and worthless humans are, being far less significant than animals.
I really enjoyed this almost unreliable narrator effect; no side to political arguments is safe from fearmongering or vilified propaganda. I saw myself taking a step back and applying it to my own consumption of political media, thinking I should really digest information and the way it’s told to me before adopting new opinions, no matter how they may seem.
The commitment to both sides having imperfections and moments of irrationality was eye-opening to me. I can see this film bringing folks together, crossing party lines, and even shaking hands on this commentary.
A Breath of Fresh Air
Just like Generazzo, I felt a shift within me while watching the film. When initially mobilizing the species back to the glade, Mabel goes on about how humans should be seen as foes trying to disrupt the purity of the animals’ existence.
I was interrupted mid nod of agreement when George, also the mammal king, disproved these statements. He educates Mabel on the part humans play in their ecosystem and how even those who have the power to destroy are still crucial to the ebb and flow of their lifecycle.
This message was difficult for me to grapple with at first; I found it overly forgiving of the degradation we’ve caused generations of species. This was until I sat on this. I remembered how Mabel’s grandmother was responsible for preserving the glade in the first place, how veterinarians restore our furry loved ones to optimum health, and how humans were the ones who restored the biodiversity of Yellowstone National Park.
While there are examples of anthropogenic disgraces to the environment, it’s also important that we keep note of our successful interactions with wildlife. We’re in fact part of each ecosystem we reside in and nearby, and we shouldn’t take the power we wield to preserve them for granted.
This film truly opened my eyes by making me simultaneously reevaluate how open-minded I am and expand my perspective on humanity. It’s time I give a dam about how to speak for the unspeaking.
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