Hoppers

I came into this movie with high expectations and th hope that I could be a fan of a new Pixar film. But I left feeling like this movie was mostly hollow and stood for very little.  Some of the jokes landed and some sequences had moments of emotional impact. However it felt like all the characters were very one dimensional. Had incredibly convenient changes in opinion where it suited the plot. It also felt like all the animals were there for was comedic relief without any substance of their own.  This leads me into one of my big issues, the movie has a lofty and serious theme about conservation and caring for animals but simultaneously shows animals as stupid, naive and entirely fine to kill. If you’re going to show animals, even insects, as sentient beings capable of thinking is it not psycho to straight up kill one because you can’t control your emotions. Then later ask that the son of said insect “has a heart” and “cares”.  I also felt like visually this movie was very uninteresting for most of it. The lighting was almost always just so bright and saturated it meant like the writing, everything felt toneless and deaf.  I’m kind of surprised at how positive the reception to this film is given how handwaivy the plot was, how basic the characters, its visual lack of interest and incredibly confused thematic messaging.  I really didn’t dislike the film overall it’s not offensively bad. But there is so much that is left wanting it’s hard to recommend.