Hoppers uncovers the beautiful and wild world that exists in our own backyard. Directed by Daniel Chong (“We Bare Bears”) and produced by Nicole Paradis Grindle (“Incredibles 2”), the attention-grabbing feature uncovers secrets of the animal kingdom in an innovative yet distinctly Pixar way.
“The thing that always guided us was the comedy and the characters,” explains director Daniel Chong. “That was what we chased the hardest. We knew it was our team’s strong suit, and we made sure early on to establish a unique comedic tone with fun characters to build everything on.”
“A story like this, with characters arguing constantly, has to be funny,” agrees producer Nicole Paradis Grindle. “We wanted it to have emotion and feature a ton of action too. It’s even a thriller when you get to the final scenes. But the humour was the initial key, since it brings people in. It’s an amazing story to tell in animation, this idea that we can see into that animal world and enjoy animals, as animals.”
Chong, who has a long-standing relationship with Pixar that extends back to the original “Inside Out,” was thrilled to have the chance to pitch the idea that would eventually become “Hoppers.”
“‘Hoppers’ exists thanks to Pete Docter,” says Chong. “Years ago I worked with him on ‘Inside Out’ as a story artist, then left to create my TV show ‘We Bare Bears.’ Pete and I had kept in touch, and when the show was over, Pete invited me back to direct something; coming back, it helped a lot that we had already worked together, and that I already knew the Pixar process.”
Chong continues, “I pitched three movie ideas, and ‘Hoppers’ was the one I was pretty certain they would never go for. It was so strange and goofy–I barely took the idea seriously. But I think people saw what the movie could be, and that there was a really interesting concept at its core.”
When Chong initially conceived the idea, beavers weren’t a focal point of the story. “I had this fixation with penguins for some inexplicable reason, and was determined to make the movie about them. But Pete didn’t feel the world needed another penguin movie. He was right, of course,” he explains. “As I continued to develop the idea, I came across a story about how Yellowstone National Park had rewilded their ecosystems with wolves after they had all disappeared. Their reintroduction began to rebalance things–leading to other animals returning, including beavers. And once beavers returned, and built their dams and ponds, a giant wealth of animals and plants returned. They are often referred to as ecosystem engineers.”
From there, everything began to fall into place.
“Beavers are a keystone species that can sustain wildlife in the most unique way, and it became very obvious that they would be the perfect vessels for the movie to tell this story–they are also super cute and round!” Chong adds. “In our research, we also noticed that people are starting to recognize what beavers can do–and their impact on their habitats–by just doing their thing, and it’s remarkable. These little guys deserve to be stars.”
In Disney and Pixar’s all-new animated comedy adventure “Hoppers,” animal-lover Mabel (voice of Piper Curda) seizes an opportunity to use a new technology to “hop” her consciousness into a lifelike robotic beaver and communicate directly with animals. As she uncovers mysteries in the animal world beyond anything she could have imagined, Mabel befriends charismatic beaver King George (voice of Bobby Moynihan), and must rally the entire animal kingdom to face a major imminent human-threat: smooth-talking local mayor Jerry Generazzo (voice of Jon Hamm). The all-star voice ensemble also features Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco and Meryl Streep.
DANIEL CHONG (Director)
Daniel Chong joined Pixar Animation Studios in February 2009 as a story artist, and has worked on several short and feature productions including the “Cars Toons” TV special “Toy Story of TERROR!” and the feature film “Cars 2.” He also worked on the Academy Award®-winning film “Inside Out.” Prior to joining Pixar, Chong worked as a story artist for Disney Feature Animation, Blue Sky, Nickelodeon and llumination. Most recently he was the creator of the Emmy®-nominated TV series “We Bare Bears” for Cartoon Network, which ran for four seasons. “We Bare Bears: The Movie” was released in 2020. Growing up in Orange County, Calif., Chong earned a BFA from Cal State Long Beach and also attended CalArts.
