Director: Daniel Chong

Cast: Piper Curda, Dave Franco, Bobby Moynihan

Synopsis:

When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, Mabel uses the new technology to uncover mysteries of the animal world that are beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

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“Hoppers” might be built with familiar parts, but Pixar’s latest isn’t trying to hide its various influences. Instead, this buoyant, freewheeling adventure about a spirited 19-year-old environmental activist who infiltrates the animal world in the body a robotic beaver wears its references for all to see. Sometimes it’s with a wink; Sometimes it’s more overt, like Kathy Najimy’s flustered scientist shouting, “This is nothing like ‘Avatar!’”

Of course, “Hoppers,” directed by Daniel Chong, is a little like “Avatar,” but who can blame her for being defensive? She’s figured out how to transport human consciousness into a robotic animal that can not only pass as a real one — in this case a beaver — but communicate with all varieties of mammals, insects and amphibians too. Is it also a “Simpsons already did it” reference? That might be getting a little too meta, but the point is “Hoppers” is having fun with its own chaos.

© The Associated Press