Next year brings two brand new Pixar films. There is, of course, the long-awaited Toy Story 5, taking us back to the toy box for a plastic-vs-screens face-off. But the animation studio is also prepping another brand new original – one with a particularly wild premise, that sees teenager Mabel (Piper Curda) transfer her mind into a robotic beaver in order to infiltrate the animal kingdom. Get ready to jump with both feet into the wild world of Hoppers.
“I had this idea: what if you put the cutest, fluffiest animals in the most perilous, Mission: Impossible, crazy, spy-thriller situation, with everything blowing up around them?” says director and co-writer Daniel Chong of what brought him to the film’s not-exactly-normal premise. “It felt like some funny thing that I’d never seen before.” Get ready for espionage and ecological warfare as Mabel encounters regal rodent King George (Bobby Moynihan), a beaver with a tiny gold crown – see the pair in action in the exclusive image above.
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Of course, representing the world of beavers requires stringent research – and so Chong and his team hopped on a Zoom call with Ginger, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s very own geriatric beaver. “She was really cranky,” Chong laughs. “Anytime they tried to bring another beaver into her spot, she’d [have none of it], and would be combative. She knew what she wanted.” Hopefully Chong and the Pixar people can do Ginger proud.