17. Hoppers
Hoppers is effectively Pixar’s take on Avatar’s core conceit of “put a person in the body of something else to connect with the locals,” and it has a pretty lovely environmentalist theme for most of its run. Gotta say, though, I was really surprised that it goes the crazy body-horror route in its second half. Much like its main character whose consciousness is transferred into a robot beaver, Hoppers changes forms throughout its run in ways I couldn’t have seen coming. As a result, it feels a little disjointed and scattershot, but at its core, the movie never loses sight of how preserving the world around us is a way to honor those who are no longer there to enjoy it. Mabel’s adventure may take many turns, but they’re all part of something greater than the sum of its parts.
