Pixar’s latest film, Hoppers, is now in theaters, and it’s excellent. Truly. It’s funny, surprising, heartfelt, and everything you’d want in a Pixar movie or any movie for that matter. Nowhere is that better seen than in a specific, semi-spoilery moment early in the film.
The moment was so shocking, so out of place, so ballsy, that the film’s director, Daniel Chong, was sure they’d have to cut it. This was a Disney movie, after all. In fact, he even came up with a simpler, less shocking version, fully expecting he’d have to replace it. But that didn’t happen. (Minor spoilers for Hoppers below.)
The moment in question, which is also the moment I chose to vaguely reference in my review, is when the Insect Queen, voiced by none other than Meryl Freaking Streep, is flying past our main character, Mabel. Mabel, who is a human in a beaver body, feels the queen fly by her and quickly, instinctively squishes her between her hands. It’s violent, it’s sudden, and it’s hilarious. It’s also a crucial moment in the film because the Queen’s death sets up the role of her son, Titus, voiced by Dave Franco.
Speaking to Slashfilm, Chong explained that while he loved the scene, he was ready to let the scene go. “I remember after our first screening or second screening … we were like, ‘You know what? There’s probably no chance we’re ever going to get away [with] doing this. So we should just change it now so that we don’t get this note and get screwed later,’” Chong said. “And so we reboarded it for the next screening, and we just had the Insect Queen die on her own, and then there was a scene where Mabel and [the mammal king] George looked like they killed her, but she didn’t.”
It works for the story but doesn’t quite have the same impact. Enter Pete Docter, the head of Pixar and director of Up, Inside Out, and Monsters Inc., as well as Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and the upcoming Toy Story 5.
“Pete Doctor and Andrew Stanton were so mad at us,” Chong said. “They were like, ‘Why did you change that?!’ And we were like, ‘Well, we thought, because it’s Disney, we thought… ‘ And they were like, ‘No! Put that back in.’ And we were like, ‘Okay, but promise to make sure we don’t have to change this.’ And they were like, ‘We will fight for this.’ So those guys were on board. We were the ones that were second-guessing ourselves.”
Whether or not audiences will enjoy the moment as much as I, Docter, and Stanton did, we’ll know after the film’s opening weekend. But it’s awesome to see that they realized the moment is a perfect example of what makes Hoppers so special. It’s in theaters now.
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