HUMAN. NATURE.
19-year-old environmental activist Mabel uses an avatar in the shape of a robotic beaver to infiltrate animals, hoping to save a glade threatened by the construction of a beltway.
A Pixar film that successfully spices up a conventional but solid formula with unexpectedly crazy ideas, including a shark attack in the middle of a car chase (!). The film never goes off its rocker, but maintains a nice balance, adding an environmental message where beavers get the attention they deserve, as dam-builders who create whole ecosystems.
A fun and engaging adventure, with disarming characters.
2026-U.S. Animated. 104 min. Color. Directed by Daniel Chong. Screenplay: Jesse Andrews. Voices of Piper Curda (Mabel Tanaka), Bobby Moynihan (King George), Jon Hamm (Jerry Generazzo), Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Meryl Streep.
Trivia: Co-executive produced by Pete Docter, Peter Sohn and Lee Unkrich.
Last word: “The animation team […] taught me something important. Alon Winterstein [animation supervisor] broke down different Pixar films and showed how each one has its own animation language. You might not think about it when you’re watching, but every movie treats physics and character movement differently. That opened my eyes to how many directions we could go. I was pulling inspiration from Aardman, from different Pixar films, from all over the place, and slowly building our own language through trial and error.” (Chong, Cartoon Brew)