Hoppers is Pixar at its best, a story with warmth, humor, exciting action, endearing characters, and a reassuringly expansive notion of community.

Audacious, heartfelt, and uproariously funny, Hoppers has all the makings of an instant classic for Pixar.

The dimming prestige of the brand perhaps allowed Hoppers the freedom to be something much more modest, and also way more fun and satisfying — a hilarious, joke-a-second comedy that has its moments of sweetness and emotional resonance, but isn’t looking to force tears out of you.

It’s exactly the kind of solid entertainment, with the right mix of laughs and tears, that reminds us of the genius-level storytelling the good folks over there are capable of. It’s precisely what the animation studio needed at this time and fits comfortably alongside some of their upper-tier offerings.

It’d be uncharitable to call Hoppers derivative, when it’s otherwise odd and spiky enough to carve out its own niche.