Entertainment

The 15 movies we're most excited about this fall

Published

1 year ago

September 6, 2024

The 15 movies we're most excited about this fall

Hollywood’s pipeline may be slowed due to the aftereffects of strikes we’re still dealing with, but our snapshot of the best films of the season is as packed as ever. Big-budget musicals, dark supervillain sequels, big-budget musicals that are dark supervillain sequels, international charmers and sharp indie standouts all crowd the calendar. Cautionary tales of personal transformation jockey with euphoric ones; Oscar-winning legends compete for eyeballs with first-time visionaries; and gladiators do battle with other gladiators. We asked our film writers for their personal must-sees.

‘My Old Ass’ (Sept. 13)

One summer night before she leaves for college, an 18-year-old girl does mushrooms and finds herself face-to-face with the 39-year-old version of herself. That plot description doesn’t exactly suggest a heartfelt tearjerker of a movie. (Neither does the title.) But that’s exactly what director Megan Park’s feature debut is: a short, sweet gem of a coming-of-age story that will leave you looking back at your adolescence with rose-colored glasses. Aubrey Plaza plays the older version of the protagonist, though it’s newcomer Maisy Stella — whom you might know as the younger sister from the viral sibling singing duo Lennon & Maisy — whose performance you’ll leave talking about. The film, which was produced by Margot Robbie, slayed at Sundance last year and was quickly snapped up for a reported $15 million after a bidding war. If we had to call it now, we’d say Barbie has another hit on her hands. — Amy Kaufman

‘A Different Man’ (Sept. 20)

Two men look at each other across a table at a bar.

Pitched somewhere between the body horror of David Cronenberg and the meta surrealism of Charlie Kaufman, writer-director Aaron Schimberg’s darkly satirical psychological thriller is hard to describe and even harder to shake. Sebastian Stan stars as an aspiring actor born with facial disfigurements who undergoes an experimental procedure to transform his appearance, only to find himself losing the role he was born to play — himself — to a man with the same deformity (played by “Under the Skin’s” Adam Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis). The A24 film, which earned strong buzz at this year’s Sundance and co-stars Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World”), ambitiously takes on complex themes of identity and societal preconceptions about beauty and disability. Most of all, it is just plain different. — Josh Rottenberg

‘The Substance’ (Sept. 20)

A woman stares at her reflection in a bathroom mirror.

“Everybody’s a dreamer / And everybody’s a star / And everybody’s in movies / It doesn’t matter who you are.” The opening lines to the Kinks’ classic song “Celluloid Heroes,” about the ephemeral nature of fame, comes to mind when watching Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” a body-horror film that manages to be both primal and compassionate, bludgeoning and insightful. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore, never better) has a star on Hollywood Boulevard, but it has faded and fallen into disrepair, much like the career of its honoree. She’s on the wrong side of 50, has been fired from her retro-style exercise show and is so desperate that she’s considering submitting to a back-alley rejuvenation regime. Soon, Elisabeth has a clone, Sue (Margaret Qualley), young and taut. For the science to work, Elisabeth and Sue must switch places every seven days. But there wouldn’t be a movie if that went off without a hitch, and as the situation begins to deteriorate, Fargeat amps up the gore and gruesomeness to epic levels. It’s truly ugly. And that’s the point. Because, as Ray Davies noted behind the mic, “Success walks hand in hand with failure on Hollywood Boulevard.” — Glenn Whipp

‘Megalopolis’ (Sept. 27)

Was it just a dream or did Francis Ford Coppola debut his long-gestating passion project (and first movie in 13 years) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival? He did! I’m not making that up. And I can’t wait to see it again, in all its radical craziness. “Megalopolis” isn’t well-served by synopses that call it a “city poem” or yoke its wild ambitions to ancient Rome’s power struggles or municipal intrigue. Those things are true, fine, but let’s stop trying to make this movie into another crime epic like “Godfather.” It is very much its own beast, loosely about a gifted architect (Adam Driver) and the many people around him who either help or hinder his vision. You’re going for the deep ensemble, which includes Giancarlo Esposito, Kathryn Hunter, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman and Aubrey Plaza, the latter playing some kind of dazzling media creation named Wow Platinum. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ (Oct. 4)

A man in clown makeup sits in front of a woman.

I have remained relatively neutral about the first “Joker” since it came out in 2019, even when the gritty Batman villain origin story became a box-office smash and won two Oscars. But the fact that the Warner Bros. sequel is actually a romance-driven jukebox movie-musical — complete with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn — is a helluva choice, one that I have to see to believe. Director Todd Phillips, I will most definitely be seated for this comic-book-based song-and-dance, especially since I’ve been waiting for Joaquin Phoenix to sing onscreen again since his brilliant turn as Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line.” I’m excited to witness his maniacal vocal stylings on haunting covers of well-known songs, which I’ll probably never be able to hear in quite the same way again. — Ashley Lee

‘The Apprentice’ (Oct. 11)

Don’t be fooled by the title — this is not a big-screen reboot of the hit NBC reality show in which contestants competed for a top spot in Donald Trump’s real estate empire. In fact, the tagline of this film could very well be “The movie Donald Trump doesn’t want you to see.” Although the former president and current Republican presidential nominee has not seen the film, he is fighting to keep this fictionalized account of his early days in real estate and his relationship with infamous attorney Roy Cohn out of theaters. “The Apprentice,” which scored favorable reviews out of Cannes, is a less-than-flattering portrait of Trump, and has a scene in which he assaults his first wife, Ivanka. Starring Sebastian Stan (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) as Trump and Jeremy Strong (“Succession”), it will definitely pour more fuel on an already volatile election season. — Greg Braxton

‘We Live in Time’ (Oct. 11)

Do I need to say anything more than this is an A24 movie starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield? Really? OK. Watch the trailer and learn that they’re playing characters who A) have an adorable daughter, B) seem to have had a “meet cute” involving Alma (Pugh) running over Tobias (Garfield) with her car, and C) are eventually dealing with some kind of serious illness as there’s a cut to Alma sitting in a doctor’s office with her head shaved. If a trailer alone makes you cry, what hope do you have for surviving the film intact, particularly given that it’s directed by John Crowley, who did such a lovely job on the Oscar-nominated, big-hearted “Brooklyn”? “I’m guilty of looking ahead instead of right in front of me,” Tobias says at one point, except he’s choking out the words because … how can he not? He’s sobbing. Are you ready for this? (I’m not.) — Glenn Whipp

‘Anora’ (Oct. 18)

A man and a woman party in Vegas, smiling.

When Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or for “Anora” from a Cannes jury headed by Greta Gerwig, it felt as if an entire generation of American independent filmmakers had fully come of age. While retaining a sensibility of scrappy, playful creativity, Baker has also matured in his vision to come up with something like a clear-eyed fantasy: a realist fairy tale. Mikey Madison gives a vivid performance as a stripper in Brighton Beach, New York, who falls into a whirlwind romance with the son of a super-rich Russian oligarch. Impulsively, they get married in Las Vegas. It all seems to be a dream come true until word reaches his parents, who will do anything to force an annulment. There has always been something anthropological about Baker’s filmmaking in works like “Starlet,” “Tangerine” and “The Florida Project” as he explores otherwise unseen subcultures. With “Anora” that feeling remains, but the movie pushes further to become a rich blend of emotions and tones, veering with reckless abandon from raucous comedy to startlingly vivid compassion and, ultimately, understanding. — Mark Olsen

‘Salem’s Lot’ (Max; October TBA)

Three people stand nervously in the moonlight.

After a period of worrying if the movie version of Stephen King’s 1975 vampire novel would even see the light of day (or the dark of a living room) or get deleted by a team of Warner Bros. bean counters, it can be confirmed that it is definitely coming to Max this Halloween season. Even sight unseen, there’s a lot this project has going for it. Director-screenwriter Gary Dauberman has a natural way with King’s flow (he’s the one who cracked the two-part blockbuster adaptation of “It”), and the cast includes Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard and Bill Camp. But we’ll take the word of King himself, who moved the needle on the film’s indeterminate future when he posted on X: “Between you and me, Twitter, I’ve seen the new SALEM’S LOT and it’s quite good. Old-school horror filmmaking: slow build, big payoff. Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it’s embarrassing, or anything. Who knows. I just write the f— things.” — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Blitz’ (Nov. 1)

British people stand during a bombing raid.

It would not be a stretch to call Steve McQueen one of our greatest living historical filmmakers. The prizewinning visual artist made his feature debut in 2008 with “Hunger,” an unnervingly visceral portrait of hunger-striking Irish Republican prisoners, and though he’s since fashioned well-regarded contemporary fictions, his finest work has applied his crisp, modern aesthetic to the freedom struggles of the past. Consider the searing “12 Years a Slave,” set against the brutal backdrop of plantation life in antebellum Louisiana; “Small Axe,” a suite of five exquisite films about the Windrush generation of U.K. African Caribbean immigrants; and, most recently, “Occupied City,” a finely detailed document of Amsterdam under the Nazis. In other words, if there is a director who can find new relevance in the oft-told tale of the German bombing of London during World War II, it’s undoubtedly McQueen. — Matt Brennan

‘Conclave’ (Nov. 1)

A cardinal in red considers weighty papal matters.

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned: In the past few weeks I have watched the trailer for “Conclave” so many times it could be considered gluttony. For pain or pleasure I do not yet know — the movie doesn’t premiere until Nov. 1. But whether it’s “Angels & Demons,” “The Two Popes” or “The Young Pope,” I’m a sucker for a Vatican drama. Especially one starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati and Sergio Castellitto, with Isabella Rossellini thrown in as a feisty sister. Directed by Oscar winner Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), “Conclave” is adapted from Robert Harris’ novel of the same name. Its plot is simple: In Vatican City, the pope is dead and Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) is tasked with overseeing the election of a new one. But before the black smoke can be replaced by white (indicating a new pope), all manner of intrigue, scandal and shocking secrets will be revealed. It may not have priest-assassins or the detonation of an anti-matter device, but as Stanley Tucci might have said in “The Devil Wears Prada,” give me a full cassock skirt and a sea of zucchettos and I’m in. — Mary McNamara

‘Emilia Pérez’ (Nov. 1; on Netflix Nov. 13)

Two people look at each other at a table.

On paper it seems more Mad Lib than movie: acclaimed French auteur Jacques Audiard making a Mexican-set melodrama about a ruthless crime boss who transitions to being a woman, in a film that won a joint best actress prize at Cannes for co-stars Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Karla Sofía Gascón. And it’s a musical, with electrifying song and dance numbers. “Emilia Pérez” coalesces in unpredictable ways, making perfect sense even as its audacious ambitions should seem out of reach. The performances truly are astonishing, with Saldana and Gomez in particular showing previously unseen sides and Gascón both tender and fearsome. It takes a filmmaker with Audiard’s specific skills, an unerring sense of story, finely tailored style and vision, to hold it all together. A story about finding and becoming the person you most want to be, “Emilia Perez” is truly more than the sum of its parts. — Mark Olsen

‘All We Imagine as Light’ (Nov. 15)

Payal Kapadia’s drama swept into Cannes near the festival’s tail end and quickly upturned prize expectations, leaving with the Grand Prix, an award previously won by “The Zone of Interest,” “BlacKkKlansman” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.” The movie’s lovely satisfactions shouldn’t be overhyped: After an initial section of urban ennui (gorgeously photographed like a Wong Kar-wai movie by cinematographer Ranabir Das) in which two Mumbai nurses grapple with romantic unhappiness, the movie takes a right turn as they head out of town to a jungly beachside community where anything seems possible. Hollywood has told this story before, it can be fairly said, and Kapadia channels those pleasures of sisterly solidarity and getting your groove back while also adding a subtle layer of spiritual awakening. It’s the kind of international title that could connect with anyone hoping to dream bigger. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Gladiator II’ (Nov. 22)

Released in the bygone era of AD 2000, the original “Gladiator” may now feel a bit like ancient history itself, but in its time, director Ridley Scott’s epic was a bona fide blockbuster, earning more than $460 million worldwide and five Oscars, including best picture, and turning Russell Crowe into a movie star. Now, after years of fits-and-starts development, the 86-year-old Scott returns to the arena, with Paul Mescal stepping into the sandals of Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and nephew of the tyrannical Commodus, originally played by Joaquin Phoenix. After his home is invaded by a Roman army led by Pedro Pascal’s general Marcus Acacius, Lucius is forced to fight as a gladiator under the tutelage of Macrinus (Denzel Washington), a former slave who opposes the rule of the young twin emperors Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) and Geta (Joseph Quinn). We’ll see you in the Colosseum. — Josh Rottenberg

‘Wicked’ (Nov. 22)

Two witches of different natures look into a mirror.

Set before Dorothy’s arrival in “The Wizard of Oz,” this vibrant movie-musical centers on the two women who become Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, and the change in their friendship when society pits them against each other. While the film adaptation of this stage musical phenomenon has been in intermittent development since shortly after it opened on Broadway in 2003, I’m thrilled that the Universal project is finally coming to fruition with director Jon M. Chu (“In the Heights” and “Crazy Rich Asians”). And I’m ready to marvel at Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s performances of Stephen Schwartz’s songs, which span comical numbers, soaring anthems, heartbreaking ballads and bittersweet duets. That we’ll have to wait a year for the second half of a two-part rollout is quite fine with me. — Ashley Lee

Movie Reviews

‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

Published

7 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

“So it’s like Avatar?” one character quips in Disney and Pixar’s “Hoppers,” bluntly translating the film’s high-concept premise for the sugar-fueled kids in the audience. And yes, the comparison is apt. The story follows a nature-obsessed teenage girl who manages to quite literally “hop” her consciousness into the body of a robotic beaver in order to spark an animal rebellion against a greedy mayor determined to bulldoze their forest for a freeway.

It’s a clever hook. The kind of big, elastic idea Pixar used to make look effortless. “Hoppers” does not reach the rarified air of “Up,” “Wall-E,” or “Inside Out,” but after a stretch of uneven originals like “Turning Red” and “Luca,” and outright misfires such as “Elemental” and “Elio,” this feels like a genuine course correction. The environmental messaging is clear without being preachy, the animals are irresistibly anthropomorphized, and the studio’s once-signature emotional sincerity is back in sturdy form.

Pixar can afford to gamble on originals when it has a guaranteed cash cow like this summer’s “Toy Story 5” waiting in the wings, but “Hoppers” earns its place in the catalogue. Director Daniel Chong crafts a warm, heartfelt film that occasionally strains under the weight of its own ambition, yet remains grounded by character and theme. Its meditation on conservation and animal displacement feels timely in a way that never tips into after-school-special territory.

We meet Mabel, voiced with bright conviction by Piper Curda, as a child liberating her classroom pets and returning them to the wild. Her moral compass is shaped by her grandmother, voiced by Karen Huie, who imparts wisdom about nature’s sanctity. True to both Pixar tradition and the broader Disney playbook, this beacon of guidance does not survive past the opening act. Loss, after all, is Pixar’s favorite inciting incident.

Years later, Mabel is still fighting the good fight, squaring off against the smarmy Mayor Jerry, voiced with slick menace by Jon Hamm. He plans to flatten the glade where Mabel and her grandmother once found solace. Mabel’s resistance feels noble but futile. The animals have already mysteriously vanished, the machinery is coming, and her last-ditch plan involves luring a beaver back to the abandoned forest in hopes of jumpstarting the ecosystem.

That’s when the film gleefully pivots into mad-scientist territory. At Beaverton University, Mabel discovers her professor, voiced by Kathy Najimy, has developed a device that can project human consciousness into synthetic animals. The process, dubbed “hopping,” allows Mabel to inhabit a robotic beaver and infiltrate the forest from within. It’s an inspired escalation that keeps the film buoyant even when the plotting grows predictable.

Her new posse includes King George, a lovably beaver voiced by Bobby Moynihan with distinct Bing Bong energy; a sharp-tongued bear voiced by Melissa Villaseñor; a regal bird king voiced by the late Isiah Whitlock Jr.; and a fish queen voiced by Ego Nwodim. As is often the case with Pixar, even in its lesser efforts, the world-building is meticulous. The animal hierarchy, complete with titles like “paw of the king,” is layered with jokes that play for kids while slyly winking at adults.

The plot ultimately follows a familiar template. Scrappy underdog rallies community. Corporate villain twirls metaphorical mustache. Emotional third-act sacrifice looms. At times, you can feel the machinery working a little too cleanly. Pixar, and Disney at large, has grown increasingly reliant on sequels and established IP, and “Hoppers” does not radically reinvent the wheel. In an animated landscape where films like “K-Pop: Demon Hunters,” “Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Goat” are pushing stylistic and narrative boundaries, being safe and sturdy may not always be enough.

And yet, there is something refreshing about a Pixar original that remembers how to tug at the heart without squeezing it dry. “Hoppers” is playful, peppered with cheeky needle drops, and builds to a sweet emotional catharsis that may or may not have left this critic a little misty-eyed. It feels earnest and engaged.

“Hoppers” may not be top-tier Pixar. But it is a welcome return to form, a reminder that the studio still knows how to marry big ideas with a bigger heart.

HOPPERS opens in theaters Friday, March 6th.

Entertainment

How a mural of Altadena became a symbol of resilience for one small store, through fire and flood

Published

8 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

How a mural of Altadena became a symbol of resilience for one small store, through fire and flood

Every time Adriana Molina drives up Lake Avenue to her retro-style women’s clothing shop Sidecca in Altadena, she sees the new outdoor mural she commissioned for the store by muralist and illustrator Annie Bolding. It gives her hope.

“I’m here to stay, and this mural solidified my decision to reopen my business,” said Molina on a recent winter day, sitting next to Bolding inside the boutique. “I grew up in Altadena. The community has motivated me this whole time, and I want them to drive by this mural and smile.”

“ALTADENA.” The word — in big white letters, set against layers of blue — appears toward the top of the mural, on the store’s brick wall facing Lake. Above are the San Gabriel Mountains, painted a deep brown, California poppies and Mariposa Street and Lake Avenue street signs. Below are green grass, a monarch butterfly and Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane. A bright blue house is on a multicolored striped path in the middle of the mural. Next to it, on a hiking trail, a sign says, “Welcome Home Altadena… With Love, Sidecca.”

For Molina and Bolding, the mural is a personal ode to the Eaton fire-ravaged community — art as a message of optimism and healing.

A car passes by the new Altadena mural on the side of Sidecca apparel shop, which commissioned the piece after fire and floods devastated the community.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

When the fire tore through Altadena in January 2025, Sidecca and a few other stores on the north side of Mariposa Street’s bustling Mariposa Junction survived, while the other half-block of businesses burned to the ground. The fire leveled Bolding’s parents’ house off Lake and the home of one of Molina’s close relatives.

Molina staged pop-ups and sold merchandise online during months of remediation, and officially reopened Sidecca’s doors in November as part of Mariposa Junction’s larger comeback. Then the store suffered another blow: flooding and damage during rainstorms in late December. While Molina prepped to temporarily close her store yet again for renovations, Bolding began work on the mural. She started painting on the one-year anniversary of the fire and finished eight days later.

“On the day I started it, it was so cold and windy, and I was scared being up on the ladder,” said Bolding. “But getting to talk to community members while I was painting was very special. People were excited and honking as they drove by. That night, I drove up to the lot where my parents’ place was, and I stood there and all the feelings flooded back.”

The mural’s origin story is that of two creative women bound by strength and a desire to give back.

Molina, who has worked in the fashion industry for more than 30 years, opened Sidecca’s Altadena spot in 2023, after closing its longtime Pasadena location. Voted Pasadena’s best women’s clothing store five times by Pasadena Weekly, Sidecca sells fun vintage-inspired merchandise and clothes, from ‘50s style dresses to snazzy magnets, tote bags and sunglasses. A big rainbow zips across the top of one of the store’s walls.

“A few months after Sidecca opened in Altadena, my mom walked in and saw how colorful it was, and said, ‘This reminds me of my daughter,’ ” Bolding said. “With zero hesitation, my mom said to Adriana, ‘Here’s her Instagram. This is my daughter’s stuff.’ ”

Bolding, who goes by Disco Day Designs, calls herself “a joyful creator who loves to intentionally transform spaces.” Known for the bright murals she creates for brands and shops, Bolding gained attention on social media for a trash bin she painted with palm trees and stripes. She brought it to the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as part of a contest organized by the festival’s sustainability partner, Global Inheritance.

“I fixated on the trash can,” said Molina. “I looked at Annie’s murals and was like, ‘Oh, she has to do something in here for us.’ ”

“Game recognizes game,” added Bolding, smiling.

Molina wanted to rebrand Sidecca with a new logo, bags and art, and connected with Bolding about that and a possible mural inside the store. “I wanted ‘Sidecca’ painted across a wall as an acronym that stands for style, individuality, diversity, expression, community, culture and art,” she said. “That’s who we are.”

Then came Jan. 7, 2025.

The store was closed all day for a holiday lunch. Then the winds picked up and the flames roared. Molina, who lives with her husband and two children on the Altadena-Pasadena, evacuated with her family to Long Beach and came back days later. She knew the store was OK because she’d seen it — intact — on the news.

“As soon as we could come up to the shop, we went,” Molina said. “There were ashes all over.”

Bolding and her husband were in Palm Springs fixing up an AirBnb they cohost when Bolding got a call from her mom about the fire in Altadena. She urged her mom, dad and younger brother to evacuate. After they did, their home burned down. Her parents now live in a Pasadena apartment.

When Molina started selling Altadena-themed merch on Sidecca’s website, Bolding donated three designs, including one with lively retro daisies. In July, she wrote an email to Molina reviving the idea of a mural, but outside versus inside, as an ode to Altadena.

“It felt like anything I could do to bring joy, let’s go,” said Molina. “And I really wanted a little house in there, and for it to say, ‘Welcome home.’ ”

The mural would be Bolding’s first public piece of art on a main street.

“Lake always felt like the road going home,” she said. “That rainbow road in the mural, leading to the mountains, is so symbolic. Very ‘Wizard of Oz.’ The mountains, their silhouette, have always felt majestic, safe, and why it was so heartbreaking anytime to see them burn. To me, they feel like mother.”

Bolding’s joyful daisies decorated the Sidecca tote bag given to customers at November’s reopening, just before December’s intense rainstorms. Water gushed through Sidecca’s ceiling. Molina and her employee Manisa Ianakiev were overwhelmed.

“We were like, ‘Is this really happening?’ ” said Molina. “Then people started bringing tools and towels. It was an example of community.”

Bolding planned to start painting the mural Jan. 4, during the Altadena Forever Run, but rain swept through. After Molina’s landlord installed a plywood base, Bolding started on the mural several days later.

Since then, the shop’s ceiling has been replaced, and Molina is working on trying to replace the floor — while continuing to stage pop-ups and sell merchandise online — before fully reopening the bricks-and-mortar boutique this spring.

“People say, ‘Every time I go into your store, I just get happy. I’m in a better mood,’ ” said Molina. “I get that all the time. And what Annie has done, this mural, is beautiful. It makes me happy.”

Movie Reviews

‘Hoppers’ review: Who can argue with hilarious talking animals?

Published

19 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

‘Hoppers’ review: Who can argue with hilarious talking animals?

Just when you think Pixar’s petting-zoo cute new movie “Hoppers” is flagrantly ripping off James Cameron, the characters come clean.

movie review

HOPPERS

Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG (action/peril, some scary images and mild language). In theaters March 6.

“You guys, this is like ‘Avatar’!,” squeals 19-year-old Mabel (Piper Curda), the studio’s rare college-age heroine.

Shoots back her nutty professor, Dr. Fairfax (Kathy Kajimy): “This is nothing like ‘Avatar!’”

Sorry, Doc, it definitely is. And that’s fine. Placing the smart sci-fi story atop an animated family film feels right for Pixar, which has long fused the technological, the fantastical and the natural into a warm signature blend. Also, come on, “Avatar” is “Dances With Wolves” via “E.T.”

What separates “Hoppers” from the pack of recent Pix flix, which have been wholesome as a church bake sale, is its comic irreverence.

Director Daniel Chong’s original movie is terribly funny, and often in an unfamiliar, warped way for the cerebral and mushy studio. For example, I’ve never witnessed so many speaking characters be killed off in a Pixar movie — and laughed heartily at their offings to boot.

What’s the parallel to Pandora? Mabel, a budding environmental activist, has stumbled on a secret laboratory where her kooky teachers can beam their minds into realistic robot animals in order to study them. They call the devices “hoppers.”

Bold and fiery Mabel — PETA, but palatable — sees an opportunity.

The mayor of Beaverton, Jerry (Jon Hamm), plans to destroy her beloved local pond that’s teeming with wildlife to build an expressway. And the only thing stopping the egomaniacal pol — a more upbeat version of President Business from “The Lego Movie” — is the water’s critters, who have all mysteriously disappeared.

So, Mabel avatars into beaver-bot, and sets off in search of the lost creatures to discover why they’ve left.

From there, the movie written by Jesse Andrews (“Luca”) toys with “Toy Story.” Here’s what mischief fuzzy mammals, birds, reptiles and insects get up to when humans aren’t snooping around. Dance aerobics, it turns out.

Per the usual, “Hoppers” goes deep inside their intricate society. The beasts have a formal political system of antagonistic “Game of Thrones”-like royal houses. The most menacing are the Insect Queen (Meryl Streep — I’d call her a chameleon, but she’s playing a bug), a staunch monarch butterfly and her conniving caterpillar kid (Dave Franco). They’re scheming for power.

Perfectly content with his station is Mabel’s new best furry friend King George (Bobby Moynihan), a gullible beaver who ascended to the throne unexpectedly. He happily enforces “pond rules,” such as, “When you gotta eat, eat.”

That means predators have free rein to nosh on prey, and everybody’s cool with it. Because of bone-dry deliveries, like exhausted office drones, the four-legged cast members are hilarious as they go about their Animal Planet activities.

No surprise — talking lizards, sharks, bears, geese and frogs are the real stars here. They far outshine Mabel, even when she dons beaver attire. Much like a 19-year-old in a job interview, she doesn’t leave much of an impression.

Yes, the teen has a heartfelt motivation: The embattled pond was her late grandma’s favorite place. Mabel promised her that she’d protect it.

But in personality she doesn’t rank as one of Pixar’s most engaging leads, perhaps because she’s past voting age. Mabel is nestled in a nebulous phase between teenage rebellion and adulthood that’s pretty blasé, even if a touch of tension comes from her hiding her Homo sapien identity from her new diminutive pals. When animated, kids make better adventurers, plain and simple.

“Hoppers” continues Pixar’s run of humble, charming originals (“Luca,” “Elio”) in between billion-dollar-grossing, idea-starved sequels (“Inside Out 2,” probably “Toy Story 5”). The Disney-owned studio’s days of irrepressible innovation and unmatched imagination are well behind it. No one’s awed by anything anymore. “Coco,” almost 10 years ago, was their last new property to wow on the scale of peak Pixar.

Look, the new movie is likable and has a brain, heart and ample laughs. That’s more than I can say for most family fare. “A Minecraft Movie” made me wanna hop right out of the theater.