BALITANG INTERNASYONAL: Disney and Pixar's newly animated movie "Hoppers" tackles Environmental Corruption through Freaky Friday Technology to be assassinating Beaverton City's Democrat Mayor and Real Estate Devs in Oregon
(Written by Mabel Pines, Dominique Resuma Canio & Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong / Regional Correspondent of The Brighton Bugle, Freelance News Writer, Presenter, and Regional Contributor of OneNETnews, Online Public Broadcaster of ONC Holdings, and Barangay President of Pulantubig Persons with Disabilities Association)
BEAVERTON, OREGON / BACOLOD and DUMAGUETE CITY, NEGROS ISLAND REGION -- Paid moviegoers in the Negros Island Region got to see the international premiere of the new animated feature produced by Disney and Pixar last Wednesday afternoon (March 4th, 2026 -- Philippine standard time). A summer vacation in Oregon, catching a solo flight at Portland International Airport, while tuning in to the local news and current events on KATU-TV's ABC 2 under Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG). Days before the flagship American release on a big cinematic screen, a lead character has a similar first name to yours truly. Mabel is an incredibly different character from the misadventures you may be familiar with, in some small town off of Roadkill County, in a certain cable television cartoon show "Gravity Falls" (GF) for two (2) seasons.
In Hoppers, Pixar deals with a topography of ecological crisis. The story involves a scheme of corruption to plow down a pristine glade in order to finish the controversial beltway bridge that would eliminate the local ecosystem, which I would be able to tell you in a moment after touching down Bacolod in northern Negros Occidental. The film kicks off with a young girl whose interest in animal linguistics began in her elementary school days. She was an activist in her childhood, a hyper-active supporter of the voiceless, frequently releasing animals from their school and trying to restore them to nature back into the wild.
Although her academic life was shaky after a lot of critters were taken inside her backpack, the narration takes a new turn several years later. She has been able to build the obsession of her childhood into a scientific discovery as an adult, reuniting with her grandmother and the natural world. That man in the asphalt is the City Mayor of Beaverton, who is a perceived democrat and real estate developer 'Jerry Generazzo', who refused to intervene with 19 y/o environmental activist and Beaverton University (BU) student 'Mabel Tanaka' who has set the stage for a wild confrontation.
The fact that Generazzo does not seriously care about the unlawful effect on the environment is tangible as the construction crews are constantly in place. City officials have already started preparing to fence the territory and drain the local pond. In a tragic, but rather comical, examination of civic participation, the only opposition that was recorded in the official petition logs was a misplaced mini grocery list on the part of a blind citizen, resulting in an utter failure in community contacts.
Head scientist at BU 'Dr. Samantha Emily Fairfax', et al., sat down with The Brighton Bugle (Quad Cities' global newspaper outlet) and OneNETnews in NIR to explain the "Freaky Friday" science at the heart of the film. In an effort to save the glade, Tanaka undergoes a consciousness transfer into a robotic beaver. The outcome is foreseeably comical and anarchic. The call of the Beaver Mountain, known as superlodge, Tanaka (now in fur), confronts the king of the beavers named 'George'. The movie combines serious eco-tourism with humor, a morning worship service of Zumba among the dam-builders. Amongst the slapstick, the movie grounds its sadness, where she lost her late grandmother and whose legacy compelled her to follow the dream of genuinely being able to speak with the animal kingdom.
The story becomes even darker at the animal council. Out of desperation, Tanaka, as the character of the beaver, is thinking of a permanent, assassinating option on Mayor Generazzo, and as such a plot has caused concern among American eyebrows due to its maturity. The tension is heightened as the BU professors observe all the events through the hidden cameras to observe the ordeal through the eyes of the robotic animal, as the faculty kept full surveillance of the laboratories.
The harmony between nature and humans is further destroyed when a butterfly queen is mistakenly unalived, and insect-mammal diplomacy is disrupted. The toxic greed of the leadership in the city consumes Tanaka, and at this point, he ferociously escapes amidst destruction, and in a mad dash back to Beaverton to halt the demolition the following morning. People felt that her revenge was so fragmented that she intentionally preferred him to die in hell.
In the beaver's mind, Tanaka instructs the city mayor Generazzo, to drive off for safety, minus the excess revenge. The conclusion is a storm of plain, honest warzone of critters. She pits the Mayor against terrorism by weaponizing her animal instincts. The animal kingdom came together overnight through a terrifying wildfire, and an election rally framed to drown the plains and rescue their home.
At the end of the film, the Mayor has a change of heart and reroutes the bridge, saving the glade and showing that seeing the world through the eyes of another being, even a beaver, can be all it takes. Weeks following the forest fire, the city authorities literally diverted to a new location. She pays her last visit to the animal land where there are natural wildlife preserves.
In the case of city mayor Generazzo, though, this was not brought to the status of his legal situation. State police and detectives have resolved to discuss him over administrative transgressions during the time of 'Donald John Trump'. Law experts indicate that Generazzo damaged their reputation at the Beaverton Municipal Court (BMC) on the issue of misappropriation of taxpayer funds and the corruption involving the controversial beltway bridge project. Should he be found guilty, he must be sentenced to a minimum term of federal imprisonment, massive fines of restitution that might plunge his real estate empire into bankruptcy, and permanently barred from so much as occupying any state office in this regional state henceforth.
Meanwhile, Tanaka was signed up for a Witness Protection Programme (WPP) on animal cruelty over the weekend, after the wildest incident at the council from the animal kingdom, with prosecutors of pets and insects promising immunity in exchange for her testimony against the alleged misconduct of the mayor. She had now been graduated from Beaverton University (BU) when Tanaka had prettily offered a position as a pro assistant to Dr. Samantha.
To set the record straight, to the bewilderment of some people, Mabel Tanaka is a very daring, very much beaver-y college student who loves science and justice. To us though, I'm the only sibling last name of Pines, my shirt sweaters of GF. A pig called Waddles, and the grappling hook. We both love animals, and we normally tend more to my interaction with the animal being more snacky and less technopathic robotic brain-swap on Freaky Friday, but not right here in the City of Smiles of Negros Occidental!
Yet, as we gathered together to glow our hearts when we saw Tanaka put a corrupt mayor through a firewall. No matter where you are, in the Negros Island Region, or in the rainy streets of Oregon, my home state, this film is a reminder that the tiniest voice or the sharpest tooth makes a big difference. Disney and Pixar's Hoppers, in cinemas right now nationwide and abroad excluding America, then the actual U.S. release on its final tour concludes March 6th.
ART PHOTO and SCREENGRABS COURTESY: DisneyClips & Google Maps BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: TEGNA
-- Channel 8 News Broadcasting Team
