ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A Pixar movie about beavers, humans and the bonds between them. A scathing documentary about the Alabama prison system. The latest installment in a long-running horror franchise. Which should you see, stream or skip? Find out below.

You should see…

“HOPPERS” (2026, 105 min., directed by Daniel Chong)

Pixar needed a win. The last few years have been tough for their original movies. “Elio” bombed last summer, “Elemental” was passed over by critics in 2023 and “Turning Red,” “Luca” and “Soul” were released straight to Disney+ during the Covid-19 pandemic. While “Inside Out 2” was a colossal success, it’s been almost a decade since a brand spankin’ new Pixar original hit with audiences. “Hoppers,” which has already hopped well over projections at the box office, may be on track to do just that.

“Hoppers” follows Mabel Tanaka, a young college student and environmental activist, as she campaigns to stop the construction of a freeway through a local animal habitat. As she fights to find a way to protect the threatened region, Mabel chances upon the “Hoppers” program, a secret research project designed by one of her professors that allows a human mind to control a lifelike robotic animal. Mabel impulsively hijacks the tech, taking on the body of a robotic beaver, and infiltrates the animal kingdom, leading a freedom fighter movement among her newfound animal comrades.

Calling “Hoppers” a wholly original film feels like a stretch. The movie is the latest in a long lineage of Man vs. Nature flicks in animation, not the least of which is “Pom Poko,” a Studio Ghibli film which shares a similar premise. That said, the movie has a personality which feels a little different from your average animal animation, almost like an alien consciousness is inhabiting the body of a standard Pixar film. For one, it’s got some killer jokes. One key scene, involving the word “squish,” may be the best twist I’ve ever seen in a kids movie, and certainly feels tonally distinct from the likes of “Coco” or “Finding Nemo.” The film is bold enough to sprinkle in some mild body horror, too. Parents of young children, pay attention to that “PG” rating on this one.

At the same time, the movie’s sense of humor is its biggest detraction. I appreciate the attempt by director Daniel Chong and screenwriter Jesse Andrews to bring a distinctive flavor of funny to their Pixar project, but many of the jokes don’t land, and I found Mabel more obnoxious than hilarious.

No matter. Despite its unique flourishes, “Hoppers” is ultimately a Pixar project, and Pixar is synonymous with tear-jerking finales. Sure, I rolled my eyes at a lame joke or three, but for the last 20 minutes of “Hoppers,” I was preoccupied wiping tears from my face. The film’s finale is breathtaking, depicting natural disaster and interspecies dependence in such unsparing and earnest terms I think it would be impossible not to feel something. Without spoiling any of the particulars, Pixar, which is headquartered in California, must have been thinking about the Los Angeles fires animating the sequence. More personally, “Hoppers” brought back all the emotions of experiencing Tropical Storm Helene. Either way, the film is channeling real fear, but all in the service of a great catharsis.

Whatever my quibbles, “Hoppers” is a dam solid victory for the venerated animation studio. With “Toy Story 5,” “Coco 2” and “Incredibles 3” on the horizon, I appreciate Pixar is still willing to take chances on original stories.

Rating: 3/5

“Hoppers” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

You should stream…

“THE ALABAMA SOLUTION” (2025, 117 min., directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman)

“The Alabama Solution” is one of the five titles up for Best Documentary Feature at the 98th Academy Awards next week, joining “The Perfect Neighbor” in a mini pantheon of formally inventive films covering travesties in the American Deep South.

The central conceit of the documentary is an exposé of the horrific conditions of Alabama prisons, as told by incarcerated people themselves. Much of the movie was captured in secret on smuggled smartphones, allowing prisoners to advocate for their human rights straight from the dehumanizing state penitentiaries. The footage recorded by the subjects of the documentary, particularly Robert Earl “Kinetik Justice” Council, a co-founder of the Free Alabama Movement, may be low-resolution, but its depiction of prison life – and, all too commonly, death – is crystal clear. Council is an incredible spokesperson for his cause, and his articulate dissertations power the film through a harrowing two hour runtime.

Even outside of its remarkable guerilla footage, “The Alabama Solution” exudes top-shelf documentary filmmaking. Every bit of the movie works, from its electrifying pacing to its bracing interviews to some good looking graphics. The effort pays off. The message is loud and clear. Imprisoned or not, incarcerated people are people, and each deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and humanity.

Rating: 5/5

“The Alabama Solution” is now streaming on HBO Max.

You should skip…

“SCREAM 7” (2026, 114 min., directed by Kevin Williamson)

Set the appalling circumstances of its troubled production aside for a moment. “Scream 7” is still hack work. Everything that made the slasher series so special bled out between its sixth installment and its seventh.

The “Scream” films are a unique franchise. Each are effectively three movies rolled into one: fun serial killer slashers, compelling whodunnits and a contemporary cross-examinations of the horror genre. “Scream 7” manages its own extra-special uniqueness by failing to be all three.

At its best, “Scream” is a celebration of the state of horror, from the “rules of slashers” in the very first film to playful jabs at “elevated horror” and “legacy sequels” in the fifth and sixth. “Scream 7,” in keeping with its newfound position as the series’ worst, lacks any commentary on movies at all. It has plenty of references to previous “Scream” films, sure – though don’t count on hearing Jenna Ortega or Melissa Barrera’s characters, the leads of “Scream” (2022) and “Scream VI,” mentioned by name – but this is a franchise that used to foam at the mouth to compare itself with its contemporaries. “Scream 7” is content to cyclically refer back to itself. Even in the cold open, where Ghostface is prone to quiz his latest victim on horror movie trivia, the movies mentioned are mostly by Wes Craven, the director of the first four “Scream” films. The “commentary” is more like an echo chamber.

At first, the film does gesture toward commenting on something modern. “Scream 7” brings back a few characters long considered dead, the most notable of which is Stu Macher, the “Scream” (1996) villain played by Matthew Lillard. What might have been a shocking twist is quickly revealed to be an implementation of AI deep fakes. In the hoary days of “Scream” yesteryear, “Scream 7” might have taken a stab at examining how AI has begun to infect the film industry, including recent horror hits like “Late Night with the Devil.” Instead, all AI talk is relegated to a single red herring, failing to have any impact on the film whatsoever beyond cheap cameos. Lillard, always delightful, at least brought his A-game to portraying the AI avatar.

Fine. If “Scream 7” would like to focus merely on its own self, the least it could do would be to nail the whodunnit component. Instead, the Ghostface reveal at the end of the film is by far the laziest, least fulfilling mystery of the franchise. No worries. Maybe “Scream 7” could still be an entertaining slasher, if void of recognizable personality. Yet, but for a few brutal kills with some admittedly creative staging, the tone of the movie is deathly serious. There is no fun to be had in “Scream 7,” which is a direct rebuttal of what made the series work in the first place. It’s ironic, considering director Kevin Williamson scripted the first film himself.

The worst part is that you can feel the talent involved bucking against their confines. Neve Campbell, longtime scream queen of the “Scream” series, is doing franchise-best work with her performance. Likewise, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, returning cast members of the previous two films, are a much-needed injection of charisma, but their relative irrelevance to the larger story of “Scream 7” only serves to underscore the drastic changes made after “Scream VI.”

It’s a crying shame all around. What‘s your favorite scary movie? I doubt “Scream 7” will be anywhere close.

Rating: 1.5/5

“Scream 7” is now playing in theaters nationwide.