The Huckleberries Vol. 11 - Hoppers & The Bride!

     Obviously we want to have an area for reviewing new films here at The Film Encomium, but we want to send a message with our methodology. That message is a simple one: Don’t forget about the fun. 

Yes, film can be transformative, prophetic, and groundbreaking. It can also be none of those things and still be a damn good time, and we want to validate both of those experiences. If you are looking for the limits of your own imagination presented in animated form, we recommend the works of Hayao Miyazaki—but if you want to become well-rounded, you have to come to terms with the fact that people like Todd Phillips occasionally stumble across greatness as well. 

It is from the balance of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn that we draw inspiration for the title of this section. Tom is clever; Tom is great. If there were one of those boys we were going to try to get into Harvard, it would be young Mr. Sawyer…but he will always need his Huckleberry. 

We all need our Huckleberries. Art needs its Huckleberries. Sometimes beauty is in the little things and reasoned reflection. Other times beauty is loud, bright, and bold. In the interest of providing our readers with a comprehensive experience, we are not willing to skip The Huckleberries. 

So, with that in mind, here are two enthralling flicks that dropped in theaters recently. The first will help bring a world that has desperately lost its way back to its natural origins. The second will show you that even the dead have a little bit of trouble living their best lives. Enjoy!

Hoppers -

We haven’t done a piece on Pixar at the Film Encomium, so there really hasn’t been room to stress the huge amount of respect we have for Pixar Studios. They led and are still leading an animation revolution that has brought us some of the most iconic films of all time. In our review of GOAT we got to express some of the admiration we have for the outstanding work coming out of Sony Animation’s Imageworks studio, and Pixar is absolutely the forefather of that output, and so much more similar art. It really is difficult to overstate their impact on the medium of filmmaking as a whole.

As such, we understand the urge to defend Pixar from criticism. Particularly because they never fell off the top of the market, it can feel ridiculous to act like there is any valid assessment of them that is less than glowing. However, what that puts us in danger of doing is overlooking the legendary hot streak they started with, and pretending there was no dip after the first ten projects is truly underselling both their status and their potential.  

To recap, in the first 14 years and 10 projects, Pixar didn’t just not miss, they never fell short of game-changing. Toy Story A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up is a streak of instant timeless classics that really holds up against anything that any movie studio of any kind has ever rolled out, particularly in their first ten attempts. Since then, they have been soaring slightly below that illustrious height.

If you have a heart, you probably have at least one Pixar film since the release of Up which you feel a surge of passion to valiantly defend right now. Relax, we are not saying that those should be your ten favorite Pixar films. Since those days they have taken on more niche subject material, made content that was perhaps a bit more engaging for adults, and at times became increasingly complex. For most people, there will have been several that spoke to you deeply, and several that didn’t quite hit the same stride. Which is sort of the whole point. 

All of that is background information to build up towards one statement: Hoppers is the best Pixar movie since Up. It has recaptured that universal appeal that leaves you walking out of the theater knowing you have seen something enduring, something that you want to share with your loved ones. It is gripping, hilarious, majestically scored, inventive, and beautiful. A perfect film, and for the first time in a LONG time Pixar Studios has attained the very highest level of craftsmanship that they are capable of. People will watch this film for the remainder of human existence. 

The Bride! -

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! is a wild ride, and as a result it has been one of the more divisive entries into the 2026 cinematic landscape. Even those of us who love this film don’t have a lot of confusion on how it may not be someone else’s cup of tea. It may be too much; they might have bitten off more than they can chew. It is genuine ally really difficult to say whether this film could have successfully scaled back 5-10% of its eccentricities and been the better for it, because this production runs on mania, and de-escalating the chaos on manic creation always runs the risk of fading into pitiable normalcy. 

The truth is, we should just appreciate this for what it does accomplish, because it gets so much more right than it gets wrong. First and foremost amongst those accomplishments is the outstanding performance from Jessie Buckley—who has officially arrived as one of the most formidable acting talents on the face of the planet. After her powerhouse performance in Hamnet last year, she made a sharp right turn into the psychotic and possessed. Christian Bale does a lovely job as her support, but the story simply asks more out of Buckley, and she rises to meet it in the grandest of fashion. 

Beyond the casting, the producers of this movie also had the wisdom to bring in both the cinematographer who got an Oscar nomination for their work on Joker AND the composer who won an Oscar for their work on Joker. Obviously, they knew what sort of work they were going to emulate here, and those two hires were integral to establishing the unique look and sound that make The Bride! such a compelling spectacle to behold. Lawrence Sher and Hildur Guōnadóttir both have their fingerprints all over this presentation, and their talents help it be the sort of content that sticks in your mind.

When it comes down to it, this movie wasn’t made for the prim and proper amongst us. Those who would dismiss it as sloppy, overly sexualized, or somehow disrespectful to any of the source material it loosely draws from? They are missing the point. Like its titular character, this is a feature that simply asks to be allowed to make its own way in the world. If you give it the space to run free, you will be rewarded with a special flavor of deranged pageantry. However, if you force it into the box of what you think it should be, it will actively try to disengage with you—as it should. 

~The Film Encomium~