The Bride! and Hoppers – Movie Reviews

March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 Zach Kraus and Andy Mikesic 0 Comments Bobby Moynihan, Christian Bale, English Movies, Hollywood, Hollywood Movie Reviews, Hollywood Movies, Hoppers, Jessie Buckley, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Piper Curda, The Bride

It turns out the real Frankenstein’s monster… was the script for The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s The Bride! adapts the story of Frankenstein’s Bride, mixed with a framework inspired by “Bonnie & Clyde.” After months of marketing, I had at least expected this movie to turn out decent. I have very few nice things to say about this film, as it is an unintelligible mess.

Jessie Buckley as Ida and Penelope Rogers, coming off an award-winning performance in Hamnet gives my least favorite performance of hers. She appears misguided in expressive direction and is treated to odd dialogue. Christian Bale underwhelms also, and both he and Buckley lack chemistry to develop their relationship as Frankenstein and The Bride. There’s also an internal monologue within The Bride’s psyche that could’ve been better fleshed out, but little comes to fruition.

A lot of the confusion comes through a competition of subplots and character dynamics with little holding them together. Jake Gyllenhaal’s character plays a marginal role in the story. The detective subplot is utterly unclear in how to drive the plot forward. There’s moments that blur the line of fact and fiction within this film’s reality, much of which is just used for stylistic intent rather than significance to the story. A random assortment of editing becomes so fucking frustrating to decipher the progression of the plot. It’s as if Maggie Gyllenhaal (or perhaps the studio) went for style points instead of placing thought towards how it benefited the narrative.

I was left with confusion and empty arms leaving The Bride! It’s a “monsterification” of the classic “Bonnie & Clyde” story structure, but veers closer to how Joker: Folie à Deux collapsed.

‘The Bride!’ Rating – 1.5/5

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Disney Pixar’s Hoppers is directed and co-written by Daniel Chong and stars Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, and Kathy Najimy. Desperate to save the glade that her and her grandmother spent time in from the mayors development plan, Mabel uses her professors top secret experiment to make contact with the animal kingdom.

Hoppers is a fun new original movie from Pixar. I would say that the themes of the story do feel a bit mid 2000’s, like the time for a humans and nature can get along movie has passed and we are in dire straits with climate change. That being said those themes are still incredibly important especially for kids to understand.

This is by far Pixar’s most unhinged film and there are some shocking moments for a Pixar movie but I think that’s wonderful it came as a complete shock. I also couldn’t stop laughing. Hoppers has this millennial style humor but it doesn’t cross the line into being annoying and stays on the side that just makes me giggle. If anything holds me back from loving this movie is that I didn’t get the emotional connection I needed to forgive the lack of character development with Mabel.

One thing that felt truly special though is the world building in this movie really felt like an imaginary world that I would have created in my head as a kid. All in all, Hoppers is an incredibly funny movie and still touching but not quite at the highest of highs.