How Pixar’s ‘Hoppers’ Survived 6 Years of Development With Its Personality Intact

Director Daniel Chong had four goals when he started to work on what would eventually become Pixar’s “Hoppers,” out in theaters now: He wanted the movie to be comedy forward; have an epic, ambitious scale; be thematically and emotionally resonant … and feature penguins.

But hey, three out of four ain’t bad.

Pixar chief Pete Docter had shot down the penguin idea, given the glut of animated penguins over the years. He has a point. There have been two “Happy Feet” movies, an entire...