Disney Film Features A Campus Landmark That Looks Familiar To MNs

Animated movies need real-life inspiration. Whether that is through character creation or scene creation, animators often draw from personal experiences as they work on a project. So how interesting is it that the latest Disney film, Hoppers, features beavers and has a university scene that looks somewhat familiar to a Minnesota college…

This Looks Familiar

A recent movie release from Disney dives into the world of animals…well, kinda. Hoppers, according to IMDB is a movie about “a 19-year-old animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination.” -IMDB But looking at a few scenes from the film, could Disney have found some inspiration from a Minnesota college?

Enter Minnesota’s only college to feature a beaver, Bemidji State University. A recent post on an alumni page seemed to point to similarities between the movie university and the real-life one in Northern Minnesota.

I’ll let you be the judge.

The movie features a fictional university known as Beaverton University that has a wrought iron sign and gate set between two brick pillars with the university name written across the arch.

Bemidji State, home to the beavers, has a wrought iron arch, set between two brick pillars with the university name written across the arch. HMMM…

Probably Just A Coincidence

Honestly, I think we are reading too much into it, as countless universities have the same type of architecture, but it would be fun to learn if one of the animators or someone else who was part of the movie did take inspiration from Bemidji State.

One Minnesota Connection To The Film

There was one notable Minnesota connection to the movie Hoppers. A University of Minnesota expert on beavers, Dr. Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, served as a key consultant for the film, helping to ensure the scientific accuracy of the beaver characters.