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Here are the top 9 things to do in Houston this weekend

Take part in the Revolution when Prince's band stops here on Sunday.

It's holiday season, with many Houstonians enjoying a much-needed getaway. For those still here, it's a relatively quiet week of events: All the hardcore stuff happens Monday night — New Year's Eve — when we all count down to 2019.

Until then, enjoy these fun happenings:

Thursday, December 27

Tea with the Dames at the MFAH
If you're a huge fan of old, English ladies getting together and shooting the breeze, here's the new documentary Tea with the Dames, which will be playing Thursday through Saturday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This film features legendary British actresses Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Maggie Smith meeting up for a weekend in the country and just reminiscing about their glorious, award-filled careers as acclaimed dames. 7 pm.

Station Theater presents The SpaceCat Show: Thursday Night Comedy
Improv comedy can either be a fun or grating experience, depending on who's doing the ad-libbing. Hopefully, the folks who put on Station Theater's SpaceCat Show will be giving audiences more of the former. Every Thursday night, guests can see a line-up of local Houston improv comedy teams followed by SpaceCat Lab, the theater's signature house team, who debuts a new improv comedy form every season. 8 pm.

Friday, December 28

Jill Scott vs. Erykah Badu — Night Light Vibe and A Tribute to Jill Scott presented by Liz Vaughn
It appears that two different events on Friday night will be saluting neo-soul queen Jill Scott in very different ways. First up, there's the 3rd Ward Tours' Night Light Vibe, which will have people cruising the streets on Dutch bikes while listening to music from Scott as well as Dallas R&B diva Erykah Badu. Meanwhile, over at Martini Blu, local vocalist Liz Vaughn will be doing a tribute to Scott, performing some of her most well-known ditties. Both start at 7:30 pm.

Saturday, December 29

Save Drag Queen Storytime
Apparently, there are people who don’t like it when drag queens encourage children to read. When a branch of the Houston Public Library started a program earlier this year where local drag divas read to kids, some folks freaked out, even taking legal action over it. This is why the Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library will be holding this protest, welcome to those who want their young offspring to learn more about literacy — and acceptance. 1 pm.

Kato Gentry's Last Day Party of the Year (Ugly Sweater Edition)
Just because Christmas is over doesn't mean you can't rock that ugly Christmas sweater one last time. The Davenport will be having a day party where guests are encouraged to show up in their tackiest yet most festive top. DJ MeekThaFreek will be spinning tunes, while the EaDeaux's food truck will be out near the patio. And after you're done partying, you can go home and finally put that ghastly piece of clothing in storage until next Christmas. 2-8 pm.

Divine Kegel at Cactus Music
Any band that named themselves after a memorable phrase from a Key & Peele skit has got our full attention. This El Paso band is a garage-punk two-piece featuring Daniel Lopez on guitar and Elijah Watson on drums. The group has been described as a trifecta of Death From Above 1979, Lightning Bolt, and Black Sabbath. Before they headline a show this Sunday night at the White Swan Live, you can sample them at this in-store performance. 3 pm.

Sunday, December 30

The Last Supper of 2018 at The Flat
Chef Casey Guhl of the Food Music Life food truck is laying out quite the spread for The Flat's year-end, blowout party. Let us just list some of the succulent items on this menu: bacon macaroni and cheese stuffed in whole roasted squash, pomegranate basil mahi mahi ceviche, pork ribs in adobo sauce served over polenta, and brisket lasagna and aged shredded cheddar cheese. 4-8 pm.

The Revolution at House of Blues Houston
It still hurts that Prince Rogers Nelson — better known as just Prince — was taken away from us a couple of years ago, at the way-too-young age of 57. Thankfully, his music lives on, as well as his backup band, The Revolution. The band he officially introduced to the world in the iconic 1984 movie Purple Rain, this quintet — Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin, Bobby Z., Matt Fink, and Brown Mark — accompanied on the Purple One on his most classic albums, which they are now on performing on tour. 8 pm.

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Movie Review

Heartfelt animal adventure Hoppers is another Pixar classic

Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar

Mabel (Piper Kurda) and King George (Bobby Moynihan) in Hoppers.

For the first 15 years of their history, animation studio Pixar delivered one classic film after another, an astonishing streak that included their first 11 movies. Things got bumpy starting with Cars 2 in 2011, and even though the majority of their output has been good-to-great ever since, their releases are no longer considered slam dunks like they once were.

They’re back with an original film, Hoppers, trying to return to form by going back to the animal world. The film centers on Mabel (Piper Kurda), a 19-year-old environmentalist who’s trying to stop a new highway being built by Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) in the fictional city of Beaverton. Her activism has as much to do with helping displaced local animals as it does with being nostalgic for her youth, in which she spent years observing nature with her Grandma Tanaka (Karen Huie).

She finds an unlikely possible solution when she discovers that her college professors have created a system that allows them to transfer — or hop — their consciousness into animal-like robots. Hijacking a beaver robot, Mabel joins up with the local wildlife, including beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan) to try to convince them to help her execute her plan. But with the highway almost complete and Mayor Jerry willing to do anything to make it happen, Mabel might be too late.

Directed by Daniel Chong and written by Jesse Andrews from a story by Chong, the film cycles through a variety of genres in its 105-minute running time, including comedy, drama, thriller, and even a touch of Pixar-style horror. When Pixar has been at its best, it seamlessly goes back and forth between genres, trusting that audiences will go along with them for the ride, and Hoppers feels like a return to form in that respect.

Humor rules the day as Mabel adjusts to being part of the animal world while her professors desperately try to get her and their robot back. Mabel encounters not only wildly confusing things like “pond rules” (if a predator catches you, you don’t fight it), but also the existence of a hierarchy within the world that involves kings or queens from various animal classes like reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and insects. Her one-track mind and the way of the world she is invading clash in a variety of funny ways.

As the film goes along, Chong, Andrews, and the rest of the filmmaking team also find a way to burrow into the audience’s heart. There are many elements that threaten to tip into eye-rolling territory, but the filmmakers consistently pull back before that happens. The number of fun characters on both the human and animal side helps in that regard, as does the simple yet profound message they’re trying to convey.

Pixar has assembled one of the best voice casts in recent memory for this film, including such big names as Meryl Streep, Dave Franco, Melissa Villaseñor, Vanessa Bayer, and the late Isiah Whitlock, Jr. However, due to the sheer number of characters, only Kurda, Moynihan, and Hamm truly stand out. Still, they all fit together well and give the always-stellar animation even more life.

Since the pandemic, Pixar has only released one truly great film (Inside Out 2), but with Hoppers and the seemingly bulletproof Toy Story 5 coming within a few months of each other, they might go back-to-back on that front. Like the classic films from the studio, it has goofy, heartfelt, and exciting parts, mixing together for an enthralling time at the theater.

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Hoppers opens in theaters on March 6.

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Movie Review

Heartfelt animal adventure Hoppers is another Pixar classic