Publication Date: 03-07-2026

Hoppers (2026) review

Dir. Daniel Chong

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★★

Since emerging from Pixar’s Hoppers, I’ve tried to put my finger on how long it’s been since I was truly blown away by a film from the ever-reliable animation powerhouse. Inside Out over 10 years ago comes close, as terrific as that film was. This is no slight to other great works over the last few years, including, but not limited to, Luca and Soul, which helped entertain us during the miserable COVID-19 pandemic. Then it dawned on me. Hoppers is the most complete film from Pixar since Toy Story 3, going all the way back to 2010.

What do I mean by “complete?” Hoppers basically takes the plot of Avatar and intermixes it with the anti-corporate, animal-centric environmentalism message of something like Hoot. It doesn’t disguise the fact it’s derivative, but makes up for that fact by filling its story with developed characters, elaborate set-pieces, gorgeous and epic animation, and delightful critters of every creed. It tags all the bases of emotions it can possibly manage, without ever veering too far into one, and comes brings the narrative to a quiet, serene conclusion, effectively circumventing back to its languid prologue.

Our first impression of Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Lila Liu as a child; Piper Curda as a teen) is she’s a compassionate animal-lover. When leaving school one day, she smuggles every class pet — turtle, snake, guinea pig, etc — from their quarters in order to set them free. When she’s inevitably caught and reprimanded, more-so for her subsequent rage-filled outburst, her mother sends her to live with her grandma (Karen Huie), who brings her to the calm glade behind her house, where busy beavers, dainty dragonflies, and rambunctious reptiles build their homes, for a dose of tranquility.

Fast-forward and Mabel is 19, now without her grandmother, but still a frequent visitor to that same glade, which taught her to manage her temper. The latter proves to be an issue, for she’s in the midst of a long-running spat with Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm), who wants to destroy the forest area and build a highway. Mabel inadvertently discovers that her college professor, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy), has developed technology that allows for human consciousness to be transferred to robotic animals (“This is nothing like Avatar,” she tells her student). In an act of impulsive disobedience, Mabel transfers herself into the body of a beaver, believing if she can recruit just one beaver in the forest back to the now-abandoned glade, she can help erect a dam that would steer Mayor Jerry and his brass away from their highway project.

Upon entering the animal kingdom, Mabel learns the hierarchy very quickly. It’s King George (Bobby Moynihan) who explains to her the “Pond Rules,” which involve looking out for their animal peers, but also encouraging them to eat when they need to eat (this is a nice, simplified way of explaining the food chain for children). George has a youthful optimism that he lets spill over to his duties, believing in the good of everyone, even humans who like to “squish” animals like them. Other creatures who aid Mabel’s efforts to preserve the forest include a slow-witted beaver named Loaf (Eduardo Franco) and Tom (Tom Law), an adorable, bug-eyed lizard who likes to wave.

Screenwriter Jesse Andrews (Luca) resists the common trap of many animated movies by making a seemingly innocuous, good-intentioned character reveal his/her evil ways. Not only well-defined, the characterization of both humans and animals remain remarkably consistent. Employed throughout Hoppers is a message preaching cooperation, not so much compromise. At one point, following a series of both fortunate and unfortunate events depending on who you ask, Mayor Jerry tells Mabel that he still intends to build a highway. Mabel tells him that she still intends to fight him on the matter.

Andrews and Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears) make seamlessly merge the moralization of Hoppers‘ story with its larger set-pieces. The entire film is a visual spectacle, but it really becomes something else when you see an army of birds hauling an apex predator parallel with Mayor Jerry’s speeding vehicle. A montage of the animals working to help a colony of beavers construct a damn is scored to Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend” in true high-energy fashion. Even the film’s destructive climax feels dimensional not only because of the stakes but the true artistry of the animation on display, from raging wildfires to tsunamic tides.

All of the ingredients converge into a film that overcomes its inherently derivative nature and preaches the gospel of cooperation to avoid destruction. To keep it pithy, Hoppers is a dam good time.

Voiced by: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nacherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Meryl Streep, Ego Nwodim, and Lila Liu. Directed by: Daniel Chong.