Hoppers (dir. Daniel Chong)

by Jack Martin | Mar 4, 2026

Certificate: U

Running Time: 104 mins

UK Distributor: Disney

UK Release Date: 6 March 2026

WHO’S IN HOPPERS?

Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Aparna Nancherla, Tom Law, Sam Richardson, Melissa Villaseñor, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Steve Purcell, Ego Nwodim, Nichole Sakura, Meryl Streep, Karen Huie, Vanessa Bayer, Demetri Martin

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Daniel Chong (director, writer), Jesse Andrews (writer), Nicole Paradis Grindle (producer), Mark Mothersbaugh (composer), Jeremy Lasky and Ian Megibben (cinematographers), Axel Geddes (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A young animal lover (Curda) enters the world of animals via some revolutionary new tech…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON HOPPERS?

Pixar has largely avoided the whole “talking animals” gimmick for their animated line-up. There have been fish, insects and even dinosaurs who have been granted the ability to speak, but when it comes to more regular wildlife such as bears, deer, lizards and beavers, it’s surprisingly more of a rarity. That’s probably because they hadn’t quite cracked an original idea to go along with it, something that would immediately set it apart from the infinite other animated movies with talking animals that are out there. Until now, that is.

Hoppers has such a (quite literally) inventive approach to the classic gimmick that it almost feels on par with some of Pixar’s most original concepts from earlier in its filmography. But neither Pixar nor direct Daniel Chong, best known as the creator of Cartoon Network’s hit show We Bare Bears, have stopped there. They’ve gone on to make quite possibly the zaniest and most out-there Pixar film ever, embracing a more cartoonish edge than ever before while still retaining a genuine sense of heart that has thus far defined the studio.

The film focuses on Mabel (Piper Curda), a dedicated and somewhat self-righteous college student in the town of Beaverton whose deep love for the natural world and its many wild animals has led to her becoming an outspoken environmental activist. She regularly clashes with the town’s mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm) who’s planning on constructing a motorway over the local forest glade, which she learns can only be stopped if animals are somehow convinced to return to the now-deserted animal habitat. Mabel gets her chance when she discovers a top-secret scientific experiment where humans can transfer their consciousness into lifelike robotic animals, and before you know it Mabel is inhabiting the body of a beaver and infiltrating the local animal kingdom, led by the kindly beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan), to persuade her new mammal friends to come back home. But one thing leads to another, and Mabel finds herself inadvertently igniting an animal revolution, as you do.

Chong was an inspired choice to direct something like Hoppers, as anyone who has ever watched even just a five-minute YouTube clip of We Bare Bears will testify. As with that show, the director brings a hilariously high-energy tone to this film, one that is sorely needed to match the wacky and borderline absurdist comedy within Jesse Andrews’ script (he previously co-wrote the comparatively much more straight-laced Luca for the studio), and it allows for plenty of extremely funny designs, facial expressions, shot compositions and rapid-fire dialogue to all feel not just natural but very much earned. There are some moments where you’ll be cackling at the pure silliness of particular imagery, including the extraordinary use of a shark that could genuinely have come out of a classic Tex Avery short, as well as a third-act reveal that is as humorous as it is genuinely quite creepy in parts, and even some unexpectedly darker jokes that are made when you see how easy it is for certain characters, some of whom are quite significant to major plot developments, to just suddenly be removed from the equation because of the overall nature of things.

While Hoppers is a very funny movie, perhaps among the purely funniest that Pixar has yet made, it still manages to work in some tenderness which gives it a rather sweet edge. Much of that comes from Mabel herself, who begins the film as this almost parodic example of an animal-loving conservationist who’s so dedicated to her cause that she’s virtually isolated herself from all the other things that matter just a little more. As the film goes along and she begins seeing beyond what she perceives to be wrong and unjust, even forming some unlikely bonds along the way which are genuinely heartwarming, there’s a brewing realisation that she is (aptly) missing the forest for the trees, turning the film into a type of morality tale that says it’s fine to care about things like the environment, but at the same time it’s important to live a life beyond that with friends who you can rely on for support.

In a way, it almost feels like Chong and Andrews are actively dispelling the typically preachy environmental themes that occupy certain films like FernGully: The Last Rainforest and Avatar – the latter getting a specific name-drop when Mabel points out how similar the experiment is to the one in that film – by pointing out how those on the side of nature can, sometimes, be just as insufferable as those on the other side. It approaches this with a strong balance of humour and heart, telling a story of nature without succumbing to heavy-handedness or a sense of superiority, allowing the audience to comfortably laugh along with it all while also still getting them to care for the characters and the themes that they represent.

On the lesser side, it’s easy to see some viewers not getting fully on board with the film’s overly zany style of humour, for it is one of those family films that adopts a very hyperactive personality which can easily irritate certain people who prefer a slightly calmer approach. But other than that, Hoppers should have no problem being embraced by most audiences, for it is a very funny satire of human-animal relations as well as a legitimately heartfelt story about recognising that our connection to nature and its various furry inhabitants shouldn’t come before living our own lives in our own bodies and minds.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Hoppers is one of Pixar’s funniest films that skewers human-animal relations with energetic and borderline absurdist visual humour, but also retains a true sense of heart with some sweet messages that viewers of all ages can relate to.