REVIEW — “Hoppers”

Leave it to beavers to give a dam. Disney and Pixar’s new full-length animated adventure, Hoppers, asks the question: What would you do if you had the technology to talk to animals? For rebellious animal lover Mabel (Piper Curda), she’d give them a voice and a seat at the table. As a child, young Mabel shares a strong connection to nature thanks to her loving grandmother. The pair spend countless days during her adolescence sitting atop a large boulder, taking in the peaceful stillness of their local glade.

“It’s hard to be mad when you feel like you’re part of something big,” grandma advises. However, their beloved sanctuary and its animal inhabitants become threatened by the development of the Beaverton Beltway, headed by Mabel’s nemesis and populist mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm). Once all local critters are displaced, the towering highway overpass project will result in the complete destruction of the glade, which is scheduled to begin in 48 hours.

College student Mabel learns that it only takes a single beaver to restore the glade’s ecosystem and return other wildlife. To halt construction, she desperately turns to Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy) and her fellow ecology professors for help. However, Mabel stumbles upon their secret animal infiltration program called “Hoppers” that allows subjects to transfer their consciousness into life-like, robotic animals in order to study and communicate with local wildlife.

Seizing an opportunity to use the new tech to finally talk to her animal friends, Mabel takes matters into her own hands, hijacking a robo-beaver, ‘hopping’ her mind into the critter and escaping to the glade. Once there, she quickly integrates herself into the animal kingdom, befriending bears, lizards, squirrels and other beavers, specifically charismatic King George (Bobby Moynihan).

As an undercover beaver, Mabel unlocks the mysteries of the animal’s Pond Rules, a set of commandments that govern how they manage their food chain and survive alongside each other. Represented by a monarchy of kings and queens, each species lives in harmony, acknowledging that every living being is in this together.

However, in an effort to combat the mayor’s development project, Mabel accidentally upsets the fragile balance between the animal kingdom and the human world, unwittingly inspiring an animal uprising targeted at the supposed human “king” Jerry. What follows is a wild misadventure and literal fish-out-of-water story in which Mabel must race against time to save the glade, Mayor Jerry, and all of Beaverton from getting squished!

Co-written by Jesse Andrews and director Daniel Chong and featuring an original score by Mark Mothersbaugh, Hoppers is a creative and genuine sci-fi comedy that stars the impressive voice talents of Eduardo Franco, Sam Richardson, Ego Nwodim, Melissa Villaseñor, Vanessa Bayer, the late Isiah Whitlock Jr. The film also features Meryl Streep as the Insect Queen and a completely unhinged Dave Franco as her power-hungry prince.

While the film explores themes of preservation and connectivity with regards to nature and community, Hoppers is mostly kiddie fare. It lacks the grandscale ambition of a Wall-E, the spiritual depth of a Pocohontas, or the emotional impact of a Coco. Instead, Hoppers fits in perfectly with the loose, feel good charm of a Toy Story mixed with the stakes of A Bug’s Life and rebellious spirit of Turning Red.

Although Hoppers doesn’t quite have the lasting bite of other Disney/Pixar classics, it is still a pawsitively moving, wildly fun and enjoyably entertaining animated adventure that kids and families will love. 3.5/5

Rated PG with a running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, Hoppers opens exclusively in theaters on March 6, 2026.