If you’ve been to the movies at any point in the past few months, you’ve probably seen the trailer for Hoppers, the latest movie from Pixar. Pitched as Avatar with beavers, the goofy teaser showing a teen girl putting her brain into the robot body of the maritime rodent has drawn widespread derision for the latest round of “Pixar is out of ideas.” Well, guess what? Not only is Hoppers bursting to the seams with ideas in its hour and forty-five minute running time, it’s easily one of the most unhinged, bonkers movies the studio has ever made, and the best one they’ve put out in years.
The actual concept of the film is still pretty simple, but the ways it spins out are best left as a surprise in the theater. Yes, there’s a teen named Mabel Tanaka, voiced by Piper Curda, whose brain ends up in a beaver body. And as you might imagine there’s a fair amount of “hopping” as it’s called throughout the film, though perhaps not as much as you might expect. But it also has your requisite, poignant, Pixar thread… In shades of Up, thanks to a montage towards the beginning of the movie, we discover that not only did little Mabel always love animals, she mostly lived with her grandmother (voiced by Karen Huie), who taught her to appreciate nature – and the beaver-filled glade by her house in particular.
If you’ve watched even one (1) Pixar movie, you can probably see where this is going. But director Daniel Chong and writer Jesse Andrews do an excellent job of taking the requisite Pixar traumatic event and lightly threading it throughout the movie, as Mabel fights the town’s greedy mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) to save the glade her grandmother loved so much.
And in fact, the main relationship in the movie isn’t between Mabel and her grandmother, though that is the inciting event. Instead, it’s between the beaver-ized Mabel and George (Bobby Moynihan), the king of the beavers. I’m skirting spoilers here because how this all plays out is an utterly insane delight, as both Mabel and the scientists trying to get her to return their stolen technology discover the animal kingdom is structured extremely differently than expected. But suffice to say the relentlessly positive George, whose whole focus is on togetherness, comes into conflict with Mabel’s “only I can fix” attitude.
It’s a theme that’s played out in movies and on TV a lot the past few years, particularly in our politically and culturally divided moment. Most of the time, it’s been grating and blunt to the point of annoyance – “why not together?” most of these films plainly ask, trying to have it both ways. Hoppers, on the other hand, threads the line perfectly without getting preachy. Mabel learning that she might not be wrong in theory about protecting nature but wrong in practice in terms of how she deals with other human beings makes for a personal lesson that has wider implications. And while there’s a general slowing down of comedy in most films like this as it pivots to lesson mode, Hoppers instead amps up the insanity as it goes, perfectly balancing wild comedic swings with more poignant takeaways.
It’s also gorgeously animated, filled with lush forests, beautiful, watery groves, and emerald fields of tall grass. That should contrast with the even-more-cartoony-than-usual look for the characters – the designs and movement of some of the animals feel more Chong’s Cartoon Network classic We Bare Bears than your typical Pixar flick. And yet, it never does, with the arch characters, with few exceptions, blending seamlessly with their more realistic backgrounds.
Also notable? This is yet another Pixar film that seamlessly integrates an ethnically diverse lead, and makes it core to her character without overstating the point. Mabel is reportedly Japanese-American; though Curda is of Korean and Scottish descent. But subtle nods like Mabel’s bond with her grandmother or the food they’re eating touch on her cultural heritage and inform her character throughout. It’s laudable, though less part of the story than, say, Turning Red.
One other aspect of Hoppers that’s noteworthy less for prospective viewers than Disney execs is the movie is bursting with so many ideas and pathways it can go, it’s primed for a franchise. To be clear, the film tells a complete, satisfying story over the course of the runtime. But it also feels like Chong and company have barely touched on the possibilities of hopping, as well as the mythology they build about the animal kingdom, that this can power multiple sequels, a TV series, books, comics, and more. From the viewer perspective, all that means is Hoppers creates a delightful world to visit with a unique comedic sensibility. From the Disney perspective? Get Hoppers: The Way of Water and Hoppers: Fire and Ash greenlit asap.
But franchising aside, what makes Hoppers special is how it is relentlessly hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny, and touching without ever becoming cloying. There are comedic bits throughout from the way the world switches from animal to human perspective, to when the beavers discover texting that continue to pay dividends. And the voice cast is uniformly great as well, anchored by Curda and Moynihan’s lovely performances, but extending to Hamm’s excellent Chris Parnell-lite take on the mayor, and Vanessa Bayer in an outrageously sidesplitting cameo.
Basically, Hoppers may be best pitched as Avatar with beavers, but it is so, so much more. Hop, don’t walk, to see it in theaters. Or maybe walk, that’s safer.
Hoppers hits theaters on March 6, 2026.
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