Environmental activism meets animated comedy when a new technology allows humans to communicate with animals in Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers. The film is one of two posthumous releases to feature Isiah Whitlock Jr. in the cast.

There are mid- and post-credit scenes.

Animal lover Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is devastated when a peaceful glade she cherishes is threatened by a highway project backed by ambitious local mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm). When her college professor, Dr. Samantha “Sam” Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), develops experimental technology that allows humans to “hop” their consciousness into lifelike robotic animals, Mabel seizes the chance to investigate from the inside. Transferring her mind into a robotic beaver, she discovers a hidden world of wildlife and befriends the larger-than-life beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan), pond leader and mammal king. Together, they work to unite the animals in an effort to save their home.

The pond has three rules:

Rule 1: Don’t be a stranger
Rule 2: When you gotta eat, eat
Rule 3: We’re all in this together

All the subjects abide by the rules, keeping their ecosystem in balance. Mabel has an issue when Ellen Bear (Melissa Villaseñor) attempts to eat Loaf (Eduardo Franco) because she’s trying to find a beaver to come back and repopulate the glade. But pond rules being pond rules, Loaf is more than ready to go along with it. Mabel, not so much.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into my screening of Hoppers. To be fair, I hadn’t watched the trailer. I didn’t anticipate a film that could inspire a new generation of animal lovers and environmental activists, but that’s exactly what’s in store. I’ll be curious to see what kind of impact the film has in 10–20 years on younger moviegoers deciding to enter the environmental field.

While Hoppers mostly goes for humor, it isn’t afraid to dive into thriller territory late in the film. There’s plenty of action for fans of adventure movies, but at the end of the day, this is an adventure comedy. While animated films are often thought of as being for young children, I’d say this is a movie that plenty of people could learn something from. Personally, I even learned things about ecosystems that I definitely didn’t know growing up. It turns out beavers are key to revitalizing ecosystems after building their dams and ponds—they are engineers in more ways than one.

Daniel Chong, who worked as a story artist on Inside Out, never thought Pixar would go for Hoppers when he pitched it. The story also evolved from his initial idea, as penguins didn’t make the cut and beavers eventually became our way into the film. We’re all the better for it, too—after all, the Penguins of Madagascar had their day in the sun. If Chong hadn’t come across a story about Yellowstone National Park rewilding wolves into their ecosystem, this film might never have existed. Chong and his team were able to add plenty of entertainment value when it came to beavers doing their work. For them, every day is a party.

When Hoppers inches into thriller territory, it also shows the importance of beaver dams and how they can be used to help fight forest fires. Maybe it’s because science isn’t my strong suit, but it’s definitely not something that’s discussed much in the news when wildfires break out. Now I’m curious where beaver dams were in the process during last year’s awful LA wildfires.

Every Disney and Pixar film generally has its own villains, and Hoppers has its fair share. But I love how one of them—I won’t say who, because spoilers—has a redemptive arc. It adds a nice touch to the story, showing how our environment has the power to bring people together.

Hoppers is an animated adventure that balances humor, action, and environmental awareness in a way that feels both entertaining and thoughtful. It’s a film that can spark curiosity about the natural world while still delivering laughs, clever storytelling, and memorable characters. Even if it doesn’t break entirely new ground in animation, it’s a strong, engaging early-year release that highlights both the story and the ecosystems it celebrates.

DIRECTOR: Daniel Chong
SCREENWRITER: Jesse Andrews
CAST: 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

Pixar will release Hoppers in theaters on March 6, 2026. Grade: 4.5/5

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