‘Hoppers’ Review: Pixar Gets Weird in Daniel Chong’s Darkly Funny Animal Comedy
For the past few years, Pixar overlooked the chance to enter its new renaissance era. Enrico Casarosa’s Luca and Domee Shi’s Turning Red were two of the studio's most original and best efforts in years, as these longtime artists and their autobiographical first-time features highlighted their voices and styles. They were everything a Pixar movie should be: personalized, rich, and unique. Recently, Pete Docter's mission to stray from autobiographical features and into relatable ones with "mass appeal" had me anxious about Daniel Chong's Hoppers, especially following the frustratingly broad Elio. Against all odds, Chong seals the studio's broken dam with possibly the weirdest, most unhinged, outrageously hilarious, and unpredictable movie to come out of Pixar in years. Whereas it's just another Monday for Chong, who you may know as the creator of the equally strange Cartoon Network comedy We Bare Bears, Hoppers is exactly what the studio needs right now: perverse, rebellious, and eccentric. Frankly, it's my favorite Pixar movie since Turning Red.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of Disney
MPA Rating: PG (for action/peril, some scary images and mild language.)
Runtime: 1 Hour and 45 Minutes
Language: English
Production Companies: Pixar Animation Studios
Distributor: Disney
Director: Daniel Chong
Writers: 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
U.S Release Date: March 6, 2026
Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda), a misunderstood, rebellious 19-year-old animal lover with rage-fueled tendencies, is determined to save the wildlife-dominated Everglades that she and her late grandmother (Karen Huie) used to visit during her childhood. She spends every day beefing against the mayor, Jerry (Jon Hamm), and his plans to destroy it and build an expressway – mostly to her own detriment, as she neglects her college undergrad courses. With time running out, Mabel discovers that her biology professor, Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimy), has developed a robot technology system called "Hoppers" that enables her to communicate with other animals by transferring human consciousness into robotic animals. She instantly hijacks it for her mission, and as a beaver, she winds up deep in Beaverton’s forest. Mabel is taken to King George (Bobby Moynihan), a jolly, kind-hearted beaver monarch with major Richard Simmons energy, for violating the "pond rules" of the "Superlodge." Together with George, they find out that the animals have left the Everglades due to Jerry's evil practices. This upsets Mabel as more of the animal monarchs become involved. However, her unchecked anger and her tunnel vision of mission completion cause disruptions to suburban Beaverton and the natural order of the animal kingdom.
Cute critters, brutal chaos.
Mabel in Pixar's HOPPERS. Photo courtesy of Pixar. © 2025 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved
Each Pixar flick has been trying to one-up the others' cute factor. If you thought the aliens in Elio were cute, the animals in Hoppers are downright adorable. You have chonky beavers, a huge, fluffy bear (Melissa Villaseñor), and a weird, wide-eyed lizard named Tom (Tom Law), to name a few. The movie has its own clever rules and ideas about perspective shifts, such as how animals' eyes are seen with the sclera when they communicate with each other. But when they’re focused on humans, they’re black-dotted, which they take advantage of in the story and body movement for emotion capture. Don’t let the cute designs fool you, as they serve as a sneaky juxtaposition to the film’s rather unhinged nature.
Hoppers operates with the "screw them kids" energy, as it isn't for the youngsters. Its comedy is largely based on silly character expressions akin to Turning Red and Luca – movies that make you go, “Damn, they had a great time storyboarding this film" – but gets violent with relentless onscreen animal deaths and intense chaotic action sequences and set pieces that up the ante in insanity. Giving animals sentience is one thing, but to depict the cruel nature of the food chain is one of the last things I'd expect from Pixar, yet the first thing I’d expect from Chong.
Hoppers feels like a Daniel Chong movie first and a Pixar movie second. His signature voice shines profusely throughout. The same millennial-infused humor and irreverence with a loving tribute to nature that can be found in a We Bare Bears episode are prevalent in his direction, and Luca scribe Jesse Andrews’ (who shares a story credit with Chong) script. The inherently grounded nature of Mabel's quest quickly degenerates into a hilarious state of utter chaos, veering in unexpected and daring directions while maintaining the story’s heart and character. When I told a few pals familiar with WBB that this was from the same creator, they all went, "Ooooh, that tracks.” It’s like an extended episode made with Pixar technology. In many instances, Hoppers plays like a subtle farce on Pixar films in surprising and bold swings in story beats.
At its heart, Hoppers is about grief, memory, and an unlikely friendship.
A scene from Disney and Pixar's HOPPERS. Photo courtesy of Pixar. © 2026 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Hoppers’ many variables are anchored within Mabel, the most interesting protagonist the studio has had in quite some time. Though she can be seen as a Marty McFly for the new age – a skater, calls her professor "doc", and her deepest flaw is her uncontrollable anger – the film weaves in a fresh character portrait of a grieving young adult. What is a Pixar movie without a character in grief? But the genuine freshness is derived from her tunnel vision determination, being a direct correlation of the loss of her grandmother and her loneliness. In contrast to the Pixar norm of frontloading its opening with an emotional trauma dump, Hoppers cleverly intersperses flashbacks of Mabel and Grandma Tanaka's relationship among her actions during the present. Mabel is a nature preserver who will do anything, to her own detriment and sometimes to the detriment of others, to get the Glades back. At a clever turning point, her wanting to save her new forest friends becomes less about the critters and more about preserving the memory with her grandmother, the sole family member who understood her; given her isolation, you feel the weight of her pressure and need to maintain control.
Then, when she forms a friendship with King George, he imbues her with wisdom and big-hearted optimism, contrasting her stubbornness. The development of their friendship lands them in the Pixar "character in grief and their comedic foil" buddy bracket, right up there with Up's Carl Fredricksen and Russell and Finding Nemo's Marlin and Dory.
Hoppers sneaks in a hopeful Eco message beneath its chaos.
Jerry from Disney and Pixar's HOPPERS. Photo courtesy of Pixar. © 2026 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
However, Mabel's portrait is associated with a balanced environmentalist message about coexistence, highlighting the idea that all living things are a part of the same planet: Earth. Although this message may appear slightly muddled in the grand scheme of things, since humans, especially the ones running the show now, suck. I think of it as kids getting their own FernGully, where the message is poignant and beautifully conveyed, giving them a resounding sense of hope that will spark the little rebel in them.
I must commend Piper Curda for her ability to imbue Mabel with such passion, energy, and poignancy that she is brought to life as the story undergoes kinetic tonal changes. The rest of Hoppers' voice ensemble – most SNL or WBB alums like Bobby Moynihan – are a delight and bring a strong spirit that matches the animation's erratic nature. It's guided by seasoned voice actors who pour heartfelt emotion into their characters. Even Jon Hamm and Dave Franco, who have become skilled voice actors, are occasionally unrecognizable with their respective characters' personas matching the film's chaotic spirit.
Final Statement
There’s no reason for Hoppers to work; it’s deeply emotionally affecting as it is inherently insane, yet it's damn near Pixar perfection. It's a rebuttal to Pete Docter's “mass appeal” notion and an audacious shock to the system modern animation studios need: less commercialized and sanitized projects and more original, idiosyncratic, director-driven tales that gets its point across making nothing but bold swings. If the creator of We Bare Bears can make Pixar's best movie in years, who knows what great films lie within every animation television creator?
