A 19-year-old animal lover uses technology that places her consciousness into a robotic beaver to uncover mysteries within the animal world beyond her imagination. (from IMDb)

2026 is one of those rare occurrences where moviegoers don't just get one, but two new animated films from Pixar in one year. Hoppers is the first release (Toy Story 5 is the second, coming this summer), offering an all-new story and characters. Seemingly taking a page out of the book of Avatar - they even make a joke about it in this movie - Hoppers imagines what it would be like to put a human's consciousness into that of an animal robot, allowing them to interact with real animals out in the wild. The plot involves a teenage girl named Mabel who grew up seeking solace in a little wildlife-enriched pond area called "The Glade," but when the town's mayor, Jerry, seizes it to run a major highway through the spot, Mabel does everything in her power to try to save it. And when Mayor Jerry says the wildlife would have to return to The Glade in order to save it, Mabel "hops" into a robot beaver to try to convince the local wildlife to reinhabit The Glade.

Hoppers may not feel super fresh because the idea feels borrowed so heavily from Avatar, but it certainly works for this film. And, what kid hasn't imagined what it'd be like to interact with, and be able to talk to, animals? Hoppers is full of surprises though, leaving you guessing where the story might go at pretty much every turn. Mabel, voiced by Disney Channel alum Piper Curda, is a delightful main character - even if she borders on obnoxious at times. The whole premise is rather environmental - coloring progress and human expansion as the villain in an age-old tug of war - but you'd be hard-pressed to really find fault in Mabel for wanting to save this precious nature spot. Mayor Jerry, wonderfully voiced by Jon Hamm, is more or less a quasi-villain, too, and he's given some suprisingly redeemable moments. He's one of those misguided antagonists that doesn't fully see the error of his ways until things escalate significantly. But that may also be because there are worse "villains" in the film... but I won't spoil that here.

The bulk of the film features Mabel inside the body of a beaver living among the animals, and that makes up the most enjoyable aspects of the film. Bobby Moynihan voices a beaver who is the leader of the mammals in the area, and his interactions with Mabel are some of the best moments. The movie's animation is also fantastic - as you can only expect from Pixar - and while we're probably all pretty desensitized to how good animation is these days, it's still worth noting how beautiful these feature films look. The animation style actually kind of reminded me of Sony's more so than Disney's, with the human character design kind of reminding me of a mix of Sony's A Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Pixar's UP. The animals are positively adorable, too, and I like how the animals had simple pupils for eyes normally, but when we're seeing them interacting with Mabel, they have full, expressive, cartoony eyes. It's a nice touch.

Where Hoppers falters a bit is in its last act. Some of the action is so absolutely bonkers that it starts to feel like a different film. I get that audiences are probably hard to surprise these days, but it still seemed like someone on the production team just kept asking, "But can we make it... crazier?" From having a large aquatic creature be carried by birds to attack a moving car to the finale flipping "hopping" on its head in nightmare-fuel fashion... Hoppers is certainly unique in its execution, but it nearly derailed the whole film for me.

With that said, the content is firmly set within the realm of the PG rating. Most of it is pretty harmless, but, as I said, the last act gets intense at times - definitely earning its rating. There's one emphatic use of "suck" as a profanity, which I know is minor, but it still was surprising given the movie it's used in. Also, the climactic action scene is absolutely something that would have terrified me as a little kid. It seriously gave me some Superman III flashbacks. Without giving too much away, there's a humanoid robot with big eyes (with dark circles under them, giving it a more menacing look), and at one point, the human face is torn off to reveal a robot skull with big eyes underneath. It's all done in a menacing way, too, and I can absolutely see it scaring younger children. Even the way the robot moves is a bit unsettling. (My family and I kept wincing at how creepy it was presented.) Part of it is done to be humorous, but it's also absolutely done in a way meant to shock. Other than that, there's a brief moment where a bug character is very suddenly squished between the hands of another animal and we see that animal sheepishly - and slowly - wiping the bug guts against the wall behind them. Other action includes some of the hopper animals exploding in little fireballs, and a big forest fire threatening the town and animals.

Hoppers may not be peak Pixar, but it's probably one of the better Pixar efforts in recent years. It's cute, fun, unique, funny, and even heartwarming. I definitely recommend it for those looking for a good animated film to take the family to -- just be warned that the climactic action is likely to disturb some of the younger, more sensitive viewers.

As a side note - there is a post-credits scene that isn't crucial to see, but it's silly and fun (if not a little creepy as it involves animals having fun with a "mask").

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 3/11/26)

The Critter Diaries (10:18) - To prepare for this production, the animation and story teams took a trip to Yellowstone Park. The Pixar team did research on all kinds of animals living there, and we hear from the film's director, editor and producers about the experience. We see some footage of the animators sketching in the wild - and watch as one of the story artists literally crawls into a real beaver lodge to see what it looks like inside!

Hopping In: The Making of Hoppers (11:47) - This featurette dives into the making of the movie, and the filmmakers discuss what it was like to work on it. It was neat to learn that they encouraged the story artists to doodle out their ideas during meetings -- and that they worked on the film for a total of 5-and-a-half years. (We also learn that director Daniel Chong previously served as a story artist on other Pixar projects, like Inside Out!). The featurette also gives a little cast overview for the main characters in the film.

"Meet King George" Scene Breakdown (6:35) - Director Daniel Chong and Editor Axel Geddes talk about what went into making the scene. They talk about the inspiration of seeing a real beaver lodge in person, and used that to greatly influence the sequence.

Beaverton Revealed (4:13) - This is a featurette about all the Easter eggs in Hoppers. They cover little details like over 62,000 sticks being included in the massive beaver lodge, and how over 19,000 ants are featured in another sequence. They also show us where the elusive Pizza Planet truck is hidden in this movie - and see other fun character cameos from other Pixar movies.

Dam Good Bloopers (2:05) - (Excuse the salty featurette play-on-words name.) This blooper reel is mostly just the voice cast goofing off and having fun while recording lines in the studio.

Deleted Scenes - Play All (19:39)

1. Introduction (0:40) - Director Daniel Chong and Editor Axel Geddes introduce the following batch of deleted scenes.
2. Cold Open (2:43) - Each of these scenes is introduced by Chong and Geddes, and each one is presented in rough storyboard style animation. Personally, I don't enjoy watching rough scenes like these, so I often skip them, but I figured I'd check them out this time. For the alternate "Cold Open," they introduce this scene as sort of a documentary approach, but felt as though it was delaying the introduction of Mabel.
3. The Glade (2:45) - This scene is part of an alternate storyline where Mabel was intentionally recruited into the Hoppers program. A series of scientists in animal robot avatars introduce themselves to her, completely freaking her out.
4. The Mission (3:26) - This scene continues this thread where she's told by the scientists, in their animal avatars, what her mission will be.
5. Kings Arrive (2:39) - This is a cut sequence from the final film that was removed for being too dialog-heavy. In it, the animal kings are arriving.
6. George's Bachelor Pad (3:23) - This is another cut sequence from the final film where George takes Mabel back to his home before his king days, to retrieve a "very important" item. It's a cute scene, but it was wise that they cut it.
7. Helicopter Ride (4:20) - This is an alternate sequence which has a lot of heart-to-heart dialog between Mabel and George while they're riding in a helicopter. The filmmakers ended up moving important character beats from here to other parts in the story. It's good they didn't use this edit either.

- John DiBiase, (reviewed: 5/3/26)