Introduction
What is up, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back for another animated movie adventure, and now that we had seen a good number of animated movies already, how about we go into a forest for some Pond Rules, eh? We are going to explore Hoppers!
The latest Pixar animated movie from the creator of one of the most beloved animated series of the 2010s with We Bare Bears, with her mum finding a way to “hop” human consciousness into robotic animals, an animal lover tests out this technology and found herself as a robotic beaver who uncover the mysteries of the animal world she has never imagined, as she and other animal critters embark on a quest to halt an ongoing highway construction project from destroying their forest.
Pixar has been on an interesting journey of ups and downs for the past few years, and it has honestly been fascinating to see how they adapt to the ever-changing animation landscape, in spite of everything that is going on within Disney’s corporate side. Will Hoppers convince those corporate overlords to just let Pixar cook?
Only one way to find out, let’s hop onto this adventure!
Key Information
- Director: Daniel Chong
- Animation Studio: Pixar
- Country of Origin: United States
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 12 March 2026 (in Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
Perhaps one minor issue I had with most of the recent Pixar movies is that the writing is not up to scratch with the rest of the elements, and that is a tiny nit-pick for me to pick up. I am happy to report that with Hoppers, the writing might finally be where Pixar is at their absolute peak, and all they needed was a fresh face, like the creator of the well-loved We Bare Bears series, to provide well-needed input, and it shows!
If you had seen the adventures of three bears stacked on top of each other, you would expect the same level of chaotic zaniness that made the series so well-loved, and indeed, Hoppers did just that! Hoppers is easily the most unhinged script Pixar has ever adopted for the big screen, but the insane nature brings in a lot of uniqueness that makes Hoppers stand out compared to the likes of Elio, Elemental, Onward, and even Soul before it.
The first strength Hoppers have been that the insane script resulted in perhaps the funniest Pixar movie in a long while. There are so many jokes and gags that not only flow naturally with fantastic build-up, but they play an important role in where the story goes. I love the unpredictability this movie goes, especially regarding some of the on-screen deaths in this movie. Yes, you heard it right, Hoppers has on-screen death sequences, and the number of on-screen deaths is so insane that even though it did not reach the same level of violence Dongeng Sang Kancil have, but that is besides the point: the number of rules Daniel Chong broke at Pixar to create something as magical as Hoppers resulted in perhaps my most favourite script from Pixar in a long time.
The second strength is how much personality and development the characters got, and with so many characters, it’s difficult to give them equal opportunities to shine, but here, Daniel Chong and his team made it work. There is a lot of character development that would approach spoiler territory, so I will try to keep the character descriptions brief enough to not cross the line. Mabel (Piper Curda) is an energetic and hilarious main character (whether in her human or robotic beaver form) that you connect with almost right at the beginning, and as the story progresses, you learn a lot of stuff about her that made you fall in love with her personality even more, such as her endless bickering with Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) in human form or her connection with the Mammal King, King George (Bobby Moynihan, who voiced Panda in We Bare Bears), in beaver form. Speaking of King George, his personality and development is also as fantastic, especially with his nuggets of wisdom that the children and adult audience can resonate with, and I am pleasantly surprised over how much development Mayor Jerry got, resulting in his character being one of the biggest surprises for any supporting character in some time.
The other characters are worth a huge shout-out too, such as the lazy beaver Loaf (Eduardo Franco), his Pond Rules bear companion in Ellen (Melissa Vilasenor), Meryl Streep as the Insect Queen and of course, the most unexpected breakout star in Tom Lizard (Tom Law), who has the biggest presence outside of the movie with the endless meme-worthy and viral moments despite him not having a lot of screen time, but word of advice: don’t let him near a phone, otherwise he will spam the “Lizard” emoji all day long.
However, it’s the movie’s third and final strength that showcases the writing at its absolute peak, and that is the messaging the movie provides. This is a huge spoiler moment, so I will not go into much detail, but the unexpected and twisted messaging came just as I was having so much fun with this movie, and that was where the movie peels its layers to reveal such a fantastic messaging and twist that changed the story into an entirely different direction. It takes a lot of nerve and risk-taking to pull off such a directional shift, and not many mainstream animated movies that are averse to risks would do that, but it is because of this twist that turn Hoppers from an already fantastic Pixar movie to an absolute Pixar classic. This movie swings for the fences and hits the ground running from minute one, and it never slows down until that moment, but it is so that the entire movie’s writing shines even brighter.
Honestly, I am flabbergasted that it took Pixar this long to figure out how to write such a bold script that had everything, and yeah, this movie has everything I hoped to see with a Pixar flick, and Hoppers over delivered on its promise as a fun and wacky animated movie with an unexpectedly emotional vibe.
Animation
If you had seen We Bare Bears, you would know that it has a chaotic, fun vibe with not just the writing, but also in its animation. Sure, We Bare Bears utilised a 2D hand-drawn style of animation, but the animation has a lot of dynamic animation elements that made its energetic style shine. Here, Daniel Chong and his team translated that style into 3D computer-generated animation with great results.
Animation is the least concerning element for me when it comes to the Pixar movies, but there is a certain level of expectation that I would expect from the Pixar movies that needs to be met in the animation, and Hoppers easily clears it. The character and background designs are very well-rendered and have a level of charm and detail that you would expect from a Pixar movie. With that said, it’s the action and the movements that stand out to me, with how frantic the animation moves about, which suits the chaotic and fun vibe Hoppers is aiming for.
At the same time, however, there is enough restraint in the animation to prevent it from getting too messy real quick, and that is something that some animated movies fail to do it right. I am going to cover an animated movie this year with that problem soon (stay tuned at the end of this review for more details), but that movie’s animation is just way too chaotic and poorly executed with how rushed the animation style feels; here in Hoppers, no such problem there. The animation is well-grounded enough to prevent its animation style from being too over-simulating, but has enough style and quality to make the animation style in Hoppers stand out compared to what Pixar usually provides.
So yes, the animation in Hoppers is on point as well. What else do I need to say?
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
I also enjoyed the score and soundtrack, as well as SZA’s theme song for Hoppers “Save the Day” which is another great song. Yes, it’s not as punchy as her collaboration with Kendrick Lamar for Black Panther’s “All the Stars”, but those two songs serve different purposes, and I am ok with a slower song for Hoppers despite it not being as bombastic as the movie, which I will admit is a nice contrast to the movie itself. As for the sound mixing, it’s also great, but I might need to see that on IMAX to appreciate the sound mixing more.
As for the marketing, Pixar found a jackpot with Tom Lizard spamming “Lizard” emoji on a phone at the end of Elio, which is the marketing push Pixar needs to promote the hell out of this movie. There is so much marketing regarding Hoppers, especially with Tom dominating the social media sites for weeks leading up to the movie release. Considering that Pixar has not been marketing its movies well enough for its past works (mainly thanks to corporate politics from Disney’s corporate side), it’s quite heartening to see Pixar finally coming to its terms and marketing the hell out of this movie.
As for my level of enjoyment, honestly, just like with a few animated movies last year, I made the bold decision to take a ferry to Batam Island in Indonesia, just so that I can cover that movie in a premium cinema setting (that offers electronic controlled recliners) at a dirt cheap price, and let me say this: this was such a blast from start to finish, and the comfortable recliners made the experience even better. I experienced a spectrum of emotions with how hard the writing went, and that resulted in one of my most favourite cinema and movie experiences I ever had.
Travelling to different countries just to cover animated movies is something I wanted to try out, and now, I feel like a proper adventurer with an endless thirst to explore animated movies from all around the world. Hoppers taught me so many things I will remember for months to come, and it would not be surprising if that ends up becoming the biggest favourites to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, especially regarding a certain animation festival in France that I will be going, so watch this space!
Conclusion
Well, well, well… PIXAR HAS NEVER LEFT THE BUILDING, BABY!!!
I knew Hoppers would be my type of animated movie, but I am very surprised in how hard Hoppers went in the best way possible. Hoppers is easily the most unhinged Pixar animated movie in some time, but the zaniness and hilarity this movie excels in are a backdrop to a shockingly fantastic message and twist that floored me. This movie also has a cast of fantastic and well-developed characters with so much personality between them, the animation is once again Pixar at its absolute finest, but with a Daniel Chong touch that translate the craziness of his We Bare Bears series to Hoppers in a delightfully carefree manner. The soundtrack is excellent, the marketing campaign is easily the best we’ve seen from Disney in some time (and comparable to Zootopia 2’s marketing), and I had way too much fun with how amazing this movie was.
I am so happy to see Pixar finally coming to terms with something that is so fun, yet so emotional and fleeting that makes it stand out against even some of their rivals. I absolutely love Pixar, but not as much as what Hoppers did. The bar has been set, and Hoppers is out ahead. Let’s hope the rest of the 2026 animated movies can keep up with this (fake) robotic beaver and her shenanigans.
Thank you for joining me on this adventure. Well, it’s time we return to another animated movie adventurer, but here’s the bad news: we are about to hit turbulence with a couple of pure clangers ahead, and… Buckle up, it won’t be smooth sailing. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
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