Hoppers (2026)
Directed by Daniel Chong
[Rated PG] 1hr 44min
Family, Animation, Sci-fi, Comedy
★★½
“It’s hard to be mad when you feel like you’re part of something big.”
When a corrupt mayor announces his plan to demolish a forest in order to build additional roadways, an environmentalist college student tries to do everything she can to stop the project from moving forward. After many failed attempts, she eventually discovers a device built by her professors that’s able to transmit her mind into a robotic beaver and allows her to communicate with the forest animals, which leads her to uncover the nefarious truth about the construction project.
This is an otherwise great film that’s really held back by its problematic themes. It starts off with excellent pro-environmental messages but ultimately advocates for something completely different and contradictory. Rather than maintaining the environmental focus that it perfectly nails at the beginning, the narrative eventually shifts to being about trying to stop an oppressed minority population from fighting back against those in power who want them displaced from their homes. This is made worse by the fact that the entire reason for this change in direction comes about by the protagonist’s desire for non-violence, but when there’s violence committed against the minority population, it’s played for laughs while the rest of the story hinges on protecting the people who perpetuate systematic violence against the oppressed. It’s also important to note that Pixar specifically required the filmmakers to “town down themes of environmentalism” in this film, according to The Hollywood Reporter (Source), which demonstrates how these problems extend far beyond this one film, as reactionary decisions are coming directly from the company’s executives themselves. It’s such a shame that the narrative ends up taking this disappointing turn because everything else about the film is consistently great. The animation is spectacular, the jokes are hysterical, and most of the characters are fantastic. The first half of the film is genuinely amazing, but its story completely falls apart in the second half. Overall, this film is a lot of fun on a moment to moment basis, and it goes all in on the absurdity of its premise, which makes it a blast to watch if you can ignore the messaging issues in the latter half of the narrative.
I recommend Hoppers to anyone who wants a simple, light, and easily enjoyable movie experience. The themes are its only major weakness, so it can still be very entertaining for the most part. Since this film offers the same core concepts as the Avatar franchise (which is also explicitly referenced at one point), I strongly encourage watching those films as they have significantly better thematic messaging that provides a far superior experience.
Hoppers is currently available to stream on Disney+. Click here to watch the Official Trailer.
The Harvard Public Library hosted a Family Movie Night featuring this film on July 16th. Click here to view future movie night screenings.
– Review by Will Hopper