I had an absolute blast watching Pixar’s latest animated advengture film, Hoppers! This movie is just plain fun. It’s energetic, amusingly weird, and packed with the kind of heart and humor that Pixar usually nails.
This is a strong, funny, wildly entertaining ride that families are going to love. I made me laugh a lot, and I saw it at a time where I needed a good laugh.
The bonkers story centers on a samll team of scientists who figure out how to transfer human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals so people can communicate with animals as animals. That’s the hook.
The story follows Mabel, voiced by Piper Curda, an animal lover who becomes the first person to test the tech by hopping into a robotic animal prototype. Her mission is to blend in with the animal world to help save a special wildlife spot that is about to be demolished by a new highway.
Think Avatar, but instead of towering blue aliens, we get adorable, photorealistic critters and Pixar-level emotional chaos.
What really surprised me was just how hard this movie leans into comedy. It is relentless. The humor is clever, physical, awkward, and sometimes just straight-up absurd. The story leads to some incredibly funny situations.
The movie builds momentum at a solid pace and keeps stacking the humor higher and higher until it almost spirals into total madness, and I mean that as a compliment. There are even a few moments that feel slightly edgier than you would expect from Pixar, which I appreciated.
The voice cast brings so much personality to the chaos. Bobby Moynihan and Jon Hamm add their own flavor to the animal ensemble, and the performances across the board feel lively and expressive. There is a looseness to the dialogue and delivery that gives the film a playful energy.
The movie comes from director Daniel Chong, the creator of We Bare Bears, and he knows how to balance silliness with sincerity, and that balance is what keeps Hoppers from spinning totally out of control.
Pixar’s animation team clearly had a lot of fun bringing this story to life. While the story goes big for laughs and crazy story elements, it does not forget to ground everything in character. As wild as the concept gets, it always circles back to Mabel and her personal journey.
Beneath all the zany energy, there is heart. The story digs into themes of self-discovery, environmental awareness, and empathy. It’s about understanding the world around you and the people in it, even when they are wildly different from you.
The final stretch of the movie takes some surprisingly emotional turns. I had a good time laughing throughout the film, and Pixar once again proved they can make you unexpectedly emotional about almost anything. The ending earns its payoff in a way that feels personal rather than world-changing.
At the end of the day, Hoppers feels like a gloriously weird return to old-school Pixar fun. It is strange, funny, heartfelt, and chaotic enough to fill the theater with fun energy.
It might land somewhere in the middle tier of Pixar’s filmography, but that still puts it above most animated movies out there. I had a great time with it.
If you’re a fan of Disney and Pixar, and you want to sit in a theater and laugh for a couple of hours, this one delivers.
