Let’s face it, recently, Disney and Pixar’s productions have been fans’ worst nightmare and pessimistic critics’ dream reviews. While many have been thinking that Disney’s golden years have reached their end, “Hoppers” has been a beacon of light in these not-so-magical times.
On March 6 2026, “Hoppers” hit theaters across the nation. Directed by Daniel Chong, the film explores themes of environmentalism, empathy, and grief while still being both funny and heartwarming. This film is rated PG and has a runtime of an hour and 44 minutes.
The storyline follows Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda), a 19-year-old animal loving, environmental activist who goes head to head with Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm), a greedy politician who plans to destroy a local wildlife glade to build a highway. Willing to do whatever it takes to save the glade, which she and her grandma took sanctuary in, Tanaka uses her biology professor Dr. Sam’s (Kathy Najimy) “Hopper” technology to turn into a beaver and convince the glade’s past residents (animals) to return. However, her mission takes a chaotic turn when she sparks an animal uprising against humans. As I stated earlier, “Hoppers” has been a beacon of light in these not-so-magical times. Now this isn’t just my opinion, while some might say it’s exaggerated, critics and fans both believe this movie is really good. As of March 25 2026, the film has 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb!
When I watched “Hoppers,” I personally LOVED it! To me, it had the perfect mix of humor and seriousness and sent me on an emotional rollercoaster I was not prepared for. Another thing I loved about “Hoppers” was its storyline and use of theme. It was nice to see a movie, especially a kids movie, tackle real world issues like the everyday battle between man, nature, and machine, which was portrayed in this film. Finally, I actually really liked the animation style and how the movie emphasized the difference between when we were viewing the animals from an animal perspective, or from a human perspective.
Overall, Hoppers was a great movie and you should “hop” to your nearest theater to join the adventure!
