Hip, ‘hop’, hooray – Beyond Bollywood

Pixar’s science fiction adventure comedy animated film initiates a rare dialogue between man and wild to respect balance of nature. Its unique plot, fun writing, fine character designs, and compelling voice cast win you over.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/ 5)

By Mayur Lookhar

Pixar Animation Studios leads animated storytelling, forging soul connections through masterpieces like Toy Story, Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), Coco (2017), and Soul (2020), seamlessly blending humour, loss, and life’s profound meanings. Hoppers (2024), their new offering, adds to the glorious list.

Seasoned animator Daniel Chong began his Pixar journey as a storyboard artist on Cars 2 (2011). He made his directorial debut with Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020), before joining Pixar’s senior creative team on Turning Red (2022), Inside Out 2 (2024), and Elio (2025). Hoppers marks his second directorial feature, delivering an out-of-the-box story in the vein of Pixar’s soulful gems like Up, Soul, and Inside Out.

Story

Set in the town of Beaverton, animal lover Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda) is hurt by the disappearance of beavers from the local pond. Adding to her distress is the proposed beltway threatening to raze the pond and its remaining habitat. Greedy Mayor Jerry Generazzo (voiced by Jon Hamm) sits at the heart of this environmental destruction. The only way to stop Jerry is by reintroducing beavers to the pond.

Mabel eventually finds one, but it turns out to be a robot secretly created by her university professor Sam (Kathy Najimy). This tech enables “hopping” human minds into lifelike robotic animal bodies. Sounds like Avatar, but Professor Sam and her colleague Nisha spelled it out loud: “No, this is not Avatar.”

Mabel crashes Sam’s plan hopping into this robot with a hope to being able to convince the missing beavers to return to the pond to save the habitat. Things don’t go as planned, though, as some spiteful creatures learn of this tech and decide to wage an uprising against humans, thus adding to Mabel’s woes.

Screenplay and Direction

Unlike Up, Soul, or Coco, where adventures whisk protagonists far away, Hoppers keeps the beavers and creatures just hundreds of meters from their pond, a mere hop to human eyes, but a seismic existential shift threatening their vanishing world.

Starting as man-vs-wild conflict, director Daniel Chong and writer Jesse Andrews weave a message of peace, harmony, and coexistence, sparked by tech that initiates rare dialogue between humans and animals to respect balance of nature. Not via traditional fables, but sci-fi ingenuity. Hoppers gives a voice to the tiniest food-chain underdogs. Meryl Streep’s insect queen leads the uprising, later escalated by her son Titus (voiced by Dave Franco). Emotional environmentalists might even root for their rebellion. It also simultaneously reminds us: Size doesn’t matter – human or Arthropoda – power often corrupts.

Performances

Piper’s her name, but Piper Curda’s Mabel isn’t quite the pied piper here – the young girl struggles to convince the pond’s habitats of the dangers ahead. Subsequent developments polarize the pond community, intensifying her challenge. Influenced by her grandmother from an early age, Mabel embodies a humane spirit and kindness toward all beings, reflected beautifully in Curda’s warm, emotive tone.

The Kathy Najimy voiced Sam is like the eager beaver here – after all, this “hopping” tech is her invention, and Sam buzzes with beaver-like enthusiasm. Mabel’s gatecrashing into her secret lab naturally sparks worry, even a fleeting fear that this woman might harbour a darker side. Najimy delivers competently, though one wonders why Sam never unravelled the pond’s mysteries over the years, while Mabel cracks it in days.

Bobby Moynihan delights as the voice of King George, the humble pond king. Convinced of the greater danger, George never wavers in his faith in Mabel, standing by her side through thick and thin.

Jon Hamm’s tone captures the cockiness and even short-sightedness of the greedy Mayor Jerry. Standout voices, though, belong to Prince Titus – first as the caterpillar voiced by Eman Abdul-Razzak, then as the new insect king by Dave Franco.

Animation

The stellar voice cast is complemented by Chong and Pixar’s creative designs. Leading protagonists charm, but characters like Titus and the flying Great White Shark Diane steal the show. For a film preaching coexistence and harmony, the steel trees intrigue – one design that makes you rethink “trees give life.” Well, not all trees do.

Final word

With Hoppers, Pixar upholds its tradition of heartfelt tales, elevated by top-notch animation. Its unique plot, fun writing, fine character designs, and compelling voice cast win you over – hip, hop, hooray!

Hoppers (2026) is set to be released in theatres on 6 March.

Watch public reaction below.