Review: Hoppers (Daniel Chong, 2026)

Fig. 1 - Hoppers (Daniel Chong, 2026).

Hoppers (Daniel Chong, 2026) is a true return to form for Pixar, albeit in more of a “shitpost” example of Pixar just having fun. The marketing leads you into thinking Hoppers is going to be an Avatar-esque film about environmentalism and yes, it is that but it slowly turns into a roller coaster ride of unpredictability and surrealism, somewhat akin to Monty Python and the Flying Circus (1969-1974) or a late 90s-era “gag” anime like Excel Saga (Shinichi Watanabe, 1999-2000). If that sort of millennials to early-boomer-humour is your style, then Hoppers will be for you (and if you’re like me and literally grew up alongside Andy in the Toy Story [1995-] movies, then Hoppers aligns up with your sense of humour, developed in the mid-2000s to early 2010s).

Hoppers is the story of a 19-year old university student called Mabel who wants to save a creek that holds sentimental value to her. However, an “evil” mayor wants to destroy the creek and build a freeway through it (à la many 90s animated films with the “We’ve got to save the X centre” trope) so Mabel uses an experimental device to control a robot beaver in order to unite the animals and save the creek.

What makes Hoppers so great is how it lures you into a false sense of security with its opening third, which feels very by-the-numbers, generic and full of 90s-era animation codes and conventions. Yet as Hoppers goes on, the director, Daniel Chong, starts subverting your expectations by presenting each individual genre trope and warping it into an unexpected scenario. As much as I want to highlight how brilliant these subversions of tropes are, many of the jokes and scenes (especially the last third) will hit much better if you go in blind.

Though one thing I must applaud Pixar for is, after the trainwreck that was Disney’s computer-animated film Elio (Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi & Adrian Molina, 2025) and the film’s development and erasure of the director’s identity and experiences for the film, Hoppers allows the director to really just express himself. Pixar’s film is Daniel’s second directorial work after his work as the creator, direction and general visionary of the mid-2010s Cartoon Network classic We Bare Bears (2015-2019). The programme followed the stories of three bears who lives together in San Francisco and they all get into wacky hijinks together. Yet We Bare Bears allowed Daniel Chong to express his love for 90s and 2000s-era anime throughout and this love of pre-2010s anime comes through subtly throughout “Hoppers”. From the obligatory “Akira” bike slide to the way Mabel’s hair curls upwards when she’s angry (such as Mei from My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988), Chihiro from Spirited Away [Hayao Miyazaki, 2001] or indeed any other female character from any Miyazaki movie), every scene is filled with subtle animation-based nods to the cel era of anime. Hoppers truly feels like golden-era Pixar where their films were creator-driven and not corporate mandates from “the mouse”.

However, this level of humour and inspiration risks alienating a much-younger crowd. Whereas the humour and tone is absolutely tailored for someone who grew up with Newgrounds flash animation (and if you did too, then Cartoon Network’s Smiling Friends [Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, 2020-2022] is a show that is tailor made to you), the level of intensity, body horror and millennials-esque humour might put off a much younger audience. Overall, if you connected with the mid 2000s-era cringe of Turning Red (Domee Shi, 2022), or find the humour of Smiling Friends aligned with your sensibilities, then “Hoppers” is the film you’ve been waiting for.

BTW, there are two post-credits sequences. Stay for at least the first one since that is one of my favourite jokes in the whole film.

**Article published: March 6, 2026**

Biography

This review was written by a Guest Reviewer from King’s College London.