The Best Disney Pixar Film in Years? Hoppers (2026) | Film Review

This may be the best Pixar film I’ve seen since 2021. 

Directed by Daniel Chong this is an animated feature film about protecting nature and fighting for what you believe in. 

The film touches on themes of environmentalism, conservation, the intersection of technology versus nature, it also has themes of coming-of-age and grief. All of this is rolled up into one impactful, thought provoking family film that has the potential to make you ponder how we might be destroying our relationship with the natural world. 

Hoppers even compares its plot to Avatar within the film, Hoppers is an intelligent storytelling of trying to understand and protect the natural world. 

Scientists have found a way to ‘hop’ human consciousness into lifelike robotic animals and once our lead character Mabel discovers this she chooses to take matters into her own hands. Hoppers is a deeply meaningful exploration of self discovery, friendship, grief and passion. Mabel is the core of the story, she is the forthright, confident kid who will stop at nothing to continue her grandmothers legacy and fight for what’s right. 

Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Dave Franco, Jon Hamm, Melissa Villaseñor, Eduardo Franco and Meryl Streep make up the cast of this unforgettable story. Piper Curda stars are Mabel, her voice is full of life and optimism. She brings a fresh perspective to this film and I fell in love with her enthusiasm. The character of Mabel has had such a strong impact on me and I think that is thanks to Curda’s bubbly approach to the story and her character. Jon Hamm played a brilliant role as Mayor Jerry, he brought genuine humour to the role and his voice was cast perfectly for the corrupt government puppet. Alongwith Dave Franco who was able to bring a lot of teen angst to his role of Titus, a small role but he made a large impression.

As an awkward tom boy who grew up loving animals, I know Mabel would have been a character I looked up to and that alone made me realise how important this films message is. For adults watching, it is a beautiful commentary on the natural world and how humans can corrupt the environment around us. For kids, this is a message about appreciating our world, protecting it and understating how integral it is to our existence. Hoppers doesn’t need to be taken so seriously, on the surface this is a laugh out loud story about a young girl who wants to stop the nasty government from destroying her sacred pond but if you choose to look a little deeper, this is a commentary on how we don’t respect nature and how humans can disrupt the natural order. 

Overall, Hoppers is a perfect balance of light hearted silliness with hard hitting truth. In typical Pixar fashion this film didn’t disappoint and it is easily one of the best Pixar stories I have seen in years. I was blown away by the voice cast, the plot and the light hearted approach to a deeply meaningful question, how can we help and save the natural world?

With Disney Pixar films I like to collect my thoughts from two perspectives, now and when I was younger. Now, I was touched by the film and I always love to see stories about protecting and saving the environment. My younger self would have been obsessed with this film and its characters and it makes me happy to think Pixar are still able to connect with my younger self.

[Note from Film Probe] I was invited to an early screening of this film but I was not paid to review it and my review reflects my personal and honest opinion.

Probe Points

★★★★