When the worst thing I can say about Hoppers is that I was very disappointed they had sold out of the Hoppers popcorn bucket when I went to see it, you know I must have loved it. Do not worry, I did manage to score one of the Hoppers drinks cups, and when I went to see the god-awful Wuthering Heights the following week, they had the popcorn buckets back in stock, and I was able to get one.
Where to Watch Hoppers
Hoppers was released on March 6, 2026. You can expect to be able to stream it some time later from Disney Plus.
Hoppers Movie Review and Story Overview
I was very excited to see this. The director, Daniel Chong, created We Bare Bears, which is one of my all time favorite Cartoon Network shows. I feel that Hoppers has a lot of the same energy that We Bare Bears has, and if you know that show well, you will no doubt have many of the same feelings while watching Hoppers that you did with We Bare Bears.
The trailer of Hoppers does a good job of giving you the gist of what is happening here. We have this lovable college student called Mabel who loves animals, and in the trailer, you find out that she wants to save the home of these animals, and she does this by turning into a robot beaver. Hey, the parallels to Avatar are here, and the movie pokes fun at that, and I think this is awesome.
That right there is more than enough to be a good premise for the movie. With her being such an animal lover, Mabel loves being able to actually communicate with them while being in beaver form. There is a lot of fun humor in Hoppers, and the trailer shows some of this off, and there are more than a few moments that will have you cracking up.
However, at the end of the day, this is a Pixar movie, so you should not be surprised to hear that this movie has some real substance to it as well. We find out that when she was little, Mabel struggled with her anger and emotions, so her grandmother would take her to this adorable glen. Here, she would encourage Mabel to listen to nature, and it helped center her and keep her calm.
This glen that was such an important part of Mabel’s younger year is the area that is under threat! Sure, man trying to bulldoze nature so that they can build something on it is nothing new. However, the way it is all presented is a ton of fun, and I loved the over-the-top and wacky personalities that many of the critters had.
Emotional Depth and Themes in Hoppers
The thing is, there are some pretty long dialogue scenes and some pretty big gaps between the laughs. I am not saying that this is a negative at all. I am saying it as a positive, this is not just all laughs and fun, there is a real message here, and a ton of heart. There were kids laughing and having a good time, but it was also silent when something heavier was happening, so this movie clearly grabbed them on a whole other level in addition to being cute and funny.
Final Thoughts
As I am sitting here writing this, sipping out of my Hopper’s cup, I am smiling at how much I loved this movie and how awesome this overpriced cup is as well. Granted, it is only March 2026 as I am writing this review, but this is the most fun I have had in the movie theatre this year. If I did not have so many other movies to see, I would 100 percent go and see this again! Oh, also, regarding the popcorn bucket. My wife says that we have too many of these collectible popcorn buckets clogging up the kitchen. Little does she know that I am on a mission to get the Yoshi one from the upcoming Super Mario Bros Galaxy Movie!
