March 7, 2026
Rebellious youngster Mabel Tanaka grew up with her nature-loving Grandma (Karen Huie) in the city of Beaverton. The two of them sat daily on a rock beside a big pond in a peaceful forest glade which plenty of animals called home. After her Grandma passed away, Mabel (Piper Curda) became a passionate activist that fought against the plan of Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) to build the final segment of his bridgeway which will close down the glade for good.
The "Hoppers" in the title refers to a secret technology developed by Mabel's biology professor Dr. Sam Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), where human consciousness can be transferred into a robotic animal for research purposes. This sci-fi concept was suspiciously very similar to the mind-transporting technology in the "|Avatar" film franchise, to create human-Navi hybrids. However, Mabel directly name-dropped that film in her very next line to give it credit.
As a beaver hopper, Mabel was able to meet another beaver called King George (Bobby Moynihan), representative of the mammals in the Animal Council. This was a body that was composed of the kings of other animal classes, which included birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects. Mabel's reckless impulsiveness resulted in a series of unfortunate incidents that put Jerry and the whole of Beaverton in grave danger.
As you'd expect from Pixar, there were major comedy and action moments involving the cute beavers for kids and adults to enjoy. Death was dealt with frankly in the "pond rules" and the "squishing" scenes. However, younger kids may find hungry Ellen (Melissa Villasenor) the bear, alpha predator Diane (Vanessa Bayer) the shark, and especially Titus (Dave Franco) the megalomaniacal son of the Insect Queen (Meryl Streep!), even if they were played for laughs.
Like "Robot Dreams" (2023) and "The Wild Robot" (2024) before, this was another animated film that featured emotional connection and bonding between robots and animals in this decade. Like those previous films, this bond lent itself to some touching moments between Mabel and George about friendship, trust and how "we're all in this together" -- a concept that extended beyond themselves, but also involved all of nature around them. 9/10
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