Hoppers (2026)

Hoppers feels like the kind of original, big-swing animated adventure we keep hoping studios will still make: a sci-fi premise that’s instantly funny, strangely plausible, and surprisingly moving once it starts asking what we owe the places—and creatures—we claim to love. Daniel Chong gives the film a buoyant, high-energy vibe with bursts of surreal animal-world comedy, but he never loses the emotional throughline of a young woman trying to turn loneliness and grief into something brave. The animation is lively and expressive, the comic timing snaps (Bobby Moynihan is a delight), and Jon Hamm’s mayor adds just the right dose of slick human chaos to keep the stakes humming. It does flirt with darker peril and sharper satire than some family films, so the gentlest viewers may want a heads-up, but if you’re on the fence, this is exactly the kind of heartfelt, inventive crowd-pleaser that earns your time.

Hoppers clearly wants to be a heartfelt, high-concept family adventure about empathy, conservation, and finding your voice, wrapped in cute robotic-animal comedy. The problem is it can feel like it’s juggling three movies at once: a familiar “save the forest” storyline, a body-swap sci‑fi gimmick, and a surprisingly busy political animal-world thriller that gets messy as it escalates. If you’re hoping for a simple, cozy, laugh-forward animation, the second half’s faction-hopping chaos and fairly dark peril may test your patience, and the premise can feel a bit too borrowed to feel fresh. Still, the voice cast brings charm, the world has fun details, and when it slows down to focus on Mabel’s loneliness and connection to nature, it lands better than the plot mechanics do.