Disney Pixar’s Hoppers Has Arrived on Disney Plus — Here’s Why You Need to Watch It Right Now

It is finally time. Disney Pixar’s Hoppers has officially landed on Disney Plus, and if you missed it during its theatrical run earlier this year, you are in for a treat. This wildly original, genuinely hilarious, and surprisingly emotional film is everything longtime Pixar fans have been hoping for, and then some. Whether you are watching with your kids for the first time or revisiting it for the fourth (yes, fourth), Hoppers absolutely holds up. Consider this your full review, fan reaction roundup, and a very enthusiastic recommendation all rolled into one.

What Is Hoppers About?

Released in theaters on March 6, 2026, Hoppers is Pixar’s 30th theatrical feature and marks the return of director Daniel Chong, best known for the beloved animated series We Bare Bears. The film follows Mabel Tanaka, a passionate 19-year-old animal lover voiced by Piper Curda, whose consciousness gets transferred into a lifelike robotic beaver through a top-secret experiment run by her biology professor, Dr. Sam, played by Kathy Najimy. Once inside the animal world, Mabel must rally the entire animal kingdom to stop the corrupt and deeply self-serving Mayor Jerry Generazzo, voiced by Jon Hamm, from bulldozing a beloved glade to build a highway.

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but that is also exactly the point. Hoppers revels in its own beautiful, chaotic energy and somehow makes every single element work. The voice cast is stacked: Bobby Moynihan brings enormous warmth and comedy as King George, the jovial beaver monarch who leads his pond with a set of three deceptively simple rules. Meryl Streep voices the Insect Queen, Dave Franco plays the villainous Titus, and Vanessa Bayer steals every scene she is in as Diane, a whopper shark who serves as the animal council’s so-called apex predator. Yes, really. Yes, it is as perfect as it sounds.

Pixar’s Emotional Gut Punch Strikes Again

Let’s address the elephant, or rather, the grandma, in the room. My husband took one look at Grandma Tanaka within the first minute of the film and immediately declared, “She’s going to die. It’s a Pixar movie, someone always dies.” He was right. He is always right about these things, and Pixar continues to prove him right every single time. From Ellie in Up to Coral in Finding Nemo to Arlo’s father in The Good Dinosaur, Pixar has built an almost mythological reputation for delivering emotional gut punches early and often. Hoppers is no exception.

Grandma Tanaka, voiced by Karen Huie, is the quiet emotional anchor of the entire story. Mabel grew up visiting the glade with her grandmother, and that bond is what gives the whole film its heart. When that loss arrives, it does not feel cheap or manipulative. It feels earned. It gives Mabel’s mission real stakes that go beyond environmentalism or fighting a corrupt politician. She is not just saving a glade. She is preserving a memory. If you are not at least a little misty, you might want to check your pulse.

The Funniest Pixar Movie in Years

Here is the thing, though: Hoppers is absolutely, relentlessly, unapologetically hilarious. This is not a film that makes you cry and then pats you on the back. It makes you ugly laugh approximately every three minutes, and the comedy lands on so many different levels that every rewatch reveals new jokes you somehow missed.

The highlight reel is long. The moment King George pulls out Mabel’s phone and communicates entirely through emojis is pure genius. Watching a large, dignified beaver monarch enthusiastically discover emoji cons is the kind of humor that works for a five-year-old and a forty-year-old simultaneously, which is the Pixar sweet spot. I will never hear the word “Potato!” again without losing it. You will understand completely once you see it.

Then there is Diane. When the frantic chase sequence introduces an airborne whopper shark as the apex predator summoned by the royal council, it sounds on paper like wacky overload. In practice, it is the single funniest thing I have seen in a Pixar film in years. The reveal alone had our entire living room screaming. A shark. The apex predator is a shark. Of course it is.

Fans on social media have had similarly unhinged reactions. ComicBook.com reported that the scene where Mabel accidentally squishes the Insect Queen generated the biggest audience laugh in recent Pixar memory, with one Reddit user calling it “the most shocking moment I’ve seen in a Pixar movie” and another adding that it was “the biggest laugh I’ve ever heard from an audience for a Pixar movie.” It is the kind of scene that is difficult to describe without spoiling and impossible to unsell once you have seen it.

A Message That Actually Means Something

Like the best Pixar films, Hoppers earns its emotional beats by anchoring them in real world ideas. Much like Zootopia 2 gave audiences a character fighting against systemic inequality, Hoppers presents a young woman who genuinely believes she can change the world, and then shows the messy, funny, heartbreaking process of actually trying to do that. Mabel reminded me strongly of Mei Mei from Turning Red, another young woman whose passion occasionally outpaces her judgment but whose heart is never in question.

King George’s Pond Rules, meanwhile, function as something unexpectedly profound beneath all the comedy. Director Daniel Chong designed the film thematically around the concept of questioning power: Mabel starts with none, Jerry has it all, and the entire story is about what happens when someone decides that is not acceptable. “Don’t be a stranger,” “When you gotta eat, eat,” and “We’re all in this together” are not just cute beaver mottos. They are a philosophy. George inspires not through authority but through genuine community, which makes his arc as meaningful as Mabel’s.

The Pixar Universe Easter Eggs Are Everything

For fans who love catching Pixar’s interconnected universe moments, Hoppers delivers in a big way. The nod to Up through Dr. Sam’s dog collar research is an absolute delight. Those familiar-looking translation collar devices in Dr. Sam’s lab are clearly meant to evoke the iconic collars from Up, and it is exactly the kind of detail that makes rewatching Pixar films feel like a treasure hunt. It makes you wonder whether all of these scientists exist in the same universe, quietly advancing technology that eventually ends up on a golden retriever named Dug.

The Pixar team has always rewarded attentive viewers, and Hoppers is no exception. My kids caught the Up reference on our second watch and absolutely lost their minds. That is the magic of these films.

How Did Hoppers Do in Theaters?

The short answer: very well, and better than many expected for an original Pixar property. The film opened to $46 million domestically and $88 million globally in its first weekend, landing comfortably at number one at the box office. Critics were immediately enthusiastic, with the film landing a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A” CinemaScore from audiences. Its second weekend dipped only a modest 37%, a strong sign of genuine word-of-mouth momentum rather than a front-loaded opening.

By its fifth weekend, Hoppers had crossed the $500 million mark worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Hollywood film of 2026 so far at that point, with $149.6 million domestically and $362.9 million overseas. For context, Pixar’s original films have historically had a slower build than their sequels, and that trajectory mirrors what we saw with Elemental in 2023, which launched modestly before earning nearly $500 million globally. Hoppers started significantly stronger.

There was some early social media debate about whether the film was too scary or dark for younger children, with a handful of parents issuing warnings about certain intense sequences. One parent blogger described certain scenes as feeling like “an intro to the body horror genre” while still calling it the funniest Pixar film since Turning Red. In practice, the PG rating is accurate. There are some genuinely tense moments, and the villain, Mayor Jerry, is legitimately threatening in a way that feels grounded rather than fantastical. But for most families, this lands squarely in the sweet spot of exciting without being traumatizing.

Our Verdict: Watch It Immediately

My kids and I have already watched Hoppers multiple times since it arrived on Disney Plus, and every single viewing has been as good as the last. My husband calls “Potato!” at random moments around the house. We have all become invested in the Pond Rules as a legitimate life philosophy. This is what Pixar does at its best: it makes you laugh until you cry, then makes you cry until you laugh, and then leaves you with characters you genuinely miss after the credits roll.

If you are looking for the best animated film of 2026 so far, Hoppers is it. It is original, visually stunning, endlessly funny, and full of genuine heart. It proves, once again, that Pixar’s original films deserve just as much love and attention as their beloved sequels. Stream it tonight. Bring tissues. And yes, my husband was right about the grandma.

Hoppers is now streaming exclusively on Disney Plus. Rated PG, runtime 1 hour 45 minutes.