The needle keeps moving back and forth on the quality of Pixar Animation Studios’ suite of animated features. While some releases of recent years – like Turning Red (2022) – proved exceptional, others have been perhaps less effective in capturing an audience’s affections. The legendary ‘can do no wrong’ run of 1995 to 2004, taking in two Toy Storys, Monsters Inc, and Finding Nemo, is well into the studio’s past these days. Now the question that arises with each new theatrical release is simply ‘is this one of the good ones?’

Daniel Chong’s Hoppers, released theatrically back in March and now streaming on Disney+, ably qualifies as one of Pixar’s better efforts of recent years. It stands up with the quality of, say, Turning Red (2022) or Inside Out 2 (2024) rather than Lightyear (2022), Elemental (2023), or Elio (2025). It nails what has become Pixar’s formula for success: a clever idea, likeable characters, and a smart blend of comedy and heartfelt drama. So yes, to cut to the chase for time-poor readers: Hoppers is one of the good ones.

Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda) is a college student and animal activist fighting to save a local pond from being destroyed by a freeway overpass. By hijacking an experimental new technology, Mabel ‘hops’ her consciousness into the body of a robot beaver, enabling her to speak directly to the local animals and hopefully save their habitat.

It is a concept that works much better on the screen than on the page. Promotions and trailers for Hoppers failed to express just how clever and funny the film actually is, and I suspect that may have led some – myself included – to overlook it during its theatrical run. It does feel like the most original of Pixar films – in places it gets highly reminiscent of both The Wild Robot (2024) and Pom Poko (1994) – but it does elevate the material with strong characters and good humour.

The design work is excellent, sharing with Turning Red a bit of a Studio Ghibli influence in the character’s faces. There is also something of a stop motion sheen applied to scenes, in terms of both characters and backgrounds. It gives everything a nice weight and dimensionality. Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh delivers a strong musical score. Vocal performances are strong, and for once do not seem to fully rely on celebrity names to sell the picture. Bobby Moynihan is great as the beaver King George. Fans of cult videogaming and comic books should keep an ear out for Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell cameoing as a frog monarch.

It is only in the third act that Chong’s film seems to get stuck in the weeds, as it were. The original antagonist – an arrogant city mayor voiced by Jon Hamm – is sidelined in favour of one of the animal characters, and with the change comes a blurring of the film’s core environmental themes. Pains are taken to emphasise how humans should be part of the natural environment and not the enemies of it; this sentiment never seems to actually play out in practice.

Despite this flaw, Hoppers is an absolute winner whenever a joke lands, or when it effectively tugs on the audience’s affections. It is, all in all, classic Pixar: smart, inventive, and funny.