Hoppers Review: Beavers, Bureaucracy, and Mild Chaos

Genre– Comedy
Director – Daniel Chong
Writers– Screenplay by Jesse Andrews – Story by Daniel Chong and Jesse Andrews
Voice Cast – Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, and Dave Franco
Release Date – March 6, 2026 (United States)
Runtime – 104 Minutes
My Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Hoppers – a movie about a human hopping into a beaver, and if you think that’s ridiculous, you’re not wrong, and they fully commit to it, where Mabel (Piper Curda) is trying to stop Beaverton’s mayor, Jerry (Jon Hamm), from building a freeway through a nature area.

The first part of the film is basically her running into walls made of other people not giving a damn and constantly hitting dead ends while you keep rooting for her.

But then the movie gets weird – a secret university project lets her hop into an artificial beaver – it’s dumb, but the film treats it as serious business, which makes it slightly genius in its own weird way.

The Animal World

Once Mabel is in the animal world, the human scenes become chaotic and rushed, with everyone talking over each other, the kind of life I vaguely remember having, and then suddenly you’re in a world where time stretches out and the beavers just exist.

King George (Bobby Moynihan) was my favorite character though, and he’s not some perfect mentor giving wisdom in neat little packages – he’s clumsy, he’s anxious, and he’s trying his best, which makes him infinitely more interesting than your standard animated guide.

The other characters are mostly functional, which was a relief, as usually in these kinds of movies, someone exists solely to make one joke and then vanish, but not here, as everyone does something, or at least feels like they belong.

Third Act Madness

The last act is pretty mad, where multiple story threads collide, choices are questionable, and at one point I wasn’t sure if I was laughing at the story or laughing at the absurdity of watching a human in a beaver.

There’s a kind of unpredictability here that a lot of films try and fail at, and you can’t guess exactly what’s coming next, and it keeps the movie from feeling completely stale.

I also liked Mark Mothersbaugh’s score, as it’s whimsical without trying to manipulate your emotions, and the music does a lot of the heavy lifting for scenes that could have fallen flat otherwise – you will be humming things on the way out of the theater.

The Theater Experience

Watching this in a packed theater made it better than it would have been at home I think, as people laughed in unison, groaned together, and occasionally gasped in ways that make you feel like part of something slightly ridiculous.

It reminded me that part of the charm of movies like this isn’t just what’s on screen – it’s the fact that everyone else is reacting to it at the same time, with a communal weirdness more than the actual story, probably.

Some bits drag at times, and the ending isn’t tidy, but I didn’t care.

Final Thoughts on Hoppers

Hoppers is ridiculous, occasionally self-aware, and completely bizarre in ways that will probably make you shake your head, but I liked it anyway – a verycharming, funny, and slightly absurd movie.

Hoppers Trailer

Simon Leasher

A lover of cinema for over 35 years, I have watched many films from around the world in many different genres, yet I still normally always come back to trashy slasher horror films when in doubt. More

And yes, The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.