HOPPERS (4K UHD Blu-ray Steelbook Review)
A college student uploads her consciousness into a robotic beaver. Hoppers has a premise so ridiculous that the only way to make it work is to embrace it completely and not apologize even for a second. This insanity turns out to be one of the best films of the year.
Film ★★★★☆
The story follows Mabel Tanaka (Piper Curda), a fiercely determined environmental activist still carrying the memory of her late grandmother, whose love of nature shaped her childhood. When smooth-talking mayor Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm) pushes forward with a highway project that threatens the forest glade Mabel treasures most, she stumbles upon an experimental program developed by her biology professor, Dr. Sam Fairfax (Kathy Najimy), which allows humans to inhabit robotic animals. In no time, Mabel is sneaking into the wilderness disguised as a beaver, hoping to convince the displaced wildlife to reclaim their home.
The setup borrows ideas from other sci-fi stories, but the film’s energy and confidence make it easy to forgive its recycled ingredients.
Once Mabel enters the animal world, the movie introduces a bizarre ecosystem governed by “Pond Rules,” led by King George (Bobby Moynihan), a beaver monarch whose optimism borders on heroic. The film generates much of its humor from Mabel’s disastrous attempts to navigate this strange society, whether she’s accidentally disrupting the natural order, trying to negotiate alliances between species, or watching predators and prey casually coexist under George’s leadership.
The funniest moments happen when the story leans into its cartoon logic, including a scene involving animals hijacking a phone’s text-to-speech system with emojis and an unexpectedly dark gag involving a sudden animal death that had me laughing harder than anything I’ve seen in a theater this year.
Curda gives Mabel a welcome edge that keeps her from becoming a generic do-gooder, while Hamm finds the right balance between charm and self-interest as a politician who believes he’s the hero of his own story. Moynihan, though, steals nearly every scene he’s in, bringing warmth and sincerity to a character who could have easily been a joke.
Being a kid’s film, Hoppers obviously can’t be Avatar length, but there are some really great ideas that I wanted to explore further and certain relationships and details at times, especially towards the end, felt undercooked.
But that’s just a testament to how clever and full of ideas Hoppers is! I loved the third act chaos, which never overwhelms the emotional core, involving giant creatures, escalating animal revolutions, and a genuinely creepy robot figure that propels Hoppers towards a level of madness I wasn’t expecting at all.
Hoppers might lose its footing from time to time, but it never loses its imagination. There’s a thoughtful message about empathy, conservation, and learning to listen to perspectives outside your own and the bond between Mabel and her grandmother is one hell of a tearjerker.
Hoppers is genuinely inventive, surprisingly funny, and refreshingly willing to take risks. In an era when films often play it safe, I’d say that’s a quality worth celebrating.
Video ★★★★★
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Clarity/Detail: The 2160p HEVC encode reveals remarkably fine textures like fabric stitching and environmental foliage to the intricate fur, feathers, and reptile scales. I was able to see individual strands of fur and subtle surface details on both organic and robotic creatures.
Depth: There’s outstanding separation, giving forests, rivers, and sprawling wildlife habitats a convincing sense of scale. Backgrounds maintain clarity even during chaotic sequences, helping the film’s increasingly outrageous third-act action retain a strong sense of spatial layering. A standout is anytime characters are climbing up the “tree.”
Black Levels: Dolby Vision significantly strengthens shadow fidelity throughout the transfer, producing rich blacks. Darker scenes, such as the Animal Council, retain excellent visibility, while contrast helps the environments and character designs truly pop.
Color Reproduction: WOW! The vibrancy is jawdropping, from the colorful forests, wildlife, and imaginative creature designs. Neon lighting effects, saturated environmental hues, and visual gags EXPLODE off the screen, making it incredibly energetic and eye-catching.
Flesh Tones: Human characters exhibit natural and consistent skin coloration. The robot at the end has an appropriately unsettling appearance.
Noise/Artifacts: As expected, this image is flawless.
Audio ★★★★★
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos; English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); French (Canada) Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; Japanese Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; English Dolby Digital Plus 7.1; English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Japanese, Spanish
Dynamics: Dolby Atmos presentation brings a great sense of scale to the film, shifting from quiet woodland atmospherics to all-out sonic chaos during the climactic action sequences. Crashes, frantic movement, explosions, and large-scale set pieces carry impressive energy.
Height: My height channels were consistently expanding the world, especially during scenes involving birds flying, or any airborne movement, for that matter. The finale is immersive and aggressive, creating a dome of sound that places effects above and around the room.
Low Frequency Extension: Whether it’s a door shutting or beavers working, or explosions, the Bass response is robust, delivering satisfying weight throughout the film.
Surround Sound Presentation: I had to pause the movie at one point because I genuinely wasn’t sure if the sounds were from the film or the trees outside my window. It’s an exceptional mix that keeps every speaker engaged with wildlife sounds, rushing water, environmental textures, mechanical effects, and constant directional movement. Forest sequences fill the room with details. You’ll be rewarded for your audio setup during the final 20 minutes.
Dialogue Reproduction: Vocal clarity remains excellent from start to finish, with every line easily understood even during the busiest action scenes.
Extras ★★★☆☆
The Hoppers Limited Edition SteelBook embraces the film’s playful energy with a bright, eye-catching yellow finish that features Mabel and King George bursting through, right at ya! Above there are fluttering butterflies and Tom Lizard at the bottom right. Opening up, you have the community of beavers, ready to get to work, and on the back, the members of the Animal Council.
- The Critter Diaries: Wander behind the scenes with director Daniel Chong and the Pixar team as they explore Yellowstone, study wildlife, and find real-life inspiration for our favorite new animated characters from Hoppers.
- Hopping In: The Making of Hoppers: Hop into the making of the movie as filmmakers, cast, and crew share how their ideas, collaboration, and creative process brought the story, animation, and lovable characters to life in Pixar’s Hoppers.
- “Meet King George” Scene Breakdown: Dive deep with director Daniel Chong and his filmmaking team as they reveal the craft of making King George’s Superlodge. Get insight into the directing process, editing, VFX, animation, and production design.
- Beaverton Revealed: Explore Hoppers to find surprising Pixar film cameos, hidden references, and plenty of fun, behind-the-scenes facts.
- Dam Good Bloopers: Laugh along with your favorite voice actors from Hoppers as they have fun bringing their characters to life in the recording booth.
- Deleted Scenes: Check out these scenes that didn’t make the final cut, as introduced by director Daniel Chong and editor Axel Geddes.
- Cold Open
- The Glade
- The Mission
- Kings Arrive
- George’s Bachelor Pad
- Helicopter Ride
Summary ★★★★☆
Hoppers turns a delightfully ridiculous premise into one of the most entertaining films of the year, complete with big laughs, inventive world-building, and surprising emotional weight. The 4K UHD presentation is reference-quality, pairing a dazzling Dolby Vision transfer with an immersive Atmos mix, while a modest but worthwhile collection of extras.
100% worth buying the fun steelbook variant.
