I've Long Noticed A Cliché With POC Characters In Body Swap Movies, And I Appreciate How Hoppers Subverts It

Major spoilers for Hoppers lie ahead, so read on at your own discretion.

Pixar’s latest film, Hoppers, just recently debuted amidst the 2026 movie schedule, and it certainly seems to be striking a chord with audiences. The environmentalism-centric film is getting rave reviews from critics and, in its opening weekend, it notched the best box office debut for an original animated film since 2017’s Coco. During my own screening, I enjoyed this funny and heartwarming flick. What I really appreciate, though, is the fact that this movie manages to subvert a cliché involving POC characters that I’ve long noticed.

There’s A Long-Running Trope In Animated Body Swap Movies That Involves POC

Animated body swap films have become commonplace and see characters get transformed into beings like animals, spirits, etc. Many of them even include people of color (POC) as the main protagonists, signifying a bit of welcome representation. Prime examples would be The Princess and the Frog, Brother Bear, The Emperor’s New Groove, Spies in Disguise, Coco and Soul. While all of those titles have their charms, all fall into an unfortunate narrative-based trap.

Each of those films begin with their respective leads in human form and, by the end of the first act, they’re turned into something else. What’s more is that the heroes ultimately remain in those forms for the vast majority of the film and aren’t changed back until the last portion of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy The Princess and the Frog, which is one of the best Disney princess films, but it would’ve been wonderful for Tiana – a Black woman – to defeat Dr. Facilier as a human and not as an amphibian. Soul is also sweet and shows off facets of the Black experience, though it would’ve been great to see the bulk of that through the eyes of Joe (the main character) and not Soul 22, who ends up inhabiting his body while he himself is trapped as a soul.

While this trope doesn’t exactly make me angry, it does give me pause. So, I’m happy about how Hoppers handles it.

How Hoppers Manages To Sidestep The POC-Related Cliché

Mabel Tanaka – Hoppers’ lead character – spends the vast majority of the film swapped into the body of a robotic beaver, as she seeks to unite the local animals to save the forest glade she’s long cherished. However, the Daniel Chong-directed film is structured in such a way that by the end of the second act, she’s untethered from the beaver form. Because of that, during the third act, Mabel is human once more, and the story greatly benefits from it.

Ultimately, Mabel and her furry allies must stop the vengeful Animal Council – led by Insect King Titus – from using sound trees to damage the minds of humans attending a political rally in the glade. It’s incredibly satisfying to see Mabel (in her own skin) taking a stand against Titus and working in tandem with the animals to stop the mad leader. Due to Titus’ creepy robotic human body exploding, a wildfire also breaks out, forcing Mabel to navigate the flames to save her beaver friend, King George.

That rescue scene, as well as the subsequent scenes in which Mabel and the various animals dismantle their massive dam to extinguish the wildfire, wouldn’t hit as hard if the young woman were still in beaver form. That’s something I’d like to think Daniel Chong, screenwriter Jesse Andrews and co. were cognizant of. Overall, this subversion of the POC trope is both refreshing and impressive and is just one reason why Hoppers is one of the best Pixar films to date. Let’s hope other creatives take note moving forward.

Check out Hoppers, which is playing in theaters nationwide. Also, check out all of Pixar’s other movies by streaming them with a Disney+ subscription.