With the release of Pixar\u2019s new movie Hoppers, in which a girl uses modern technology to plant her consciousness into a robot beaver, we\u2019re taking a look at some of the best beavers throughout animation history.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good thing that Hoppers came along, because I feel that beavers have been underrepresented in animation, with the exception of the \u201890s Nicktoon The Angry Beavers. Creator Mitch Schauer explained that he selected Norbert and Daggett\u2019s species because he \u201cwent through a list of animals and thought that beavers were the most absurd. All they ever do is chew down trees and build dams. They never bother anyone. I made them angry beavers because at the time there were animated characters like the Care Bears, Chip and Dale, and Strawberry Shortcake, all this soft, safe stuff\u2026 I like to buck trends, so the opposite thing was to have characters that were angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
pic.twitter.com\/SQHwmV6PFt<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n There aren\u2019t any beavers who starred in their own series of shorts during the Golden Age of Animation, although most studios produced at least one beaver-themed cartoon (including Mintz\u2019s The House That Jack Built, Lantz\u2019s Nutty Pine Cabin, Famous Studios\u2019 The Old Mill Scream) and some studios made several, like MGM (The Bear and the Beavers, Busybody Bear) and Terrytoons (Lazy Little Beaver, Beaver Trouble). Disney made one of the earliest beaver cartoons, Busy Little Beavers (1931), and later pitted Donald Duck against a couple of beavers in Old Sequoia (1945). The two tree-chomping rodents in the latter short bear a striking resemblance to Chip \u2018n\u2019 Dale, who had already appeared as undifferentiated chipmunks in Private Pluto (1943) but wouldn\u2019t get their names and personalities until Chip an\u2019 Dale (1947).<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/4pq3Y4VIfz<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n As far as I\u2019m aware, the only beaver from the Golden Age to appear more than once is Buck Beaver, a carnival barker conman who shows up in a couple of cartoons from the Walter Lantz studio and had a long life in comic books. In Dick Lundy\u2019s Scrappy Birthday (1949), the character is voiced by radio comic Eddie Marr, best known for his appearances on The Kay Kyser Show as a quick-talking snake oil pitchman. His catchphrase, \u201cI\u2019ll tell ya what I\u2019m going to do,\u201d is oft-quoted in old cartoons. Buck doesn\u2019t get to do much, but I wish he had been used more often; his design is fun, and he makes a good instigator of chaos.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/Rq30sqFDvy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n My favorite beaver cartoon is Chuck Jones\u2019 The Eager Beaver (1946), starring a sprightly little guy with a compulsive need to chop down every tree he comes into contact with. Eager Beaver is just so appealingly drawn, and the way he snaps from one pose to the next\u2014in perfect rhythm with Carl Stalling\u2019s score, might I add\u2014is delightfully manic. I\u2019m not sure he could\u2019ve sustained a series, but the film is a terrifically zippy little one-shot.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/aOy6sx9iB2<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n One of the better-known animated beavers comes from Disney\u2019s Lady and the Tramp (1955). Musical satirist Stan Freberg provided the voice, speaking his lines with a whistle near his mouth to create the character\u2019s unique lisp. The beaver\u2019s design and speech patterns would later be repurposed for Gopher in the Winnie the Pooh films. Little-known animator George Kreisl handles the tricky scene of the beaver toppling down a hill.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/Mr5Y5WLSE5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Moving into the TV era, it\u2019s surprising that even given all of the animal-related shows produced by Hanna-Barbera and the like, beavers rarely seemed to cross their radar; Sawtooth, a minor Wacky Races character who rides the Buzzwagon, is one of the very few. At least Rankin-Bass gave big parts to Mr. and Mrs. Beaver in their forgotten TV special The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966). The characters\u2019 jerky movements are a lot of fun, and I always love the practical effects animation in these old stop-motion specials, like using what appears to be cellophane to create splashes of water.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/ACvcE7sq1Z<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n And in terms of TV commercials, Bucky Beaver starred in a series of ads for Ipana toothpaste, fighting against the villainous Mr. Decay. These spots were designed by Tom Oreb at Disney\u2019s short-lived commercial division in the mid-1950s. Bucky\u2019s biggest claim to fame nowadays is that Jan of the Pink Ladies sings along to his \u201cbrusha brusha\u201d theme song in the 1978 musical film Grease.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/EYPxDXM1QT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Venturing outside of the United States, we have Va\u0161\u00edk, a crotchety beaver inventor who plans to flood the Earth in an act of revenge on mankind. Va\u0161\u00edk appears in 1972\u2019s \u201cAnd Don\u2019t Call Me Va\u0161\u00edk,\u201d an entry in Bretislav Pojar\u2019s wonderfully creative Czech stop-motion series Who Threw That, Gentlemen?<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/TMeK6lQSLG<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking of stop-motion, if you watch a lot of Soviet puppet animation from the 1970s\u2014and who doesn\u2019t?\u2014you\u2019ll see a lot of great beaver designs that are fun to look at even when you can\u2019t tell what the characters are saying. Here are a few that I\u2019m fond of:<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/lK2acgRoDL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n One beaver character that seems like he could\u2019ve lasted beyond one appearance is the deadpan tree-eater in the Roger Rabbit short Trail Mix-Up (1993), directed by Barry Cook. His design has a pleasantly goofy Tex Avery quality to it, and his wooden expression (no pun intended) makes a nice contrast to the hysterical slapstick mania happening all around him.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/v0Be6i0hdV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The Angry Beavers might be the only cartoon series centered on beavers, but the creatures have occasionally been used as regular supporting players on preschool shows (Franklin, PB&J Otter, PAW Patrol) and even a few adult series (Happy Tree Friends). Usually, they\u2019re depicted as friendly, although Oonski the Great from Breadwinners and Squint Eatswood from New Looney Tunes are quite nasty, and Boss Beaver from Timon & Pumbaa is an intimidating jerk who makes other people do his work for him. One thing to look out for when watching \u201890s TV cartoons is that they were often outsourced to multiple different studios, so the caliber of animation could vary noticeably depending on which team was behind a given episode. The work by Disney Animation Australia in this Timon & Pumbaa episode, \u201cOregon Astray,\u201d looks almost feature quality.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/2JCEnS1BN0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The body-swapping plot of Hoppers is certainly off the beaten track, but it\u2019s far from the first oddball premise involving beavers to show up in a cartoon. In Pinky and the Brain, the Brain builds a beaver communication device to enlist their help in taking over the world by flooding it. In I Am Weasel, evil surfer dudes hold beavers at saw-point to force them to mass-produce surfboards with their teeth. In Johnny Bravo, an outlaw named Slimy Pierre assembles an army of beavers to overthrow Canada. In Courage the Cowardly Dog, a beaver defies his construction worker father by becoming a jazz musician, and he ultimately destroys a dam by slapping his tail in rhythm. And let\u2019s not forget the Tooth Beavers in the Ren & Stimpy episode \u201cRen\u2019s Toothache.\u201d This scene always makes me cringe.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/pKItp4sn96<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n And although Hoppers might be the first animated feature based around beavers, the dam seems to have burst lately, to coin a phrase, and more beaver characters have been flooding into CGI movies like Sing and The Wild Robot. Conspiracy theorist Nibbles Maplestick was also a show-stealer in last year\u2019s smash hit Zootopia 2.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/2PQvMviHNK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n And for something a little more indie, there\u2019s The King and the Beaver (2010), in which a king enlists a beaver to help him build his castle. This was a group project from the Gobelins school in France, and it\u2019s a great little parable about greed. It also contains some stunning effects, which are impressively detailed while remaining exaggerated in a manner that would only be possible to achieve with hand-drawn animation.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/tWrZF6EQ4W<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Who are your favorite animated beavers? Let us know in the comments below. And as a final bonus, here\u2019s a clip from the live-action but heavily cartoon-inspired comedy masterpiece Hundreds of Beavers, directed by Mike Cheslik. If you\u2019re a fan of classic cartoons and you haven\u2019t seen it, you\u2019re in for a treat.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/cyLhd4glKk<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cartoon Study (@CartoonStudy) March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n