Swapped

Summarize Fact Check

On a tiny island within a flooded valley that’s populated by animal-plant hybrids lives a group of creatures called Pookoo. An inventive young Pookoo named Ollie is curious about the other creatures living in the valley, despite the warnings of his parents and his grandmother, who tells Ollie a story about how all the creatures of the valley used to live in harmony due to tree-like creatures called Dzo, who gave the creatures magical pods that enabled them to change forms and understand each other better. A Treewolf, who terrorized the valley and resented the peace the Dzo brought, stole a pod and gave itself the gift of fire, becoming the Firewolf. It killed four Dzo and caused a forest fire that resulted in a rock slide, creating a large dam that blocked the river, flooding the valley and preventing the surviving Dzo from returning. The different species have not interacted with one another since.

During a celebration of a bountiful harvest, Ollie meets a Javan chick, and shows her how to get food on the island. However, the other Javans storm Pookoo Island and take over the food sources. Years later, the Pookoo are certain that they will starve as their emergency food storage runs low, and Ollie struggles to make amends. He ends up attempting to fix his mistake by using reflective glass shards to make the Javans leave the harvest grounds. However, one Javan attacks him, and he falls into a hole. Noticing one of the magical pods, Ollie inadvertently lands on it whilst trying to escape the hole and is transformed into a Javan. He is chased off the island by his pack and falls into the river.

Ollie is soon rescued by the Javan who attacked him earlier, named Ivy, alongside her sisters Violet and Lily. Ollie soon meets an amiable, but absent-minded fish named Boogle who informs him of a pod on a nearby dead Dzo. He tries to get to it, but Ivy interferes and is turned into a Pookoo. Boogle then tells them of another pod by the Great Waterfall. As the duo journey there, they encounter various creatures of the valley and learn of each species' strengths. During the journey, Ollie learns from Ivy that she only brought her flock to the island because the food sources at her own home, Javan Rock, were running low, and several members of her flock had already died of starvation, including her parents.

They make it to the pod, promising Boogle to bring it to him to change into a different creature, due to him being the only one of his kind. However, when they reach the pod, Ollie hesitates about trusting Ivy, and the two are ambushed by a pack of Treewolves, leading them to slip and fall onto the pod, both transforming into Boogle fish. Boogle says he knows where to find more pods, and Ollie and Ivy decide to put their differences aside.

At a waterfall, Ollie and Ivy find the pods and transform back to their original forms. When they allow Boogle to use the pods, he reveals that he is the Firewolf, who divided the valley years ago due to his own pain of being rejected by his pack and was transformed by the Dzo into a fish to stop him. The Firewolf destroys the remaining pods, and brutally attacks Ivy, leaving her unconscious. Ollie manages to scale Javan Rock with Ivy in tow, saving her life.

A recovered Ivy and the other creatures all take refuge on Pookoo Island as the Firewolf attacks the valley. Ollie convinces his father, Caloo, to trust the other creatures despite their differences. As the Firewolf approaches the island, a desperate Ollie goes to the hole he fell into earlier, which contains a dead Dzo. The Dzo's spirit sends Ollie a pod, which he uses to turn into a Dzo himself. He battles the Firewolf, and soon, their fight causes the dam to be destroyed, washing them both away.

As Ollie's friends and family mourn him, the Dzo who left the valley years ago come back and reveal that Ollie is alive and has been returned to Pookoo form by them. With the Firewolf gone, the valley becomes peaceful once more as both the Pookoos and Javans now reconnect and work with each other.

• Michael B. Jordan as Ollie, a Pookoo, a small brown two-toed sloth-like creature who switches species with Ivy.
  • Camden Brooks as Young Ollie
• Juno Temple as Ivy, a Javan, a green bird resembling a cross between a kakapo and a secretarybird, who switches species with Ollie.
• Tracy Morgan as the Firewolf, a rogue tree-wolf and the runt of his litter who gained the powers of fire. He was tricked by a Dzo and was transformed into Boogle, a purple grouper-like fish with algae for fins.
• Cedric the Entertainer as Caloo, a Pookoo and Ollie's father.
• Justina Machado as Calli, a Pookoo and Ollie's mother.
• Ambika Mod as Violet, a Javan and Ivy's sister.
• Lolly Adefope as Lily, a Javan and Ivy's sister.
• Táta Vega as:
  • Ollie's grandma, a Pookoo and Ollie’s grandmother
  • Mrs. Dung Beetle
• Nate Torrence as Lodd, a Pookoo and friend of Ollie's.
• John Ratzenberger as Elder Javan
• Johnny Williams as Mr. Dung Beetle
• David Lodge as Tree-Wolf Father
• Fred Tatasciore as:
  • Elder Javan
  • Rock Bear
• Zemo Tatasciore as Tree-Wolf Pup.
• Kari Wahlgren as:
  • A female Pookoo
  • Javan nurse
• Maven Morgan as a young Pinecone
• Nathan Greno as Root Snake #1
• Tim Mertens as Root Snake #2

In February 2018, it was announced that Nathan Greno had signed a multi-year contract with Skydance Media to write and direct an animated film provisionally titled Powerless, as well as consult on projects in development.^[3] In January 2019, Skydance Animation hired former Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios CCO John Lasseter as head of Animation.^[4] The project reunited Lasseter with Greno, who previously directed Tangled (2010) alongside Byron Howard^[5] under Lasseter's leadership at Walt Disney Animation Studios.^[6] In April 2020, Greno's film was revealed to be retitled to Pookoo.^[7] In October 2023, Siddhartha Khosla was revealed to be composing the film's score.^[8] In October 2025, Skydance Animation Madrid's VP of Finance and Operations, Carolina Borreguero Sanz, confirmed that the studio had delivered the film, which had been retitled from Pookoo to Swapped.^[9][10][11] Michael B. Jordan and Juno Temple were revealed as cast members the following month.^[12] In January 2026, Tracy Morgan and Cedric the Entertainer were revealed as cast members.^[13] That same month, Tim Mertens, editor of Wreck-It Ralph (2012), was revealed to be the editor of Swapped.^[14]

Swapped was originally intended to be released on Apple TV+, but in October 2023, Netflix took over the film's distribution rights from Apple, as part of a new multi-year deal with Skydance Animation, while setting it initially for a 2025 release.^[8] In June 2025, Netflix announced that the film would premiere in 2026.^[15][16][13] The film was screened at the Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma on January 9, 2026,^[14] ahead of its limited theatrical release and premiere on Netflix on May 1.^[17][18][19]

Marketing

In June 2024, a first look of a rendered image from the film was released in Netflix's Next on Netflix: Animation 2024 presentation.^[20] In June 2025, Netflix revealed a second rendered image at the Annecy Film Festival.^[16]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 68% of 47 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.^[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[22]

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian awarded the film two stars out of five, comparing it unfavorably with Hoppers, criticizing the "off-brand, bought down the market quality of Skydance animation" and summarizing it as "a fairly rote buddy comedy quest narrative".^[23] Grant Hermanns of Screen Rant gave the film a score of 3 out of 10, writing: "Swapped is not merely bound to be forgotten. It's also one of Netflix's worst animated movies yet."^[24] Jacob Oller for The A.V. Club gave the film a "C" grade, writing: "Even if it wasn't hot on the tail of Pixar's Hoppers, Swapped would still be an overly familiar adventure towards empathy, one light on comedy and insight despite plenty of visual imagination in its world of flora-fauna hybrids."^[25]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave the film a more favorable review, describing it as a "visually ravishing" and "touching" woodland fairy tale that overcomes its simple, formulaic narrative with "surprise enchantment."^[26] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter also gave it a positive review, writing that despite rehashing a "very familiar formula" behind Hoppers, it "has its appeals" through "beautiful" animation, fast pacing, and a standout comedic performance by Tracy Morgan that elevates the narrative.^[27]