Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) dreams of making a difference, so she becomes a police officer in the big city. But there’s a catch: she’s a bunny. It’s always been her dream to make the world a better place, so she pushes on despite the anti-bunny prejudice against her. Her own parents even tell her at an early age that “It’s okay to have dreams, just as long as you don’t believe in them too much”. Zootopia is a metropolis fully stocked with predators and prey living life together in perfect harmony…but is everything as perfect as it seems? Relegated to meter-maid duty because of her size and species, Judy seizes an opportunity to investigate a missing persons case to prove her worth, but her bid for success comes with a price if she fails to deliver. With only 48 hours to prove herself, our hero “enlists” the services of a cunning fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to guide her through Zootopia’s quirky and seedy underworld to find a missing otter and it turns out to be more than either of them could have imagined.
Underneath the gloss and the top notch animation of the lush metropolis that is "Zootopia," preconceptions and prejudice are our number one opponents. In their own subtle way, the film-makers are dealing with sexism, racism, and political correctness. Corruption and intolerance are rife in this city, and everyone’s hopes and dreams are bogged down by bureaucracy. This picture-perfect Disney flick is actually giving us a timely depiction of real life. It pokes fun at everything, from social media and pop culture pretty relentlessly. Everyone here in Zootopia is included…as long as they conform, of course.
This movie is all about stereotypes and how people defy them or live up to them. The animals are all defined by their backgrounds and breeds. Whose genius idea was it to have sloths run the DMV, right? Imagine an elephant that doesn’t have an exhaustive memory, a “dumb” bunny that’s actually pretty smart, and a sly fox that actually cares more about the world than just himself.
This movie actually, believe it or not, has some teeth. It’s got a commentary on racism that comes across as seriously timely considering recent events in America. Plus, as a film it’s nice to see a script that plays with tropes and then flips them on their head so smartly. It’s got a great pacing to keep the attention of kids and barbed plotline that will keep adults interested. While satirical, it doesn’t brood over what it's making fun of so self-consciously like "South Park" does. It does have darkness, but it’s considerably lighter than "The Wire," "Breaking Bad" or "The Godfather" which this movie gives some serious nods to. This film is witty and well-written, voice acted with endearingly smarmy charm, and sharp and satirical. The animators did their homework on these animals, exhaustively depicting them all individually. This film is the best thing Disney has released in a good while. While it is certainly up to debate, this reviewer saw nothing to complain about with this entire film.
Go see this movie. You won’t regret it. I’m buying it as soon as it drops on DVD.
5/5
