You’d be hard-pressed to find a more timely children’s film than “Zootopia.” As national discussions of prejudice, racism, and sexism continue to grow, “Zootopia” brings the discussion to kids in a way that is just as interesting and entertaining for adults. This comes from the film taking a concept that everyone is familiar with, the animal kingdom, and putting it into human terms -- the definition of anthropomorphized.
The decision to have anthropomorphized animals as the characters doesn’t just come from wanting to sell cute stuff animals; it is worked into the fabric and theme of film. Whereas one can look back at Disney’s “Robin Hood” and wonder why everyone is an animal, “Zootopia” couldn’t exist any other way.
It’s this purposeful construction that makes the world of Zootopia so believable. This all lies in the world-building, which doesn’t just mean the gorgeous look of the buildings and characters, but the dynamics that surround them. Zootopia is a world that makes sense and seems like it could exist with all of its positives and negatives.
But what gives “Zootopia,” both the film and the titular city, its heart are the characters, who exist not as blatant and simplified metaphors matching up exactly to one group in our own world, but as people, as both those who must overcome others’ prejudice and are prejudiced themselves. This is where the real world feel of “Zootopia” comes into play. Not only does this world exist similarly to ours, but it is populated by characters with the good and bad of humanity in them simultaneously.
It may seem superficial now to fawn over the film’s animation or the chemistry between the protagonists, but it’s aspects like these that let “Zootopia” work as a whole. Without the perfection of these aspects, the film would come off as preachy and likely push viewers away, but “Zootopia” is a charming ride all the way through.
This is what an expertly crafted children’s film looks like, one that takes the imaginative qualities of the genre and mixes them with depth and thought. One can only hope that more children’s films like this are on the way.
