Review: Zootopia (2016) · 6:51am Mar 7th, 2016
I actually saw this earlier this afternoon, but alas, I could only get around to writing the review just now.
And you know what?
This movie is damn near PURRfect!
Zootopia stands as possibly the best film to come out of Disney since 2010's Tangled. An wildly imaginative, unabashedly fun, and deeply insightful and smart film, Zootopia not only manages to create a fun and exciting new world full of adorable fuzzy animals for the kids, but also tackles complex and weighty moral and societal issues such as racism, sexism and prejudice, all with a deft, on point, and shockingly insightful insight, without ever feeling like its talking down to the audience, or getting on a soapbox.
Following the utterly adorable bunny Judy Hopps, Zootopia uses it's simple, straightforward buddy-cop formula to not only tell a fun and engaging mystery, but also tackle several weighty themes. It's pace is absolutely perfect, with the jokes never falling flat, and the character interactions and more serious moments being handled with excellent balance and control. In what could have easily been a mindless quick cash grab for the rather desolate post-Oscars box office, Disney instead decided to really let it's creators have fun in the world, and create a truly top tier story.
It's central message of not judging others based on whatever prejudices culture or society might foster, is delivered with beautiful maturity and grace. Both sides, predator and prey, are shown as having their own prejudices, and yet, no one is demonized or turned into a cheap straw man. Instead, we're shown exactly why those prejudices are so foolish, and how, in embracing our similarities, and not allowing our world views to be tinted by prejudice, we can allow the differences we do have work to better the world we live in.
Both Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are excellent and finely textured characters, with Judy Hopp, voiced by the sunny Ginnifer Goodwin, and her determined quest to achieve police officer greatness in a society that dismisses the idea of a bunny cop as stupid being an excellent commentary on the struggles that any minority has in trying to pursue a field where they aren't expected to pursue. It can easily be a woman in the workplace or someone of a different race trying to break into a new job sphere, but the entire time, the film tells Judy's story with insight and wit, while also keeping her from being a Mary Sue Perfect, and having her own faults and prejudices she must overcome to truly achieve her goals. She represents those who don't allow other's definitions of what a person can and can't do define her, and in doing so, she truly manages to show what can be achieved when one sticks to their guns and fights for what's right, no matter the odds. Bonus points for her still being delightfully girlish in her mannerisms, and never once trying "to be one of the guys" as it where, which makes her a great role model for young girls.
Nick Wilde meanwhile, voiced by the always on-point Jason Bateman, is given an excellent story arc. From his slick con-man hustling of Judy, and general dismissal of the idea of a bunny cop, we watch him grow, and overcome his prejudices. At the same time, he's also an example of those who allow society to pigeonhole them, as his childhood dreams of him being a Cub Scout where crushed due to his status as a predator species, which leads him to embrace and cultivate the stereotype of foxes being slick hustlers and thieves. And yet, in the end, he is able to bring himself above such prejudices, and find a new life free from the burdens of those prejudices.
The rest of the cast, with voices ranging from Idris Elba to J.K. Simmons to Shakira, all do a great job, and while Shakira's cameo is a bit on the odd side (she's literally a gazelle version of Shakira, and that's it), the world of the film is just so fun, and the writing so sharp and insightful, that you swiftly stop caring about the minor, borderline subatomic hiccups, and instead just grin and feel good inside, while also really learning something.
So suffice to say, Zootopia is easily Disney's best film in some time, and now the Film to Beat of 2016. It's one of the most unabashedly fun and entertaining films I've seen in years, while also being intelligent and insightful.
5 out of 5 stars.
I'm impressed as always by your ability to analyze and put it in terms that are easy to follow and understand.
Haven't seen it yet, but very interested to check it out. Though interestingly enough it actually should get some stiff competition this year with the Little Prince coming out. That movie looks wildly inventive and charming from the one trailer I've seen for it so far. We might have another situation like we did when "Up" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" came out in the same year, two very different animated movies both considered phenomenal in their own ways, and sadly, only one could take home Best Animated Feature.
Tangled was okay to me.
3795779 Yes, The Little Prince just might be giving Zootopia some compition, but I'm still holding Zootopia above it, if only for relevance, and the complexity of the story.
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Also, I adored Tangled and fully think it was a better overall movie than Frozen, so your endorsing Zootopia as the best Disney feature since that movie pleases me.
3796005 Bless you, son.
My current ranking of the new renissance of Disney is:
1. Zootopia
2. Tangled
3. Big Hero 6
4. Winnie the Pooh
5. Wreck-It Ralph
6. Frozen
3795945 Me?