Disney Movie Challenge
Zootopia (2016)
A lot of people accused Disney of subtly inserting social messages into their films. The two that I remember Fox News complaining about are Frozen , which they accused of having a LGBTQ agenda, and The Muppets (2011) which they accused of an anti-capitalist agenda. In 2016 it seems Disney finally decided to make a film without a clear social message and absolutely no subtly. Zootopia comes out swinging with it’s clear anti-racism message and there is no way to miss it.
The movie is about an idealistic bunny named Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) who dreams of becoming the first bunny cop in Zootopia. Zootopia is a city where “anyone can be anything”. Despite the odds Judy manages to fulfill her dream and get on the police force. But Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) still doesn’t see Hops as a valuable asset to the force and assigns her parking duty while everyone else works on a big case. She tries to prove herself by handing out 200 tickets in one day, but her big break comes when a weasel robs a flower store and she chases and arrests him. While trying to convince the Chief she is a capable police officer who can do more than be a meter maid a otter comes into the office to report that her husband is missing. Judy makes a deal with Bogo to find the missing otter in 48 hours or she will resign. To find the otter she must team up with a fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Nick is a con artist but Judy needs his connections to help uncover the truth. They uncover a plot to turn the predators “savage” and unleash their primal instincts to attack and kill. The public is notified of the plot a panic ensues where all the prey become fearful of every predator. Zootopia turns into a city full of suspicion and mistrust. While Judy wants people to see her for more than a cute bunny she must learn to see others as more than a predator. After realizing she made things worse instead of better she leaves Zootopia for her farm but upon stumbling on a clue she reunites with Nick and finally figures out what really is going on.
Once again Disney pushed the envelop of animation technology. This time by creating new software to make realistic fur. The software “iGroom” used individually placed hair (Judy and Nick had 2.5 million individual hairs) and was able to manipulate the fur to make it look plush and naturalistic. The voice acting in the film was pretty good. Jason Bateman is by far my favorite but Ginnefer Goodwin really gives Judy the perfect optimistically naïve voice.
The story itself is pretty heavy handed. Teaching kids not to judge others by how they look or where they come from is important, unfortunately as an adult I find it a bit too much. At some point in the film I just found myself saying “I get it”. There is also an extended reference to The Godfather which most likely goes over kid’s heads. While kids get the idea of don’t judge a book by it’s cover I’m not sure they will grasp the larger societal issue of Racism. The first time I tried watching it when it first came out on Blu-Ray my kid took the disc out of the player and threw it across the room. So, he really didn’t want to watch it. This time he paid a bit more attention to it but I don’t know how much he got out of it.
Overall: A good looking film with good voice acting, but a little too on the nose messaging took away from the story. Kids will enjoy some of the silly gags but not sure how much they will get out of it.
Random Facts
The title of the film was changed for international release due to Disney not being able to copyright the name Zootopia in various countries. For most of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa it is called Zootropolis. In Germany it is called Zoomania due to a children’s Book called “Zootopolis”.
The news co-anchor thats a Moose in the standard version is different animals In other countries. He is a Koala in Australan and New Zealand version, a Jaguar in the Brazillian version, a Tanuki in the Japanese version, and a Giant Panda in the Chinese version.
Zootopia is the third non-Pixar Disney Animated film to win Best Animated Film at the Oscars. It biggest competitor was the other Disney Animated film to come out in 2016 Moana.
Alan Tudyk plays Duke Weaselton the small time crook. Tudyk also voiced the Duke of Weselton from Frozen.
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