Zootopia

When Disney makes movies about talking animals, chances are you're going to have a good movie... its just kind of a fact.

Zootopia is an animated buddy cop movie set in a world where animals have evolved to human intelligence. Predators and prey live in harmony with one another and they have jobs, drive cars, etc. Now this is either just a cute world where that is the case, or this is set thousands of years in the future and tells a very bleak narrative of what happened to humans... cause there are none in this film.

But Zootopia stars a rabbit by the name of Judi Hopps (voices by Ginnifer Goodwin from Once Upon a Time). She is a bunny who's only career goal since she was a kid was to be a police officer. Obviously this seems funny to everyone because the only animals who become police officers are larger animals and mainly predators. But Judi will not be deterred. She works hard and eventually becomes the top of her class at the police academy and is assigned to Zootopia to become a police officer.

Right from the get go I will say this, Judi is one of the best developed characters I have seen in a long time in an animated movie. I found myself invested in this character and I wanted to see her succeed. It would have been very easy to just put her as a bland character who is a bunny and leave that as the only thing to make us root for her. But they go an extra mile and create her as an incredibly likable, optimistic character, but also flawed. She is impatient, she has her own prejudices and misconceptions about other animals, especially foxes and for good reason, based on the development and character story provided from the get go.

Judi starts her career off and already has more hurdles to jump through.

She is assigned as a meter maid because of her size even though she wants to do real police work. But when a series of disappearances gives Judi an opportunity to prove herself, she puts everything on the line to do an investigation and discover where the missing animals went.

She finds herself working with a Fox by the name of Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) who is directly involved with the case. Nick is very knowledgable about how things work in Zootopia but is also very crafty and untrustworthy from the get go.

Together these two band together to create an unlikely team and thus the buddy cop tropes begin.

I'll talk about Jason Bateman as Nick because I really like Jason Bateman. Ever since I started watching Arrested Development a long time ago, I've been really invested in a lot of the movies he's in and I really enjoy his performances. Whether its this, or Horrible Bosses, or This is Where I Leave You, or a lot of other films. He's just a very talented and very funny actor.

But what's more is that he's a developed character as well. He's got a great backstory that is explained very quickly but still gives you the feels and is a little tragic. Again, the movie doesn't really waste any time not developing these characters who are really just animals.

But holy crap is this movie not your typical Disney animation.

In the past few years, Disney (and Pixar) have come out with a lot of films that for the most part have been directed towards being kids films, but also have a flair about them that are very adult in surprising ways. Big Hero 6 makes a very heartfelt tale about loss and dealing with it, while still providing colorful superhero action and visuals for the kids to enjoy. Frozen is your pretty run of the mill princess fairy tale but challenges a lot of the typical princess fairy tale conventions that have been in Disney's wheelhouse lately. Inside Out is colorful and have a lot of cool animated characters, but at the same time is incredibly intelligent about the human psyche.

Zootopia takes all of that and leaves those other films in the dust. Because while this movie is very colorful and features a cute bunny and a sly fox, the subject matter could not be any more adult. And I do agree that its never really too early to talk to your kids about tolerance, but in the past Disney movies have taken that serious topic and hid it in metaphors and were a little more subtle. Zootopia really hits it right on the nose and comes right and says, this movie is about beating stereotypes, fighting prejudice, discussing profiling and other racial, sexist, and just conversations about people being different. Now, its still masked with the differences that these animals face, such as differences between predators and prey, small animals and large animals, so the message is still hidden, but its a line I don't think Disney has ever crossed before and it makes the movie very, very mature.

Now the good thing is, its done very well. Again, I think the intent of the people who made it are saying is, its never too late to talk about issues like this. My only concern with this movie is that while Disney does a good job bringing up issues like this and its good to talk about them, this is the kind of movie that I think deserves a heart to heart conversation with the kids who watch it. Its the kind of ideas that young kids won't understand and older kids need to be talked through it. I just don't think this is the kind of movie you put your kids in front of and not let them comprehend what's going on. Not a negative on the movie, just something to think about.

The one real criticism I have with the movie after a little bit of time to think about it is that the ending of this movie really ties up together almost too nicely. There's a twist and the answer to all the questions that really just kind of appears in front of the protagonists.

I almost feel like the movie was trying to push the message its going for right in your face that the conclusion of this movie is a little weak. I think the good twists in movies are right in front of you and if you're really paying attention you could maybe figure it out, but its still not obvious.

This twist came really out of no where and it seemed more like a way to continue the story just enough to push the message across.

But overall, Zootopia is a really fun movie that I would definitely recommend to both adults and slightly older kids. Its got the cute animals and vibrant colors for the kids and its got A LOT of inside jokes that only adults will pick up on. Its a little on the nose with its message but its still definitely a movie worth checking out.

Those are my thoughts on Zootopia. What did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as request movies I should do in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Here's the honest trailer. Enjoy!