Zootopia Review

When I first saw the trailers and marketing for Zootopia I was expecting a buddy cop movie from Disney that relied on a lot of animal jokes and puns. Something okay but not memorable. Boy was I in for a surprise. Zootopia deals with subjects like race and gender stereotyping, class warfare, attitudes of police officers, roles in society, and many other things you would find in an Ayn Rand novel. I bring this up because like many other critics out there, we were not expecting a movie called Zootopia, a Disney film about cute talking animals, to talk about risky subjects like that. I think that shock value is what is getting the film so much attention but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The story takes place in this world where animals have evolved from their predator/prey to form a society that mirrors ours. In this world our main character Judy Hopps, a rabbit voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin. She is the first rabbit cop in Zootopia which is a big deal because most people don't believe a rabbit should be a police officer. At first she gets hazed for being a rabbit and finds the utopia she thought she would be living in and her dream of making a difference by being a cop where not what she expected them to be. But when she gets involved in a missing animal case she encounters a sly con artist fox named Nick Wilde who is voiced by Jason Bateman. Wilde gets roped into Judy's case and discover what's been going on and how society really works.

I would compare this movie to something like Animal Farm, a story that uses talking animals to discuss hot button social issues. Going back to my earlier thoughts on the high praise the movie is getting, I think most of the praise comes from the unexpectedness of all the heavy themes thrown in with the decent humor of the movie. The humor is not extremely funny but it does its job of relieving tension after the dramatic and scary moments. Yeah, there are scary moments in this movie including a jump scare that will scare even the adults in the audience.

But with that all said is the movie worth the praise it is getting? Yes, yes it its. Zootopia does a fantastic job of dealing with the social issues of today in a very clever way while also sticking to the Disney look and feel of its story and characters. It's a movie I hope one day to show my kids. Its themes and some of its humor plays to an adult crowd but I would take time away from the movie so that you can experience it again from a fresh perspective. When I saw the movie again the shock value of the themes wasn't as poignant as it was the first time but I still chuckled at the jokes.

Grade: A+

What's to Come: 10 Cloverfield Lane review and a look back on Man of Steel.