On its surface, Zootopia has everything you could want from a Disney movie. I mean, a movie about talking animals is as much a Disney staple as adapting super-dark fairy tales into light family entertainment. The movie gets its name from the major city in which most of the movie is set. Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) goes there after being named the first rabbit police officer for the city. She's been told her whole life that rabbits are too small and cute to be on the police force. But it's her dream and she's determined to make it work. After a few days stuck being a meter maid, she lucks her way into a missing person, er, otter investigation, employing the help of a sly fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Along the way, they uncover a much larger conspiracy.
It's unfortunate for The Good Dinosaur that this is Disney's followup animated movie. While The Good Dinosaur struggled to populate the edge of the frame, Zootopia is overflowing with details, colors, life, and depth. Disney would be smart to dip back into this world for future movies, even with a completely different cast of characters. The film is dense with jokes about the differences of human things in a world of animals. So, you get trains with different sized doors, coffee stands with giraffe-height drink delivery, and bootlegs of Disney movies with animal titles. They're easy jokes, but that doesn't mean they're bad ones.
The voice cast is superb. I've always loved how Disney Animation does just chase big names like Dreamworks or Illumination does. They'll get whoever is best for the role. You don't get much Kristen Bell-ier than Ginnifer Goodwin. She brings strength and vulnerability to the role. Jason Bateman has made a career out of sounding like he's the only guy in the room who realizes what's going on, which works well for this role. Idris Elba...Enough said. Jenny Slate is someone I expect to hear in more animated movies. She has a cutsy-edge to her voice which works great, like Sarah Silverman, but a degree or two less innocent-sounding. And the rest of the cast is a bunch of voice-acting all-stars: Bonnie Hunt, Tommy Chong, JK Simmons, Alan Tudyk, Octavia Spencer, and many others.
(Elephant in the Room) But what's so special about it? If this was just a funny little talking animal movie, that would've been enough for me. Zootopia has more on its mind though. The more politically skewed would say it delves into racial prejudice in subversive ways. That's more high-minded than I'd like to go, but it's pretty accurate. In a world of animals, the predators (lions and tigers and bears) are never fully trusted. For generations, all animals have coexisted peacefully, but at the first sign of trouble, when animals start going primal, the city scapegoats the predators. The best thing about how Zootopia handles all this is the variety of ways it handles it. Animals dismiss Judy because they think bunnies are cute. Animals dismiss Nick because foxes are sly. Some play into the perceptions. Others reject them. Some characters make snap judgments with ill-intent. Others, even protagonists, make sweeping generalizations because that is the path of least resistance. It's a lot of heady stuff and I'm glad that Disney handled it with such aplomb.
There's not a lot to hate about Zootopia. The cast, story, message, and visuals are all top shelf. Best of all, it's one of the rare movies with which I'd be angry if there's wasn't a sequel to it. In any case, I can't wait to see what Disney comes up with next.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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