Zootopia (2016) Film Review: More Than Just Furry Bait...

 

I haven't exactly been enjoying Disney as of late. From "Star Wars" to Marvel and their live-action remakes, the company has been releasing some pretty mediocre films or even bad ones as of late, with Pixar still being the only studio that has made mostly fantastic films for the past few years. Even their own animation studios has slumped into a stage of laziness with bad sequels and underwhelming new IPs. With all of that said, there's still potential for the studio to win me back as their last great film was only released five years ago. Said film just so happens to become a cultural phenomenon and launched a new wave a furries at the same time. Judy Hopps has always dreamed of becoming a police officer in the mega-metropolis known as Zootopia, a city known for the wide diversity of animals of all shapes and sizes living together in one community. While she has achieved her dream job, she is disappointed for being forced as a meter maid because she's the first bunny cop in the force. When various cases of missing predators begin to pile, Judy puts her job on the line to prove that she can solve at least one of the cases with the help of a con-artist fox named Nick Wilde. Little do the two know that the case will dive into a larger conspiracy that is tied into the division of predator and prey. In terms of the detective storyline, the film actually does a reasonable job in keeping things a mystery with twists and turns for both kids and adults. However, the film didn't get its praise for just being a good detective story as it's the themes of racism and prejudice that really speaks for itself. It may seem a bit too heavy-handed and preachy, but considering how ignorant a ton of people can be, the movie does, for the most part, a fantastic job on depicting prejudice in a realistic matter. The only issue with tackling this heavy subject matter is that the ending feels a bit too happy and anti-climatic when it comes to making things go back to the status quo. The movie isn't all about the deep message and drama, as it's also an energetic comedy where the jokes land quite a bit thanks to the personality and animation of the characters. The only problem with the humour is that there's way too many puns involving animals for my liking and some of them don't even make sense half the time like the "Zuber" ad.

Judy, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, is one of Disney's best animated protagonists to date, which is thanks to the loveable personality and growth of the character. Quirks such as her range of expressions, taking pride in her meter maid position, fast-planning, and selflessness actually makes Judy a great animated role model of sorts along with Goodwin's perfect vocal performance. Nick, voiced by Jason Bateman, almost rivals Judy in the same department. From his snarky comebacks, his underestimation of Judy as a cop, and his usefulness in solving the case, Nick is just as prominent and loveable as Judy. The chemistry between Judy and Nick is also just perfect with the two constantly upping one another and growing to care for each other as friends, so much so that many fans would ship them(I'm not one of them). Aside from Judy and Nick, the rest of the film offers a large cast of side characters, both reoccurring and one-scene wonders. From Chief Bogo, Judy's brutish police captain, Benjamin Clawhauser, the fat, upbeat desk sergeant, Stu and Bonnie Hopps, the "supportive" parents of Judy, Lionheart, the mayor of Zootopia, Mr. Big, a mobster shrew who parodies "The Godfather", Flash, Nick's sloth friend who works at the DMV, and Gazelle, who is just Shakira as a gazelle. These characters alone barely scratch the surface of how many side characters there are. The only character to really go in depth about aside of Nick and Judy is Dawn Bellwether, the assistant mayor to Lionheart and the film's twist villain, voiced by Jenny Slate. While I do think Bellwether works fine as a villain in terms of the film's themes, the really late reveal makes her a bit hard to take seriously as a threat. Despite the lackluster twist villain, the large cast of memorable side characters and the fantastic lead duo of Judy and Nick gives the film, well, a lot of character.

Disney typically has two different types of animation in their movies. Depending on the film and tone, they are either more realistic in textures and character movement with a set colour palette or they are more cartoonish in design and movement while offering a more vivid colour palette. "Zootopia" is one of the more unique entries as even though the film is more on the comedic side and the characters are all anthropomorphic animals, the strong message and relatable characters offer a blend of both cartoony fun and maturity. This blend is also present in the animation. The first thing that grabs your attention is the city of Zootopia itself, which is both widely creative in design yet looks like a functioning world despite the various ecosystems and sizes of the various inhabitants. The designs are also a mix of hyper-realism and simplistic as the textures of each animal feels life-like withe the individual fur and cloth threads, yet the animals themselves are designed in a cartoonish way that makes them feel just enough like their real-life counterparts. The character animation switches back and forth on realistic and silly, depending if there's action involved. So, all of the characters have far more relaxed and somber movements, but can become zany and over-the-top if need be. The use of colours is also breath-taking as the world just glows with colour. Daytime is bright and yellow, while nighttime is atmospheric and somber. The colour also affects the mood of the characters as the light-hearted and comedic sequences are full of life while the slower and dramatic moments are subdued of colour or overcome with darkness. The score by Micheal Giacchino is by no means his best, but it's quite upbeat and loose. It's pretty good for the movie as a whole, it's just that Giacchino has made more recognizable music in the past. The original song by Shakira, "Try Everything", is honestly pretty nice to listen to. It fits both the artist and the film's identity nicely to a fault, even if it's no classic from the legendary artist. Overall, the animation is simply the perfect blend of fast-paced, cartoony animation and grounded, hyper-realism.

"Zootopia" manages to be one of my favourites from Disney for a large list of reasons. The story is engaging as a detective mystery, the boldness to tackle race and prejudice in a mature and accessible way, the charm and humour, Judy is one of, if not, the best protagonist in a Disney movie for various reasons, Nick is just as great as the rabbit's foil and partner, the chemistry between Judy and Nick is wholesome and hilarious, the large side cast are capable of stealing entire scenes due to their comedy or vocal performance, the vivid animation is brilliant with the blend of cartoonish and realism in terms of character animation and textures, and the score by Giacchino is good right alongside Shakira's single. The only issues the film carries is that the multitude of puns can be too much at times, Bellwether as the twist villain serves as a mixed bag in regards to the impact of the character in exchange for the message of the film, and the ending of the film in general eliminates the tension raised unrealistically quickly due to the majority of Disney films needing a super-happy ending. Despite the few missteps, this is as close to a masterpiece you can get from modern Disney and I just hope that the studio can just continue to make films on the same par rather than lazy sequels and uneven stand-alone features.

Verdict: 9/10. Almost perfection if the powerful themes resulted in a powerful ending. Still destined to be a modern classic in the medium.