Zootopia (Film Review)

When a modern Disney film starts off without a fun opening short, you know they’re up to something big.

This review contains moderate spoilers throughout!  You have been warned!

Zootopia takes place in a human-absent world where animals (all mammals) have evolved pass their primitive, savage stages and become intelligent, humanoid beings.  Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a strongminded farm rabbit determined to become the first bunny cop in the massive city of Zootopia.  Judy joins the police academy and goes through a training montage where she, similar to Mulan, uses her wits and out-of-the-box thinking to overcome obstacles and pass.  Yet when Judy arrives in the city, she learns not everything is fair and utopian in Zootopia—being assigned as a meter maid despite finishing top of her class.  Through a freak chance of fate, Judy self-assigns herself to a missing animal case, which her boss (Idris Elba) allows provided she quits the force in forty-eight hours if the case isn’t solved.  With little to no resources, Judy goes to the only lead she has: a conman fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), who, after a bit of professional blackmailing, partners up with the cop to solve the case.  Both soon discover, however, that the simple case goes much deeper than initially thought.

While Disney animated films have dealt with racism before (Pocahontas comes to mind), as well as misogyny (Mulan naturally), this is the first instance where one’s tackled both issues, all without ever mentioning gender and race—using their humanoid animals as metaphors for real world prejudice.  Our protagonist Judy—along with the other small animals—represents gender, while our deuteragonist Nick—alongside the other predators—represents race.  The animal species play hand in hand with their themes; bunnies are often referred to as “cute”, which is alright for other bunnies to call one another, but isn’t for other species.  Nonetheless, plenty of animals refer to them—particularly Judy—as such (some without knowledge and apologetic, others purposeful and to spite).

Zootopia’s main duo start off as average character types: likable, but with routine personalities (i.e. spunky determined female, conman with a heart of gold).  It’s when the two interact together, allowing their contrasting personalities to effectively shine, that they really begin to stand out.  Judy and Nick’s development from mutual dislike to best friends is both well-paced and remarkably natural.  The two start off with biases towards each other’s “species”, which is code for he’s sexist and she’s racist.  It’s such bias that actually ignites their strong chemistry: throwing humorous insults and banter back and forth between themselves, similar to a double act comedy routine:

Judy throws incriminating pen-recorder Nick needs over a fence

Nick: First off, you throw like a bunny.  Second, you’re a very sore loser.  (Begins to climb fence) See you later officer fluff, so sad this is over.  Wish I could have helped more…(notices Judy on the other side of fence with pen-recorder)

Judy: The thing is, you don’t need a warrant if you have probable cause, and I’m pretty sure I saw a shifty lowlife climbing the fence…so you’re helping plenty!

Their mini-adventures throughout the case help form a mutual respect for each other’s skills, yet the “friendship” aspect of their chemistry only really begins once the two begin comprehending each other’s hardships—particularly thanks to the police force, who give Judy ridiculously limited time and resources to solve the difficult case alone (Nick observing firsthand how none of the force has her back), and refuse to listen to Nick as a witness since he’s a “shifty and untrustworthy fox”.

Both characters initially handle such prejudice in different manners: Nick accepts how the world sees him and goes along with the role, while Judy refuses such labeling and tries her hardest to break free.  Judy’s own prejudice stems from being bullied and scratched as a kid by a hillbilly fox (in a surprisingly unsettling scene, which effectively projects the fear Judy feels onto the viewer).  Despite trying to brush it off, the encounter leaves Judy with a subconscious bias and fear towards foxes: bringing fox-pepper spray to work, and being immediately suspicious of Nick’s behavior when first seeing him on the street.  Nick degrades Judy by purposely calling her cute and saying she’ll never be a real cop (“maybe a supervisor”)…though such rudeness is not baseless, as it’s later revealed Nick noticed her fox-pepper spray upon first meeting.

Zootopia misleads its viewers by telling its story through Judy’s perspective—exploiting how the protagonist receiving the prejudice (particularly in family films) is usually in the right—making Nick originally appear to be the more biased character, when it actually turns out to be Judy (Nick’s even the first to drop his bias and accept Judy as a professional cop).  A lovely scene involves Judy (conflicted over her views on predators and friendship with Nick) meeting her old bully again, only he’s grownup now and become more mature: forming a partnership with her parents’s food business and even apologizing for his cruel behavior as a kid (I have a great fondness for the reformed bully character-type).  Nick and Judy help each other see the faults in their beliefs, and by Zootopia’s last third become effective partners in addition to losing their biases towards other species.  The two still retain their witty insult banter, however, which has become nothing more than friendly joshing—maintaining their great comedic chemistry while simultaneously developing their characters and relationship.  Their bond is very touching and enjoyable, though it is interesting how they’re kept platonic best friends by the end.  I’m not certain if this was because the writers wanted to show how males and females can be friends without romance (an understandable reasoning with positive implications), or if they didn’t want two different species hooking up (a bad reasoning with very unfortunate implications).

Aside from dealing with current issues and creating a delightful friendship, Zootopia succeeds in beautiful animation, witty comedy and impressively thought out foreshadowing.  Zootopia’s animation is gorgeous to look at, while its world is bursting with creativity.  Zootopia the city is really impressive both visually and artistically: packed with unique details small and large which take multiple viewings and several pauses to fully appreciate.  The city is split into multiple, artificially-made biomes with a bustling metropolis in the center.  There’s a desert biome, an ice biome, a rainforest biome (complete with hidden sprinklers to replicate rain), and a miniaturized city biome for all the tiny rodents (sounds something straight out of Super Mario 3).  The animals are given little quirks that help increase their animation's liveliness—such as Judy’s ears popping up whenever a sudden noise grabs her attention, and how her foot begins habitually stomping rapidly whenever agitated (which is such a cut….I mean…cut throat trait…yeah, she sure is merciless with that foot stomping).  They’re other little animation gems I didn’t notice until my second viewing, such as when Judy and Nick are free-falling into the ocean and professionally-trained Judy gets into a pencil dive to soften the impact, while average-Joe Nick continues Wilde-ly flailing (I couldn’t resist making the pun).

From start to finish, Zootopia’s comedy is consistent and effective: giving the film its charm and wit.  The animal-based comedy ranges from silly fun to downright clever: from a “gentle" fist bump between Judy and a rhino pushing her several feet across the floor, to a wolf cop going undercover in a sheep disguise.  There’s a hippy naturalist club (run by a yak voice by Tommy Chong) where all the animals are “naked”, a sloth DMV which the trailers were all over, and some amusing film/TV references children will (hopefully) not get: ranging from classic parodies like The Godfather, to more modern references like Breaking Bad.  The film even gets a few playful jabs at Disney itself: having a weasel sell “authentic” animal-Disney DVDs such as Pig Hero 6, Wrangled (featuring the Tangled horse as Rapunzel) and Wreck-It-Rhino, as well as the police chief berating Judy how “Life isn’t some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and all your insipid dreams magically come true!...so let it go.”

Unlike Frozen, Zootopia’s surprise villain twist is foreshadowed enough to be credible—even a bit obvious—in hindsight.  On my initial viewing, it wasn’t until a few minutes before the reveal that it clicked who the real culprit was (I’ll admit to being unreasonably proud of myself for figuring it out).  The villain’s motives added up, with a plan that’s actually quite ingenious: being carefully thought out and deviously cunning.  The twist makes for a satisfying reveal to the film's mystery, hinted just the right amount to avoid being too obvious or coming out of nowhere.  Zootopia’s plot is brilliantly planned out, with even the most insignificant scenes playing an important role later in the film: from Judy saving a shrew, to her vast knowledge of different vegetables, to her carrot pen-recorder where, every time it’s seemingly fulfilled its purpose, shows up again to help in another situation.  Everything comes together fluently, but what’s really great is how satisfying these setups are for the viewer.

Take the simplest item as blueberries.  It’s amazing how subtly and naturally these small fruits are setup to critically affect the plot.  The film slyly showcases them twice (amusingly using Nick for both instances) before throwing them into play.  There’s even a set up for the blueberries before revealing them: once figuring out what’s causing the animals to go savage, Judy hastily takes her parents food truck back to Zootopia to find Nick.  After reuniting, the two drive off where Nick makes a casual remark about the truck’s various foods—“I thought you guys only grew carrots (says while eating a blueberry)”—a normal snarky thing for Nick’s character to say.  The two soon discover the villain is infecting predators through blue, paintball-like bullets—only for Judy to twist her ankle while fleeing from several henchmen.  Nick pulls out a neckerchief from his pocket, that was holding several blueberries, to use as a sprain wrap, once again making an offhand joke about the fruits.  The situation is setup right in the spotlight, yet impressively kept understated in execution.  When Nick gets hit by a “bullet”, it dawned on me where the film was going—yet knowing before the reveal didn’t feel predictable or disappointing, but rather exciting and satisfying to have figured out the subtle clues: making the reveal’s payoff all the more rewarding to watch play out.

Zootopia isn’t without its faults, though they’re mostly minor and distant from the main plot.  I’m not sure how I feel about Judy—the morally righteous cop—becoming all buddy-buddy with the head of the “most feared crime boss in town.”  She even asks him “a favor” in threatening to murder a weasel if he didn’t give up information.  What if the weasel didn’t answer?  Would Judy have been able to stop the crime boss from fulfilling the threat (should she really risk unintentionally murdering a small time thief)?  It seems a slippery path to take: aiming to become a well-respected cop while also being friends with essentially Vito Corleone.  Another gripe is the gratuitous amount of screen time given to minor character Gazelle (a popstar gazelle voiced by Shakira).  The character receives multiple scenes throughout the film—including an entire lecture speech about the dangers of prejudice—which I‘d bet was part of Shakira’s contract for singing the film’s music number Try Everything.  On the plus side, Try Everything is an incredibly catchy song (great to listen to while on a run) that somewhat makes up for the character’s constant butting into the story.

Unlike previous Disney films, Zootopia’s problems are not all wrapped up in a neat little bow by its conclusion.  The film showcases the idiocy of prejudice with its animal parallels, yet such idiocy, while discreet, still exists in their city (such as restaurants like the elephant diner that are allowed to refuse service to specific species).  A now wiser Judy understands this—“I thought this city would be a perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, life's a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy.”—yet offers advice to the audience; “the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be…I implore you: try. Try to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you.”; simple, yet sound advice for children, and some adults who act like children.  Zootopia is Disney’s best animated achievement from the decade (not counting Pixar as Disney), and a film I’d love to see a sequel for, at the very least, because I really enjoy the main duo’s bond.  The film’s filled with witty comedy, beautiful animation, imaginative settings, awesome setups and foreshadowing, well managed themes about prejudice, and two likable characters with great chemistry together.