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.
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.