Review of Zootopia (2016) by Connor K — 22 Jul 2017

From the moment the engaging and clever teaser trailer dropped, I was certain Zootopia would be unmissable. Jason Bateman'sproved that he could play the stereotypical sly fox and the rest of the cast was impressive. I eagerly attended on opening day, nigh on positive that I was in for an unrivaled treat, when taking in to account its overall stellar reception and the news that, supposedly, it had a fantastic socio-political message.

With the production's retrospectively absurd and infuriating billion-dollar success well behind us, there is no better time than now to wake up and accept that Zootopia is not at all what it could and should have been, and, most of all, what it has been made out to be. At no point during its zippy hour and a half running time feel that it was making a successful and inspiring critique of the horrendously flawed society that we live in. Theoretically, it is trying to promote the concept of acceptance and friendliness toward all racial, ethnic, and political groups, and that we as humans need to be united. In glaringly laughable ways, the film accomplishes the polar opposite.

First off, the concept of "savages." We have the poor Mr. Otterton who goes savage along with the black panther that our two protagonists run into while in the jungle. And, of course, they are brown and black! I repeat, brown and black! And, might I add, very dark brown and black. At this point I shook my head and had to accept that I was experiencing one of the most glaringly racist commercial films of all time. The black community is by no means savage, something I can't stress enough. Also, Idris Elba's character is a complete jerk, and of course he is black as well. This is beyond insulting. I can't help but wonder what Mr. Elba thinks about this. The sheep antagonists are white, but they could have easily been black, in which case I would have vomited out of contempt.

Next, the sloth scene. In the second teaser trailer, (NOT the one I referred to earlier), the vast majority of this sequence is showcased. I had a good laugh upon first viewing it, but as I'm writing this, I scorn myself for doing so. Something about experiencing this scene with the rest of the movie awakened me. Unlike the rest of the woefully misguided audience around me, I didn't so much as let out a chuckle. What I did was take into account that Disney is perpetuating the stereotype that DMV workers are slow, half-witted, obese neanderthals. Like I said earlier, I feel like a complete idiot for being appealed by it the first time around.

On top of all this nonsense, the plot just isn't interesting. Not a bit. Nothing in the world of film making is more important than having an engaging storyline to work with. After that key element is in place, you can carefully sprinkle fluff around it. In Zootopia's case, the fluff is the animation, and the only thing that I actually enjoyed about this film. The hopelessly unoriginal "chase your dreams" tactic is employed for the billionth time, with the story following an optimistic bunny named Judy Hopps. (Take a moment to laugh at the name if you would like.).

An early encounter with a fox suggests that she has no potential in life other than to be a nameless carrot farmer, but she goes on to defy all odds and become a cop. She soon clashes with Bateman's character and realizes that Zootopia may be no utopia after all. The sheer dullness of the story and everything that happens is just about as maddening as the unabashed racism sprinkled throughout.

In other words, Zootopia is disposable. Completely, utterly disposable. The animation can't save it, and just because there's a grand final sequence with Shakira singing a semi-uplifting theme song with lots of colors does not make this a film that says "Life is better when we stand together." Cliched as the following statement may be, it easily contains much more wit and and intelligence than everything in this unforgivably misunderstood mess of a movie: Zootopia is bad, with a capital B.

Grade: D.