Review of Zootopia (2016) by Justin G — 20 Aug 2016

It was unfortunate that I didn't get to see this film in theaters. It would have made an amazing experience with the huge screen. Instead, I rented it from Netflix and watched it in the comfort of my own home on my 32 inch LED television. Even with the smaller screen, I found Zootopia to be absolutely perfect.

It seems that every year Disney puts out a rock solid film that breaks barriers in animation. Last year it was "Inside Out" and the year before that it was "Big Hero 6." To a lesser degree, we even had "The Jungle Book." which blew me away in terms of CGI, and I haven't even seen "Pete's Dragon" yet. So in this year of movies still to come I will still say that "Zootopia" is without a doubt my favorite film of the year so far. It would be hard to see a movie beat this but movies always surprise me.

Zootopia is directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore and it's about a bunny rabbit named Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) who lives on a carrot farm and dreams of being a police officer. This is frowned upon because bunnies are known for being cute and small and are not taken seriously. She is ambitious and doesn't let anyone tell her otherwise. She eventually goes through the police academy and becomes the best of the bunch. She is then is badged as a cop and moves the city of Zootopia. There she meets a con artist fox by the name of Nick (Jason Bateman) and they work together to find a bunch of animals that went missing in the city.

Let's start by talking about the city of Zootopia. It is made up of different ecosystems such as an area of snow, desert, rainforest, and in the heart of it is an urban area. There everything to accommodate for all the human like animals. There is a smaller city for the mice, different doors for different sizes, and various shops and houses. It's all integrated within this city. It's all so carefully detail, interesting, and fun to just watch how the day to day is in this animal metropolis. Will all the different animals occupying this I could just get lost in watching city by itself.

The main leads are from Nick and Judy who expressions and voice match perfectly and even though they are animals they feel like real people. Nick is a fox who has a darker past that he isn't so open about but is definitely the funny one of the two. He would say witty things like "Do you think she counts herself when she sleeps?" this is a quote about Dawn Bellwether (Jenny Slate) who is a sheep. He is the know it all and the one who knows how criminals work. Probably because he is one. Judy is the heroine in this film who is positive and has high ambitions. She is the perfect example of a successful person. Even when her parents on the farm give her the idea it's okay to settle in life, she doesn't want that because she wants more. She is cute and small (she doesn't like be called "cute") but she has a tough side. She very relatable and simply an amazing character. Now this city is filled with so many animals it would difficult to name them all but we are still blessed with an outstanding voice cast. We have voices from Shakira, Nate Torrence, Idris Elba, J.K Simmons, Tommy Chung, Don Lake, Bonnie Hunt, and so many more. They really bring out the life of this crazy city.

When it comes to the story the writers and directors just nailed it. It plays like a buddy cop film where we see the partnership unfold during the investigation. We see them find witnesses and run into bad guy all over the city. When they find what they are looking for the story just opens up and brings some thought provoking material that deals with stereotypes, discrimination, and friendship. The story brings up ideas that are relevant to real life and it makes fascinating points that had me pondering after the film was over. There are prey and predators but it's never that black and white and when things start to happen we question that. Of course, there was also the deeply emotional scenes that got to me I did tear up. It's not as emotional as "Inside Out" but it still got to me. Aside from that, this is still a fun movie that made me laugh throughout. The pop culture humor mixed with the sharp dialogue and animal puns always made me crack up. I just absolutely loved the sloths at the DMV. If you saw it in the trailer they change it up a little so it's not completely predictable.

Alas, we have the final ingredient which is the animation and I say this...It's f******* fantastic! Note: This is not a Pixar film but a Disney Animation Studio film. This is something that is easily unnoticed. Mostly when people see a computer animated film by Disney they associate it with Pixar. Of course with films like "Tangled"and "Big Hero 6" that's not the case. It also doesn't mean that the animation is lesser than Pixar. The detail in here is so rich. The animation is so sharp. Small things like Judy's IPhone, iPod, and her carrot tv dinner look so real it's insane. It was impressed at first but when Judy first comes to Zootopia and she is gazing around this metropolis, there was so many lush colors and awe-inspiring moments. It just had such stellar animation and quality. It was obviously animated with love and attention.

The entire movie was made with love. It had everything in it and then some. It was a buddy cop crime film that had emotions, detail, characters, exciting moments, thought-provoking themes, silliness, and is simply fun. It's a film that is pop art and high art. This is a movie that reminds me why I love movies. Movies that offer escapism, intelligence, and entertainment. This another masterpiece from Disney and I believe everyone should watch this.