Review of Zootopia (2016) by Leopoldthebrave — 03 Apr 2017

The movie is very pretty. Sadly, that's the only thing positive I feel I can confidently say about it. The premise revolves a buddy cop duo trying to solve a crime while using the power of trying not to be racist.

When it comes to the plot of the movie, it's about as cookie cutter as you could possibly get with a kids buddy cop movie. The two main characters wander around town, looking for clues from punchline characters. Like the sloths at the DMV, or the little mobster rat. They only function as jokes to move the plot forward and don't feel like real characters. Then to top off the cookie cutter plot, we end with yet another Scooby Doo villain twist that the new Disney movies seem to be fond of.

Now the message of the movie is fine an all. But it's so repeatedly over-preachy and hypocritical. The main character Judy blurts out constant exposition about not discriminating against others and how we should all be accepting. You will literally hear lines as blatant and forced as "Gideon was a jerk that happened to be a fox. I know plenty of bunnies who are jerks." or of course, the obvious "A bunny can call another bunny cute, but when other animals do it, it's kinda..." Yeah it's that bad. Then for as "non-racist" as Judy tries to make herself seem, she ends up being pretty freaking racist. Complaining about the slow sloths or pulling out her fox repellent when her partner, Nick, gives a very unconvincing scare.

The bland plot and stupidly shove down our throats message could easily be overlooked if the cast of characters were enjoyable. Sadly this isn't the case. Aside from the main duo, Judy and Nick, you won't be seeing anyone three-dimensional or developed. Like I mentioned previously, nearly all the side characters we see exist for nothing more than a gag. The characters who do serve a purpose have no development and just flip flop all over the place. Judy's racist parents for example. Throughout the entire movie they warn her about foxes and don't change until the the plot needs Judy to succeed. All of a sudden Gideon Grey is here out of nowhere, says "night howlers" and then vanishes again for the rest of the movie. Other characters who hated Judy like Chief Bogo, only change when the plot demands it. Instead of being sparked and learning to admire Judy overtime based on her determination, he only decides "Oh, I like her now" because she solved the crime and the plot demands for it.

The animation I can be very positive about though. It's fun and creative, and creates a world in which only these characters could live in. Zootopia has everything you could possibly imagine for these animals. Trains with different sized doors and separate districts in the city for rodents and other small animals are just a couple of the interesting things you'll find. The furs and other textures on the characters all look remarkable and very well done.

Overall, Zootopia may look nice on the outside, but the two characters we're stuck with do nothing but force a message down our throat and then hypocritically contradict themselves. They don't set a good example for the obvious message they try too desperately to get across. The consequences for this being that it makes the only two main protagonists we're stuck with seem unlikable as they don't even heed their own words. The animation is spectacular, but that's the only good thing that can be said. With a Scooby Doo plot, bland cast of characters, a hammered into the ground moral, and at least some sparkly visuals, Zootopia wouldn't be anything I'd recommend anytime soon.