Review of Zootopia (2016) by Electronick — 19 Apr 2016

I had heard of all of the critical praise that this film was getting so I decided to check it out for myself not too long ago. When I walked out of the theater though, I felt that the praise was unwarranted.

As time went on though, I reexamined my thoughts and came to the conclusion that even though it is not groundbreaking masterpiece as some critics say it is, I still think it is a good film in it's own right despite a few missteps.

The most admirable thing about this film is the social commentary in regards to the modern issue of racism. At first I thought that it wasn't touched up on enough but I realized that it was purposeful to show how subtle racism is nowadays.

The social commentary was obvious but it didn't feel overbearing like how a lot of lesser films who tackle this same subject manner handle it. The world also has impressive attention to detail about how the animals move and what the daily life in the city is like.

Each district such as the tundra district and the rain-forest district give some pretty impressive visuals in their design. The plot does follow some predictable trends though like the misunderstanding trope and the buddy cop and the heroes falling out.

The characters with a few notable exceptions don't really evolve out of their character archetypes but they are still likeable and are developed enough to have the audience root for them. One of the biggest stumbling blocks though was the surprise villain who was revealed to be the sheep secretary.

I understand the purpose of this twist in order to critique the notion of extremism and those who wish to fight "race- traitors". However I felt this twist didn't work since it felt out of left field and it wasn't built up earlier in the narrative.

This concept worked in "Frozen" because it told children about the dangers of being too trusting and there were some subtle clues about Han's true intentions. Despite falling into cliches and having a very predictable plot, "Zootopia" will keep you intrigued and will entertain your children if you are looking for a fun and sometimes thought-provoking family friendly experience.