Just got back from this movie and Disney is doing a great job in recent movies crafting a really fantastic story, and this is no exception.
The animation is smooth, the voice acting is superb, the story (like I said) is fantastic, and the easter eggs are plentiful and funny and I can’t recommend it enough.
Bad things? It’s not as funny as you might think it would be. There are times for it for sure, but it’s not that particularly funny. I think the ending is a bit forced and convenient (for lack of a better word) and I think they showed something a bit too overtly where subtlety would have worked. But those are small grapes compared to a good movie.
See it with your friends, your significant other, your family or anybody.
Last thing: The movie is about chasing your dreams and forgiving people who are different than you just like a million other kids movies. It’s not about: black people, feminism, distrust of police, sexism, racism or any of the other crap people say it’s about.
We enjoyed it a lot. Jason Bateman really has that sly voice down perfectly, and Judy Hopps and her big violet eyes are freaking adorable. Sure a lot of it is predictable, but my kid didn’t see it coming. Definitely worth seeing.
We enjoyed it. Definitely entertaining. Well worth seeing. I agree with the OP that it wasn’t over the top funny, but it kept my attention the entire time. I also went and downloaded the movie’s song by “Gazelle” (AKA Shakira). Her back up dancers were funny.
LOL … the entire movie is about prejudice and how we give in to it, or overcome it. If you say none of that stuff is there, you’re missing out on most of what makes it such a great movie.
There’s all the little touches: Judy’s speech about how bunnies can call each other “cute” but it’s not okay for another species to do it. Nick feeling compelled to touch Bellweather’s hair. Bellweather’s speech about predators only being 10% of the population, so who cares what happens to them. Nick’s comment about bunnies being bad drivers.
Hell, Nick’s entire backstory is about good kid who grows up to be a street hustler because people can’t see a fox as anything but a shifty liar. The most powerful moment of the film is when Judy who has been working her ass off to overcome negative stereotypes realizes that she’s been stereotyping Nick all along. He asks her if she’s scared of him and her nose twitches, and she reaches for her pepper spray. A part of her still sees him as “just a fox”. Brilliant.
I loved the world, loved the characters, and loved the message. I can’t wait to watch it again.
I didn’t say none of that stuff was in there, I said that the movie is a kids movie about accepting people different from you and forgiving them just as a million other kids movies are.
I really just got annoyed at people injecting some modern social commentary in it as if this movie is trying to make a big statement about today’s society. It’s not. It’s doing the same thing kids movies have been for ages
It’s social commentary in exactly the same way The Fox and the Hound was and The Rescuers wasn’t. A kid’s move can make a statement about society and *Zootopia *does. It’s about how even good people with good intentions can harbor unconscious racist attitudes. It’s about how even someone fighting against one type of discrimination can be blind to other types.
Look at Nick’s sarcastic reaction when Judy compliments him on being “articulate” and “a good father”. Do you think the filmmakers just accidentally included racially-loaded material in their run-of-the-mill children’s movie?
Well, I’ll have to say something about marketing of this film.
I got no impression from the trailer I saw that this movie had anything to do with “prejudice and how we give in to it”. I thought it was a cute movie about animal cops. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
It wouldn’t be the first time the trailers are misleading, but that’s a big difference. Of course, the film can be both things.
Racially loaded? No. Using stereotypes to generalize about a larger population? Yes.
Again, I’m not saying that stereotyping isn’t in the movie because it plays into one of the larger points being made about it. I’m just saying the filmmakers didn’t go “black people are being killed by police, let’s make the main character a cop so that people recognize what at travesty it is!”. I’m saying they said “When I was younger I was made fun of because I had glasses/was poor/had a big nose etc. Let’s make a movie where characters are made fun of for being different and then show how it’s bad.”
I understand they are veerrrrrryyyyy close together, but not the same.
Do you have a cite for the filmmakers saying this is what they intended? Because that’s not what the movie seems to be doing at all.
We get flashbacks to pivotal events in both major characters’ childhoods. Neither one of them is made fun of for having some particular personal characteristic. Both of them are taunted and beaten up because of their group identity. I don’t know how much more blatant the filmmakers could have made it. Judy is a tough little cookie who no one takes seriously because everyone knows that bunnies are dumb and submissive. Nick is a nice guy who’s never gotten a break because everyone knows foxes are shifty and dangerous. They don’t have to overcome their own faults – they have to overcome the imaginary faults that other people unfairly project onto them.
And as far as a it being commentary on the police: Judy quits the force when she realizes that her own unconscious bias toward predators has led to her hurting the very community she wanted to help. She knows a good cop should treat everyone equally and she’s horrified to discover that she hasn’t been doing that. Judy passes judgment on herself: If she can’t be a good cop, she shouldn’t be a cop at all.
It’s like you so badly want to force *Zootopia *into the normal kid’s movie mold of “be true to yourself and follow your dreams” that you’re completely overlooking what the movie is really doing.
I enjoyed it just fine and thought it struck a nice balance between having fun at the animal meme while also using it as a metaphor about prejudice and identity politics. But there’s a moment at the climax (NO SPOILERS) that created an epiphany for me.
At that moment, the two leads look uncannily similar to Br’er Fox and Br’er Rabbit (up until that point, their wardrobe and demeanor don’t evoke those characters at all).
And then I realized that maybe Disney developed this film in part to phase out SONG OF THE SOUTH in the Splash Mountain ride and replace it with a ZOOTOPIA theme, since the change to many of the animatronic characters would be relatively minimal. (Remember that many of those same animatronic animals are recycled from the old America Sings ride that used to be in Tomorrowland).
Heck, “Zootopia” is just an urban version of “Critter Country” which is what Disney changed the name to from the original “Bear Country” at the Magic Kingdom. Can it be that far off that they add another realm to each of the amusement parks? It really really wouldn’t surprise me if the new film was developed in part with exactly this in mind, especially since the company itself has long had a divided heart about that 1946 film: they play the Oscar-winning Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah everywhere, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a way to purchase the film now, because of its grating racial insensitivity.
To your first point about them having to overcome unfair projections from other people: Your entirely correct, and I am very sure that this was intentional. What I’m arguing is that this isn’t a new issue. Racism has existed since the dawn of time. This movie is providing no social commentary that’s different than Woody judging Buzz (and vice versa), people laughing at the guy in A Bug’s Life because he’s a ladybug etc. Yes, racism is a thing. Yes, snap judgements over people because of what they are is a thing. But it’s been a thing for ever and just because this movie uses it doesn’t automatically make it a commentary on TODAY’S society, just society in general. It just happens to be today.
To your second point on the police: She was disenfranchised over being a police officer because the media took what she was saying out of context and made a hyper-crazy story about it, it had nothing to do with her internal prejudices. She matter-of-factly stated “this is only happening to predators”, the media attacked her and said “So they’re to blame right?” To which she shrugged it off and said “I guess” and they ran with it. Even when Nick confronted her about it (You have to carry fox spray with you…) she said “No, that’s not what I meant”. Even he was taken in by the frenzy.
I have no cites for any of this. They’re just my opinion is all.
Went to watch this movie yesterday, and absolutely loved it from the get go.
Re: The themes of the movie, I agree with The Hamster King. The movie struck me as (among other things) dealing with racism and prejudice, how it affects people and how people can try and deal with it (showing many ways in which people react to and overcome it -or not… And quite a few of the characters are shown as, at the same time, being targets of prejudice and prejudicing against other groups!). I thought that the movie did an excellent job dealing with those rather heavy issues.
Apart from that, there were plenty of moments that I enjoyed a lot. The DMV scene had me in stitches, and the related little joke at the end… I found it unexpected and hilarious!
I enjoyed the movie a lot. Possibly I will watch it again
Just saw it today and agree with everyone who’s so positive about it (it’s currently 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a very SMART film.
And yes, it is about dealing with racism and prejudice. It’s also about accepting others for who they are not for a stereotype of a species (in this film) that they’re a part of.
But along with that, this film also paints the police, specifically those who join the force to do something good, as those to be admired and respected.
“Zootopia” covers all of this and also happens to be entertaining, clever and fun.
