Zootopia (2016)
PG
4.5 Stars out of 5
Director Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared
Bush (co-director)Writer Jared Bush and Phil Johnston (screenplay)
Music Michael Giacchino
Art Direction Matthias Lechner
Ginnifer Goodwin Officer Judy Hopps, European Rabbit
Jason Bateman Nick Wilde, Red Fox
Idris Elba Police Chief Bogo, Cape Buffalo
Jenny Slate Dawn Bellwether, Asst. Mayor, Sheep
Nate Torrance Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, Cheetah
Tommy Chong Yax, Yack
J.K. Simmons Mayor Lionheart, Lion
Shakira Gazelle, Thompson’s Gazelle
Maurice LaMarche Mr. Big, Artic Shrew
Alan Tudyk Duke Weaselton, Least Weasel
Raymond S. Persi Flash, DMV Agent, Three-Toed Sloth
“No matter what kind of person you are, I implore you. Try
to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognize that
change starts with you.”
Disney’s new animated movie, “Zootopia” is the 55th
in their Animated Classics series, and in all likelihood will be one of their
highest grossing feature films as it has earned over $1 billion worldwide in
only few months since its opening, placing it at number 25 in the highest
grossing films of all time. It is at the same time a thoughtful film with a
message about prejudice and stereotyping, another message about reaching for
the stars, and a buddy-cop movie made with astonishing technical expertise in
terms of animation. It is in several ways quite in keeping with Disney’s recent
formula for success: a movie centered on a “princess” that has more moxie than
all around her, with a story line pumped up with a little comedy and a lot of
heart. It is also something of a departure from recent Disney films in that all
the characters are essentially human personalities in various animal forms. It
is in short an interesting mélange of genre.
The story begins with a young hare, Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin)
playing in a school play. She and several of her comrades enact a play that
describes how animals have evolved from savages in an intellectual if not
physical sense. There are physical components, too: they walk upright and
speak. I found this small side story intriguing as to me it implied the writers
(Jared Bush and Phil Johnston) were seeking to establish an immediate animal
parallel to the human world we live in. However, the play also creates a
curious demarcation to this fantasy world: the animals that evolved were the
mammals alone; one is left to wonder about the reptiles, fish and so forth; or
even more to the point, what became of the primates?
Well, back to the story… Judy will finish her play with the
declaration of her desire to become a policeman, the first bunny to do so in
their capitol city of Zooptopia, or anywhere else. Her parents are distraught
and will try for most of the film to dissuade Judy from a position that places
her in danger. But Judy will not be dissuaded. She will face her parent’s
opposition, the opposition of her Cape Buffalo supervisor, Chief Bogo (Idris
Elba in his second animated flick of 2016 – see also “Finding Dory”), the
derision of her fellow, though gigantic (on a bunny scale) police comrades, and
most significantly of a certain fox soon to make his appearance in the story.
Bogo in an expression of his displeasure (dare I say bigotry) about having a
bunny on his squad will assign Judy to meter maid duty. In one fell swoop, the
writers have incorporated both a form of racism and sexism into Bogo’s action.
Judy will lift up her chin and decide to outdo, as a meter
maid, what Chief Bogo assigns her to do. In the course of her duties she will
encounter a raconteur of a fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). The movie will take
a while to explain it, but he too has been the recipient of bias that is based
on his species and its reputation as being a predator that cannot be trusted.
He has as a result decided to better everyone’s expectations of him and be the
best fox at being a fox that is someone who can (can I say it) out-fox everyone
around him. This leads him into some shady realms, legalistically speaking.
Unfortunately for Nick, Judy out-smarts him and forces him into an alliance
with her as she pursues a case that Bogo very reluctantly gives her. Over the
course of the film, they will move from antagonists to the closest of allies,
and of course solve the mystery of the case assigned to Judy.
In terms of writing, “Zootopia” tackles some heady topics,
especially so for young children. Judy will experience bias and bigotry that is
aimed solely at her as a young woman/hare with dreams. Her dreams are hers to
pursue and after finishing first in her class at the police academy, she should
have had a clear shot at working towards a fulfillment of her dreams to the
extent that her abilities would take her. Instead, her large, male and fearsome
boss would do everything in his power (initially) to frustrate her at doing her
job. Such counterproductive efforts would stiffen Judy’s resolve – the lesson
of her story, as well as the truly marvelous song by Shakira, “Try Everything”
is a lesson very well suited to youngsters. However, there is another theme to
Judy’s travails and to the case she is working on: racism and stereotyping. To
my perspective, the exploration of this topic is the only flaw in the film. It
is not a flaw in terms of discussing it with children, but in the nature of the
parable used by this film to explain it to kids. That parable is centered
squarely on the real life reality of prey and predator versus this film’s use
of that dichotomy as a means to define racism. Here’s my problem: is it racism
for a prey animal to fear a predator? This movie says yes due to the prey and
predator’s evolved state in this movie. I say, the parable is confusing enough
to begin with, but when the story line requires certain prey animals to resume
their predator status due to a plot point I won’t reveal here, then I repeat,
the parable has uncertain footing in its path to child enlightenment. I applaud
the effort, but I feel the writers should have kept to the simpler theme of personal
goals versus personal bigotries. I agree this concept overlaps with racism, but
for an audience composed to a great extent of children, this would have worked
better in my opinion.
Technically speaking, this movie is flawless. The animation
of illustrating animal characters that retain some of their animal-like
movements (watch closely as Mrs. Ottern embraces her husband in the hospital –
it is awesome from an animation viewpoint) and at the same time introduce some
very anthropomorphic movements (watch Judy’s hips sway as she leaves Chief Bogo’s
office). I really liked the direction that is used during Judy’s first time entrance
to Zootopia by train and via each of the various lands/climatic niches that
make up Zootopia. Her entrance is incredibly enhanced cinematically by varying
the camera angles to emphasize what she can she out her window or of her as she
reacts. And this entire sequence is really improved with the soundtrack that
has Shakira singing the song about her/everyone’s dreams as Judy enters the
city where she hopes to live those dreams.
And one small last point, this movie is almost, almost
completely straight in terms of tone used in telling the story. Judy and Nick
will interact as two adults who do not know one another, then two that respect
one another, and finally two who really like (love?) one another. It is really
an adult story about solving a crime and two adults working together to do so.
But there is comedy in this movie. It is not frankly included in a manner
normally used in buddy cop movies, but adheres more closely to a traditional
Disney brand of humor. Without revealing too much, I will say only that the
writers have taken the concept of every person’s frustration at standing in a
long line at the DMV and combining that frustration with a member of the animal
kingdom most likely to be the best candidate for a job of frustrating those in
line wishing the line would move faster: a sloth. There is also a little inside
joke that involves the pronunciation of the word “weasel” in the animal sense
of this movie versus a different sense in Disney’s hit from 2013's, “Frozen”.
Both movies employ the same voice actor (Alan Tudyk) and the same names of duke
and weasel. Watch for it, it’s a cute point for the adults in the audience,
while the sloths are hilarious for adults and children alike (my granddaughter’s
laughter was astonishing in volume).
Go see this movie. You will truly be happy that you did.
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