Review by CJ

Director:
Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush

Starring:
Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba

Other notable appearances:
Jenny Slate, Bonnie Hunt, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, Shakira, Kristen Bell, John DiMaggio

Running time:
108 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
The Lion King, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, Frozen

Judy Hopps (Goodwin) is the Zootopia Police Department’s first bunny officer in a world of rhinoceroses, bison, elephants, wolves and other larger mammals. Nick Wilde (Bateman) is a hustler who is as sly as a fox — primarily because he is one. This unlikely duo are forced to work together to find out why 14 mammals have gone missing from Zootopia.

Zootopia is the 55th Walt Disney Animated Classic and it had a long history of animated classics to live up to. Have they managed to impress? Yes. Yes, they have.

I enjoyed Zootopia and was impressed with it all around. Then again I had no doubts prior to watching it that Disney would bring a great plot, loveable characters and lots of laughs to the table — it’s why they’re arguably the world’s premier animated film studio.

The characters of Zootopia were great. They voice casting was spot on. Ginnifer Goodwin’s work is not something I am very familiar with, but her work as downtrodden Judy Hopps was outstanding. Jason Bateman is one of my favourite comedic actors for his dry and sarcastic humour which is also why he excelled as the wily fox with a heart of gold. I have so many favourite characters in Zootopia, but a special mention has to go to John DiMaggio’s Finnick the fennec fox. He is only on screen for a few minutes in total but they are great fun to watch.

The humour throughout Zootopia was very funny and had strains of (family friendly) buddy cop movie humour. And, let’s face it, Zootopia is ultimately an animated buddy cop starring anthropomorphic animals. There were also several sneaky Frozen jokes and sight-gags referencing other Disney films which pleased me as a Disney fangirl.

Zootopia’s plot is quite advanced for a children’s film. It touches on equality issues in terms of Judy’s treatment as the ‘token bunny’ by her colleagues, fear and hate mongering in the media and the stereotyping effects it can have on society. This sounds pretty heavy for a Disney film but the messages fit well within the story so they don’t feel forced in or distracting.

One of the characters tells Judy that life isn’t a musical cartoon and, in this case, they’re right. The main anthem of the film is ‘Try Everything’ by Gazelle (Shakira). I was underwhelmed with ‘Try Everything’ to be honest. I have listened a few times since seeing Zootopia but it still doesn’t really do anything for my earbuds.

Whether you’re nine or 90, Zootopia is lots of fun for the whole family. It’s multilayered plot, quirky characters and the laughs they bring are sure to please fans of Disney films, buddy cop films and animations.

Rating:

“Life isn’t some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and all your insipid dreams magically come true. So let it go.”