Disney knows it’s the king of anthropomorphic animation, and the company sticks to its strengths with the Byron Howard/Rich Moore helmed Zootopia. It might not be a Pixar feature, but Zootopia promises plenty of fun scenes and more than just one mystery beneath its surface.
In a world of talking mammals (not to be confused with the world of talking reptiles in Disney’s upcoming Reptilia) a small rabbit from the countryside, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) goes against the expectations of her carrot farming parents to become the first rabbit police officer. Judy travels to the massive city of Zootopia, where - much like when other young people first go out into the world - she inhabits a small apartment with noisy neighbours and realises her job isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Parking Officer Judy meets con-artist Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) on one of her shifts, and immediately takes a dislike to him, given her previous experiences with foxes. After abandoning her post to pursue a thief, her unimpressed supervisor, Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) gives her one last chance; to solve a missing mammals case in 48 hours. With her job on the line, Judy discovers that Nick was one of the last known mammals to see the victim. Tracking Nick down, Judy convinces him to help her, teaching kids watching the movie a valuable lesson in blackmail.
Zootopia started off tooting the same ‘follow your dreams’ mantra that Disney has heralded for many years, which plagued the awful Tomorrowland, and to a much lesser extent Big Hero 6. Not that it’s a bad concept to be communicating the power of ambition to kids, but it does wear-out very quickly. Thankfully however, after the first act and when the story takes an investigative arc, Zootopia gets into gear. As always there are a smattering of jokes tailored just for adults - such as a well-handled series of references to The Godfather - but despite its PG rating, there’s not a lot that would go over kids heads.
There’s a decent amount of tension as the mystery unfolds - especially in some of the darker scenes - and elements of the plot are surprisingly relevant, touching on social and racial issues that are all the buzz right now thanks to the U.S presidential election, among other events. However, it does seem to push these themes a little too blatantly for my liking, and for a standout Disney film it still doesn’t reach the same level of emotional complexity of even an average Pixar film.
Animation wise though, you can see the influence of Pixar on the team at their sister studio, because Zootopia screams forth with vibrant, fluid imagery that perfectly captures the tone of Zootopia and its many districts. Whilst not revolutionary in style, the animation will have sucked you into the world even before Judy reaches the big city. Matching the visuals, we get well-rounded voice work from the entire cast, thanks to the talents of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K Simmons and many others, as well as witty dialogue from Howard and co-writer Jared Bush. The characters themselves are as diverse as their animal pedigree, pitting the overly-excited Judy against the grumbling Chief Bogo, the sly Nick against the weasley Duke Weaselton, and who couldn’t love Simmon’s Mayor Lionheart, easily *unimpressive Zorg accent* my favourite.
Zootopia may be pushing its values further than its story can take them, but it’s still a beautiful, well-acted, enjoyable family movie with just enough edge and mystery to keep it interesting.
