Stars (vocally) Gennifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Nate Torrance, Jenny Slate, Shakira and Alan Tudyk Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush Zootopia feels like quite a departure from Disney’s more recent output, and yet, it also falls exactly in line in terms of thematic approach. While the movie plays out like a mismatched-buddy-cop movie, there is the underlying theme of speciesism/racism at play. While they’re not specifying between colours, the divide comes down to two groups- predator and prey. In the city of Zootopia, such things are not supposed to exist as evolution had supposedly taken care of that (as explained at the very beginning in setting up the world), but despite noble intentions, this is a world where might still makes right, and so, the mighty lion is in charge of the whole city. But let’s put all that aside and take a look at the overall plot. The movie takes its time setting up its protagonist, Judy Hopps (Gennifer Goodwin), an idealistic and optimistic bunny who, from childhood, works her way to becoming the first bunny cop assigned to Zootopia’s police force. Once there, she gets treated as a token bunny, assigned to take care of parking violations instead of major cases. The police chief Bogo (a water buffalo voiced by Idris Elba) can barely tolerate her presence. All the other cops are large beasts, raging from tigers to elephants and rhinos, and Bogo doesn’t think a bunny can contribute much. When Judy takes interferes in a major missing persons case that’s been going on for weeks, Bogo gives her two days to find one missing otter. If she fails, she has to resign. In her investigation, Judy ends up getting help from a con-man fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). All that is within the first half hour! What follows is essentially a junior version of a Shane Black thriller, where the case being investigated is a small part of something bigger and nefarious. (See Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, even Iron Man 3). In this case, that nefarious bit plays into the prejudices of the characters, even with Judy. Because the characters are clearly defined by their species, appearances clearly count, especially as the movie races to its conclusion and the underlying racism and stereotyping comes to the forefront as part of the plot. The movie deals with it in a truly smart, if overly simplistic, way. The vocal performances are superb with Gennifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman leading the way. Maurice LaMarche is hilarious imitating Marlon Brando as Mr Big while Alan Tudyk pops up as Duke Weaselton (he was the Duke of Wesselton in Frozen). Sloth lover Kristen Bell (Elsa in Frozen) gets to voice a sloth, Priscilla. The sloths are a hilarious highlight of the movie. The animation and design is astounding with the city of Zootopia being made up of four distinct districts- urban, jungle, desert/savannah and icy terrain. Buildings, transports and more are designed to cater to the numerous species that populate the world where tiny rodents can live alongside massive hippos or elephants. It’s a very realised world. Still, this is more a crime thriller with some truly nefarious deeds being carried out by the villains and there is a sense that younger members of the audience may not necessarily understand what is going on. To the credit of the filmmakers, they try to keep things simple enough by relying on the behaviours of their cast of creatures, both perceived and instinctual to play out the major themes of the movie. In that, it’s a well presented lesson. Rating: ****/5
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