Zootopia - B

Quick Hit: Decent animated film that almost seems more directed at political adults than kids.

​Are animated films for kids or for adults? The answer for the good ones is easy: both. That’s why Inside Out is so good. However, that’s not to say there aren’t animated films that are only made for adults (look at all the animated tv shows for adults) that have their merit as well. But, one of the tricky things is when you make a movie directed at kids, but for parents.

That was kind of the problem I ran into with Zootopia. It doesn’t feel like a movie directed at kids. Disney’s best films have moments that make people of all ages laugh, cringe, chuckle, and just an entire range of emotions. Instead, Zootopia is filled to the prim with pop culture references, like the inclusion of a certain Godfather character (more on that later). Kids won’t get these. They may catch allusions to 

other Disney flicks (like the few there are to Frozen), but they won’t see the larger picture. For instance, my oldest son was bored within minutes, despite the array of colors and images flashing across the screen.
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Other scenes were pretty intense for kids. I’m not saying that there can’t be scenes in kid’s flicks that aren’t intense – some of the best have them (Toy Story in Sid’s room for instance). But whereas that felt important and organic, there were scenes that felt like they were added simply for the fear factor. Younger kids aren’t ready for the scenes portrayed in this film. To backtrack a bit, I guess it is rated “PG”, but let’s be real – the American film association isn’t.

Like the name of a certain weasel.

    

Let’s see, what else to say… the casting is good. I think Ginnifer Goodwin was perfect as Officer Judy Hopps, and Jason Bateman was the perfect casting for Nick Wilde (a big-city fox with the typical slyness you would expect – at least to start). They really sold the story with their voices, and carried it at times. Admirable mentions go to an under-used J.K. Simmons, Idris Elba, and Nate Torrence for 

their roles as well. With more of these characters, the film probably would have been even better.

A pretty good pictorial representation of the two main character's moods in the movie.

So far, I’ve been pretty negative. But, I liked the movie overall. It’s visually fantastic. I like the fact that Zootopia is presented pretty much like the Animal Kingdom at Disney World (Land? World? I 

"Anybody can be anything" - Judy Hopps.

always confuse the two) with the divided areas for each of the animals. There is so much packed into many of the scenes that I look forward to future viewings to spot different things in the background. 

​The message in the movie is good too. With everything that has happened with racial tensions and such, a movie like Zootopia really needed to be made. It shows that first off – stereotypes suck. Much of the time they are either 

outdated or just plain untrue. This is illustrated wonderfully with Nick’s background story (which hits about halfway through the film). It also shows that sometimes we react too strongly to things. What we really need to do is work together. People are people, no matter what. We should all take a lesson from Zootopia and treat each other accordingly.

​Zootopia, for all it presents, problems and all, gets a B from me.

Check out more about this movie on IMDB.

Sloths steal every scene they are in. They would have gotten an A, even though they were trailer spoiled.