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So... Zootopia (maybe a little spoilery)
10 years ago
General
Based on the early trailers and ads, I was expecting a basic adventure peppered with lots of animal jokes. The early teasers that looked like they were selling anthropomorphism like it was some totally new concept didn't help either. Still. it's hard to stay away from a film like this.
IMO, it's damn near the best film Disney has put out in the last decade, I don't know how it will hold up historically, given its contemporary setting which may make it dated in he long run, but it deserves any and all accolades it gets. Given the over-arching theme of the movie, I'll admit to some probable bias on my part here toward the film's 'furry-ness'.
What I enjoyed the most about this film is the maturity it showed despite ostensibly being a kids' film. I'm not talking about jokes or references that go over a youngsters' head, but the story and themes themselves. It's a story that could more-or-less work in any live cop/detective movie, but without the gunplay and body count you'd find in those. It's also an allegory and examination of prejudice and racism (and other -isms as well), exploring the human condition by draping an animal skin over it, much like good Star Trek shows might do with alien species. Thankfully, they (mostly) avoid being overly heavy-handed or preachy with it. Bit players casually mix animal sterotypes with playing against type. No character is a prefect paragon of open-mindedness, whether they aspire to it or not. It's less about them being good 'people', but more about acknowledging their mistakes and shortcomings and bettering themselves from there, which has a genuine feel, at least for me.
I can't talk up a Disney film without mention of the visuals, and that's pretty top-notch as well. The last few Disney films have been killing it with their environments and world building, and it's fun to see a city designed around the idea of accommodating animals of all sizes and shapes, not to mention the different zones of the city with vastly different climates (the energy budget of Zootopia must be astro-fudgin'-nomical!) I enjoy how the different sizes of characters, props, and environs are played up over the course of the film as well. Character designs, animated acting, and voice work are excellent too. The humor is good, but not as heavy as some animated films. I still loved the slow-burn sequence at the sloth-run DMV, even if that scene was entirely given away in trailers. The film could easily spawn a sequel or even a series, and I could see it working well. For me, the whole film was an enjoyable ride that was unafraid of its thematic elements and more thought-provoking than you'd probably expect a kids' animated cartoon to be. Thumbs up.
And by the way, who's third in line to run that city? ... It's kinda important.
IMO, it's damn near the best film Disney has put out in the last decade, I don't know how it will hold up historically, given its contemporary setting which may make it dated in he long run, but it deserves any and all accolades it gets. Given the over-arching theme of the movie, I'll admit to some probable bias on my part here toward the film's 'furry-ness'.
What I enjoyed the most about this film is the maturity it showed despite ostensibly being a kids' film. I'm not talking about jokes or references that go over a youngsters' head, but the story and themes themselves. It's a story that could more-or-less work in any live cop/detective movie, but without the gunplay and body count you'd find in those. It's also an allegory and examination of prejudice and racism (and other -isms as well), exploring the human condition by draping an animal skin over it, much like good Star Trek shows might do with alien species. Thankfully, they (mostly) avoid being overly heavy-handed or preachy with it. Bit players casually mix animal sterotypes with playing against type. No character is a prefect paragon of open-mindedness, whether they aspire to it or not. It's less about them being good 'people', but more about acknowledging their mistakes and shortcomings and bettering themselves from there, which has a genuine feel, at least for me.
I can't talk up a Disney film without mention of the visuals, and that's pretty top-notch as well. The last few Disney films have been killing it with their environments and world building, and it's fun to see a city designed around the idea of accommodating animals of all sizes and shapes, not to mention the different zones of the city with vastly different climates (the energy budget of Zootopia must be astro-fudgin'-nomical!) I enjoy how the different sizes of characters, props, and environs are played up over the course of the film as well. Character designs, animated acting, and voice work are excellent too. The humor is good, but not as heavy as some animated films. I still loved the slow-burn sequence at the sloth-run DMV, even if that scene was entirely given away in trailers. The film could easily spawn a sequel or even a series, and I could see it working well. For me, the whole film was an enjoyable ride that was unafraid of its thematic elements and more thought-provoking than you'd probably expect a kids' animated cartoon to be. Thumbs up.
And by the way, who's third in line to run that city? ... It's kinda important.
I dont know if the trailers were intentionally designed to throw us off or if they changed the plot of the movie half-way through.
I'm hoping for a sequel and sequel series too. Here's hoping!
It's just the best damn movie ever.
And you know, I'd like to see this continued as a disney cop show cartoon, one better than Bonkers that's for sure.
It's a great movie, has a fantastic message that needs be brought forward with what's happening in our culture today, but that's the one and only major flaw that I found with the film and I almost don't want to mention it because I don't want to take away with how important this film is going to be.
It was Judy who gave the speech at his graduation, it was Judy who awarded his badge, nobody else. Who's to say nobody else on the force trusted the fox, except Judy? Maybe he didn't want to be on a team with Judy, but nobody would have it. It looks like, at the end of the movie, there's an end to the specism in Zootopia, but you can plainly see that it just is still there, in a new form. People aren't afraid of the predator population, anymore, but that doesn't mean their trust in them has been fully restored. Sure, it's a kids movie, and all, they aren't supposed to get the deeper themes, like how racism and prejudice can never be eliminated and that, like the citizens, it too evolves but that's what separates us adults from them. We can see past the happy ending right through to the turmoil that still exists, and it's presented largely in how Judy and Nick are displayed at the end of the movie: Friends.
Despite everything they went through, and the fact that they genuinely came to care intimately for one another to the point where they were willing to risk their lives for each other(the stunt with the blueberries was a gargantuan risk, it's a miracle that Bellweather didn't check the gun with how smart and thought-out she was with everything else. With how determined she was, I wouldn't have put it past her to not have her own supply of capsules on her at all times. Even I was fooled into thinking they either didn't switch it, or she switched it again on them, and even toward the end Judy's fear is far from acting.), they're still just friends. No expansion on their relationship at all. Just a little friend to friend, cop to cop banter. I think if they'd wanted to give it the impression that the prejudice was gone, they would have been a more established couple than that.
Also I have to disagree where they should have been a couple to show that prejudice was gone (because obviously prejudice isn't something that can just be resolved in 48 hours) because of the fact that there's no reason for them to be anything other than friends. Clearly if Judy Hopps, a person raised on the hatred/fear of foxes by her parents, can get over her own prejudice and be friends with Nick then I say friendship is enough. I think that if they did show them as being a couple then it would have raised way too many questions about how the world works and would have ruined the ending from the fun vibe to "making even more questions" kind of thing. Know what I mean?
Or in this case, Break Baaaw
Through most of the movie I thought it was going to be about Rabies because it seemed that the symptoms were being passed from victim to victim rather than being random individuals.
You know, it's the two things at the end of the movie really got me curious, since you mentioned one of them.
MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD, DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS IF YOU'VE WATCHED IT
Just Wwo would be third in line? because the credits showed the first mayor still behind bars, happy, but still in prison
Second, with the dialogue in the car with Judy and Nick... that floored me on another level. Because that immediately got me wondering if the inevitable sequel to this movie will do with mixed species children (to corrolate to mixed racial)
The ending exchange was noteworthy, as you said. It could be interpreted a number of ways, but if the writers didn't intend that they presumably would have worded it differently.
Obviously that couldn't answer a thing about whether an interspecies relationship would produce kids or not, (or how that would work) though. ;p
I want to see that!
And more Gazelle.
Must have much more Gazelle!!
-Badger-
Nick as a cop, and Judy as his partner just feels like another story waiting to be told.
It just felt like it was setting up a sequel...Though I could be indulging in wishful thinking, too.
-Badger-
Still though loved the movie been searching for all things related to it from books to figurines even going so far as to look for a shirt that almost matches Nick's.
As far as succession... There's probably a city council, and assuming there isn't already an elected head therein, they would likely choose a council member to serve out the remaining term.
Now... they need to make a CG Rescue Rangers movie! I must see Gadget done this well!
I hope they do more with the setting. Not strictly following the same characters. (Though they could totally show up in the background) but the setting itself is ripe for so many plots with the animals interacting with each other. And how the different parts of the city function.
(Morning Sam.... Morning Ralph) to coin an old phrase.
There might be some things people won't understand in 10 years time, for example the subtle hint of corruption when you see Dawn Bellwether answering her desk phone. (hint, it's the brand they were obviously trying to copy)
Over all I can say that it even survived the dubbing into German.
But what I loved most was the emotional moments. They were so powerful, they felt so real and so human. Like you can relate to them. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Seeing Judy cry out honestly to Nick, giving out how she felt about her prejudice, it was so real and moving.. not to mention how heartbreaking and also real felt when Nick discovered she still had them prejudices.
I wasn't at all expecting the way I (partly) stopped noticing how awesomely furry it was, and got totally caught up in the storyline.
I could see it being Mr. Big or Clawhauser, he'd get the donut and killer aps vote.
Blood! Blood! Arrrgh! Bloorg!
On top of the well handled morals on the -isms, I loved that they also made a warning to the politics of a government using fear to control the citizens.