Judy Hopps
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“Zootopia,” a fantasy set in a city where predators and prey live together in harmony, is a funny, beautifully designed kids’ film with a message that it restates at every turn.
98% Tomatometer 298 Reviews. 92% Audience Score 100,000+ Ratings. From the largest elephant to the smallest shrew, the city of Zootopia is a mammal metropolis where various animals live and...
- (297)
- Ron Howard, Rich Moore
- PG
- Kids & Family, Comedy, Adventure, Animation
Mar 3, 2016 · Judy graduates from the police academy and ends up on the force in Zootopia, but her boss (Idris Elba) relegates her to parking-ticket duty while more experienced officers investigate 14 missing...
- Ron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
A charming buddy-animal story that promotes teamwork, perseverance, and diversity. Read the full review, watch the trailer, and see what parents and kids say about this PG-rated animated Disney film.
- Ron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
- Sandie Angulo Chen
- Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- The Fox and the Rabbit.
- Zootopia Photos
- Verdict
- Zootopia Review
- More Reviews by Eric Goldman
- IGN Recommends
By Eric Goldman
Updated: Nov 24, 2018 7:06 pm
Posted: Feb 29, 2016 11:40 pm
Set in a world where animals have evolved and now live much as we do -- yes, we get a little bit of backstory on this alternate universe -- Disney’s 55th animated film, Zootopia, centers on Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), a small town rabbit with dreams of being a police officer, who moves to the city that gives the film its title. While Judy is indeed successful in becoming a cop, notably the first ever rabbit to do so, she’s still overlooked by everyone, including Police Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) and assigned to parking duty.
However, when Judy takes it upon herself to begin investigating the latest in a series of local disappearances, she enlists the help (whether he likes it or not) of Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a con artist fox she’d previously encountered. With her job on the line, the two begin to discover the disappearances in Zootopia are tied into a conspiracy and a cover-up involving some disturbing occurrences among the locals…
So yes, Zootopia is essentially using a whodunit approach (albeit toning down on the murder) and centers on two mismatched buddies solving a crime together. All time-honored story methods and all done in an engaging manner here, propelled along by two great characters.
All of this would make Zootopia a very entertaining, easy to recommend movie… and then the film’s true themes kick in and it turns out to be something even more meaningful and thoughtful. Because ultimately, Zootopia is about race relations, racial profiling and how quickly even good, fairly rational people (or animals) can resort to stereotyping when a situation turns scary.
Heady stuff for a talking animal movie, to be sure, but it’s handled well. Without getting too specific on plot points, the conspiracy at the center of the film involves a lot of manipulation going on and shows how easy it is to suddenly transform a populace into an us vs. them scenario. It actually all becomes surprisingly topical -- almost certainly a total coincidence, given how long a film like this takes to make -- and I’m sure many think pieces are coming about how this Disney movie reflects our current landscape and how political figures can push alarmist buttons and turn people against each other in the process.
None of this is subtle for adults, but don’t worry – the movie doesn’t stop and turn solemn or overly dramatic -- though there is drama, to be sure -- and it manages to avoid feeling preachy. It’s fun and witty throughout, even as its strong themes becomes clear, and the kids in the audience when I saw it loved it - and man they sure adored that great sloth/DMV scene included in one of the trailers (which you all probably saw with The Force Awakens), quoting it in the lobby afterwards. Even the themes of stereotyping are sometimes handled with humor (Judy informs someone that only rabbits can call other rabbits “cute” – it’s an offensive word otherwise) and always with poignancy, including the idea that Nick, as a fox who is a con artist, is himself reflecting prejudices.
There are also some amusing in-jokes and meta references throughout, from a glimpse at the familiar-looking bootleg movies being sold on the corner in Zootopia to more than one jokey reference to Frozen – though I will say just one would have sufficed.
Zootopia is a wonderful example of how Disney, at its best, can mix its past and present together in a very cool, compelling way. It takes the classic animation trope of animals walking, talking and acting like humans, but gives it a modern spin both in terms of its humor and animation style -- while deftly showing how computer generated animation ...
EDITORS' CHOICE
Review scoring
amazing
The newest Disney animated film expertly mixes humor and fun with some notable real world issues.
Feb 12, 2016 · Film Review: ‘Zootopia’. Disney offers a decades-later correction to 'Song of the South,' in which rabbits and foxes have a chance to live together in relative harmony. By Peter Debruge....
Mar 2, 2016 · Zootopia review: This is the best animated kids movie about prejudice and police brutality ever. It's also the only one — but it's surprisingly deft in discussing the topic.
