Movie #85 2020: Zootopia (2016)

Wahoooooo! I loved this one!

It is quite apparent that I’m on a Disney+ binge at the moment, but this is actually a movie that I’ve wanted to see for quite some time.

Set in a world where animals talk, have jobs, and live quite ‘human’ lives, Zootopia is the story of a young rabbit named Judy Hopps who aspires to become a police officer. Once she succeeds, she hits a few speed bumps that make her feel less valued than the other officers, and this is the tale of how she proves herself.

Although the premise of the movie seems quite simple, I would argue that sometimes the simplest ideas make the best movies. Unlike some animated movies, the plot of this one is not convoluted, and the most confusing thing is that the animals talk – not exactly an uncommon feature of an animated feature film. Sure, there are some twists and turns along the way that keep the plot from being too straight-forward and utterly boring, but every part of the storytelling is brilliant.

There are some sequences that felt a little slow and made me want the momentum to push forward quicker, but it was never slow enough to take my attention away from the screen. By ”slow”, I don’t mean the scenes with the sloths in either. Those parts were absolutely brilliant, and probably the funniest moments of the film.

The best thing about this movie on the whole however is the references it makes to The Godfather. A gangster movie within a sweet Pixar film about talking animals? Sounds like it wouldn’t make sense, but it completely does. What Zootopia does extremely well is include adult themes such as this one which children will not fully grasp, whilst keeping them entertained enough so that they can still follow along.

Although Monsters, Inc. does a pretty good job at pleasing the adults too, Zootopia just seems to do a better job of it, and that’s perhaps why I enjoyed it more than the former.

This is a definite recommendation for a family quarantine movie – not to be missed.

Zootopia is available to stream on Disney+.

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