by Jacob Hayes
Zootopia conveys the powerful message of the importance of individuality. This film is driven by a strong story line while providing plenty of jokes to keep all ages involved.
Judy is a bunny who lives in in Burrowsville, a place filled with carrot farms run by rabbits.Judy sees her friends being bullied by a fox demanding lunch money. She stands up to the bully only to be scratched on the face and told she will never be anything else but a farmer. To prove her bully wrong, she works hard and eventually becomes a police officer in Zootopia, the main setting for the remainder of the film. Being the only prey to ever get on the police force, she’s immediately restricted to parking duty. Judy ends up wanting more, and when the rest of the force struggles to complete a missing persons case, she jumps at the chance to really help someone. She gets the case by promising the wife of Emmett (the only prey to have gone missing) that she’ll find her husband. Chief Talbot is angry at Judy for taking the case when he specifically gave her parking duty because she was brand new to the force. As a result, Talbot gives her 48 hours to find Emmett, or else she has to quit her job. Judy enlists the help of Nick Wilde, a condescending fox who gets hustled into helping her to find Emmett or else she’ll blackmail him for reselling a giant popsicle he previously hustled from her. The rest of the film explores each district of Zootopia.
The overall message is to be yourself and not let words or labels define you. In Judy’s case she went against the stereotype that she would be a carrot farmer and grew up as the first ever prey on the force. In terms of Nick, his flashbacks revealed he too was bullied for being a sly fox who would never fit in with the Boy Scouts who were completely composed of preys. In return, Nick conformed to what the prey had said he should be and wasn’t truly happy till he joined forces with Judy to do something right for a change, instead of hustling on the streets of Zootopia.
As Judy and Nick search for clues, each interaction is funnier than the last one, starting with the naturalists(animals who don’t believe in wearing clothes) to the DMV entirely consisting of sloths.
In terms of scoring this film, I’m having an extremely hard time finding something negative to talk about. It conveys a strong message, plenty of funny jokes for all ages and attention to detail. Overall, the film does a great job of giving each character plenty of reasons and flashbacks to help us understand who they are today. The attention to detail in this film is impeccable, from accurate stereotypes to a miniature city designed for the rodents of Zootopia. Every animal has specific needs, and Zootopia does a great job of filling these needs. For example, the train that Judy first arrives on has miniature doors next to the normal doors to help provide access for the rodents of Zootopia. Zootopia forces its audience to smile because it’s chock full of cultural references that will entertain all ages. Zootopia is by far Disney’s strongest movie since The Lion King and has definitely raised the bar for other movies looking to take home the Oscar for best animated picture. (P.S- Disney won last year).
+Jokes for all ages
+Attention to detail
+Conveys a Strong Message
10/10 Outstanding!
