Zootopia

"It's not about how badly you WANT something. It's about what you are capable of!"

Judy Hopps (Goodwin) has dreamed of being a Zootopia police officer since she was a child.  Her determination and hard work make that dream come true when she graduates valedictorian and Mayor Lionheart (Simmons) assigns her to Zootopia.  She is the first bunny assigned to the force, against the wishes of Chief Bogo (Elba).  She is given the task of meter maid, where she runs into con artist Nick Wilde (Bateman).

Animals across Zootopia are missing, and Judy volunteers to find Emmett Otterson.  She is given 2 days to find him or resign from the force.  Her only lead is Nick, can they put aside their differences long enough to find Emmett and save her job?


For their 55th animated feature film, Walt Disney Animation Studios imagined a city of animals in anthropomorphic roles.  This is the first Disney film that I have seen on it's opening day.  My theater was crowded, with a mixture of families with young children and groups of young adults.  It was a fun showing, filled with laughter and repeated "awws" and little kids excitement or shock.  And everyone applauded at the end.

The film is funny.  It has the obvious pratfalls and physical humor to appeal to the kids, and has some humor for the adults as well.  It also makes references to other Disney films (I won't spoil them here, but Frozen is definitely referenced).  Alan Tudyk plays a character named Duke Weasleton, which is very similar to his character in Frozen (Duke Weselton).  The obvious humor comes from the DMV sloths and their exaggerated slow responses.  It is a brief, but memorable scene, and Disney wisely chose to capitalize on this scene by featuring the character Speedy in promotional materials (trailers, posters).

They created a fascinating word, that is grounded in reality.  The story is predictable, but offers lots of teaching moments.  The voice cast is good.  Stick around during the credits to watch the characters dance at a concert.  Each character gets a moment to dance and have their actor or actresses name displayed.

It is a cute film, but probably won't surpass the popularity of Frozen.  It has an interesting concept and fun characters, but gets a little preachy.

Zootopia (2016) 108 minutes
Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin as Officer Judy Hopps
Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde
Idris Elba as Chief Bogo
Jenny Slate as Dawn Bellwether
Nate Torrence as Officer Benjamin Clawhauser
J.K. Simmons as Mayor Lionheart
Maurice LaMarche as Mr. Big
Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps
Don Lake as Stu Hopps
Raymond S. Perski as Flash
Tommy Chong as Yax
Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton
Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaselton
Shakira as Gazelle