When you read the word Disney your thoughts are immediately
filled with the joys of childhood, of an amusement park filled with wonder and
more than anything of movies, mostly animated films that are cherished and
loved to this day. Face it, when you watch a classic Disney feature cartoon
you’re taken back in time to when you first saw that movie and a smile creeps
across your face. What’s nice to know is that tradition carries on to this day,
perhaps not in the old 2 dimensional style many of us grew up with, but that
gold standard of excellence in execution coupled with great storytelling
continues. ZOOTOPIA is a perfect example.
ZOOTOPIA opens in a world where animals all get along,
predator and prey no longer facing off against one another. Young bunny Judy
Hopps dreams of becoming a police officer in a world where while the animals
get along most are limited to positions deemed acceptable to their species.
Determined to live her dream she joins the police academy and through hard work
and determination becomes their top cadet. Place in to ZPD via a work program
Mayor Lionheart has instituted she finds herself assigned…to traffic duty. She
may have made the squad but her size and the expectation of a rabbit are such
that she becomes a meter maid.
As she performs her duties she comes across Nick Wilde, a
fox con man she confronts but can’t prosecute. He may frustrate her with his
wiliness but their chance meeting offers her an opportunity to see the world as
it is rather than how she wants it to be.
A case of right place wrong time happens and Judy chases
down and arrests a weasel who has stolen goods on him. Rather than a
commendation the police chief, not a supporter of her being there, instead
tells her she jeopardized lives and abandoned her post and demands her badge.
Before she can turn it over they’re interrupted by the wife of a missing
person, an otter named Emmitt. One of 14 missing animals the chief begins to
brush her off but Judy tells her she’ll find him. As he begins to request her
badge once more Mrs. Bellwether, the assistant to the mayor thanks Judy for
helping. The chief strikes a deal. Find the missing otter in 48 hours or
resign.
Judy then sets out to find the otter, solve the missing
persons problem and save the day. To help her circumvent the system that the
chief has locked her out of she recruits Nick via blackmail to help her. As the
pair run down a list of suspects and clues they begin to bond as well as
discover a nefarious plot going on behind the scenes that is deeper than they
realize.
The plot may sound more adult than one would expect but it
is told in the Disney style of aiming at children while making it accessible
for adults as well. Pleasing both groups yields a great story told in such a
way that kids will love every minute of it.
But it’s not just the story that makes a great Disney movie.
It’s the visuals first combined with that story and there is an abundance of
visuals to behold her. The most breathtaking is Judy’s journey into Zootopia, a
city made of various land masses relating to the different animals that live
there. From desserts to tundras to rain forests, all are represented in
glorious and dazzling colors and visual that bring them to life before your
eyes. The same holds true from start to finish in this movie that is a delight
for the eyes.
Not only that but there are tons of small items placed
throughout the film that will have you going back to watch it more than once
just to spot them all. Everything from funny references to other Disney movies
to incidental items that flesh out the story and the world of Zootopia. It is
this attention to detail that makes this movie a sum of all parts and worth
repeated viewings.
ZOOTOPIA is a movie for the entire family not just in that
kids will love it but in that adults will fall in love with it as well. The
central idea of different types learning to live with one another is a lesson
great for kids to learn and is presented in such a way as not to be preachy but
influential in an entertaining way. More than anything this film is pure Disney
and that’s something to be proud of. This is an add to the collection film in
so many ways.
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