Zootopia is semi-deep end Disney, fun animation with a soft message

Zootopia is a fascinating movie because one hand it’s a well done animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Sure, one expects their films to be well made, but what is surprising about Zootopia is how the plot can be looked at from entirely different perspectives, depending on your age. Recap: don’t trust anyone over 30. Every animal in the world has no predatory instincts. Those that used to kill and eat other animals no longer do. Every critter is domesticated and in Zootopia all of anthropomorphic species are living together in close quarters.

In the suburbs there are still mainly farming animals, like rabbits and such; but even there they have other animals who live, work, socialize and go to school there too.   It’s here where we meet Judy Hopps, a bunny whose family has always been carrot farmers. However, she wants to be a police officer in the big city of Zootopia.

Shortly after we meet her we’re introduced to the social strata, the young foxes steal, the weasels help them and the rabbits don’t care for either of them. It’s here where Judy does the right thing, but gets her face scrapped by a thug fox, who tries to quash her dreams of every leaving the slow farming community. She buys some fox repellent, which she keeps with her throughout the film, even when she goes to the city to become a cop.

This is the semi-deep under current that runs through part of Zootopia.  When Judy becomes a cop a major story sweeps the city when a dozen animals go missing. Nobody gets eaten, there are no predators in the city, remember? Adults may think in the back of their head that it must be the jaguar, lion or some other meat eating predator. Children may think that too, but that’s only because the film points them that direction.

Early in the film adults will catch onto the allegory of Zootopia. Judy shouldn’t feat the fox and put her fox repellent down. But we’ve seen the fox hurt her and she’s less than half their size and weighs a fraction of them. And a small creature that size certainly couldn’t be a police officer.  Remember, this is an allegorical film and we can’t move timelines or put our perceptions and experiences into their story.  Where Zootopia really succeeds is making a film with all of this, but not making it preachy.

This is a film with a soft message that quickly blends it into the story. My adult radar went off in the beginning, but subsided and was eventually turned off once I embraced the world of Zootopia.  Towards the films climax we see its antihero, Nick Wilde, a cunning slacker of a fox question his allegiance to Judy.

The plot centers on the missing 12 animals and the violent behavior they displayed prior to disappearing. Were their predatory instincts returning? Its pacing is a little slow at first, but stick with it because once Nick Wilde enters the story it speeds up quickly.

Zootopia never gives you bell laughs, but it is a very pleasing, happy film that has smiles and chuckles for all. Some scenes when the missing animals are located may be too dark for younger viewers.  Our 6 year old hid under a jacket for five minutes and asked to leave when Nick and Judy discovered a jaguar who became violent. The film is rated PG for slight rudeness and action.