Zootopia resembles Who Framed Roger Rabbit
It’s easy to approach “Zootopia” with caution. On its exterior, it looks like another entry into the animated antics of anthropomorphised animals that ladle in large amounts of life lessons within syrupy dialogue.
And let’s face it, the last time Disney attempted to wrangle a disparate group of city-dwelling animals was 2006’s “The Wild,” which was a paltry picture which could have easily been released directly to video.
But Disney, who has been on an animated hot streak as of late with films such as “Big Hero 6,” “Wreck-it Ralph,” and “Frozen,” has more on its mind with “Zootopia” than what you may expect, and the result is a film that parents taking their children will find themselves engaged, not enraged.
Arriving in theaters at a time in which acceptance of one another’s diversity seems to be in a narrowing window, this celebration of identity wrapped in an homage to film noir feels like it’s landing at just the right time.
The world in which “Zootopia” is set is one where the predator-prey paradigm has been tossed aside for a more harmonious structure (which is introduced early in a hilariously shoddy grade-school play) within Bunny Burrows. One of its participants in Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, who has envisioned her as a bunny version of “Parks & Recreation’s” Leslie Knope), whose sole desire is to be a police officer. This is not exactly matching her parents’ wishes of taking over the family farm, as most of the force is made up of larger mammals like hippos and rhinos.
The bulky creatures are meant to patrol the big city, and the belief that while its inhabitants might not be physically threatening, they are still not to be trusted. And, despite all odds, Judy makes the force, though in the unglamorous role of dispensing parking tickets, thanks to her dismissive buffalo chief (voiced by Idris Elba).
During one of her first assignments, she outwitted by a smooth-talking fox, Nick (voiced by Jason Bateman). Undeterred, Judy sees Nick as possessing the skills necessary to uncover a case of a missing otter. Nick reluctantly agrees, sending the two on a buddy-cop (or is it bunny-cop?) detective mission which includes a rosy rogues gallery of suspects -- including a nudist yak, a wily weasel, a villainous shrew -- and through the animals’ varied native terrains.
And what starts as mild bickering between the two widens to a brilliantly thoughtful breakdown of race relations, when a citywide panic leads to the foxes to be feared and Judy trying to reassure Nick that he’s “not like them” (a cartoon equivalent to anyone who starts a sentence with “I’m not racist, but…”).
Parents should not fear that “Zootopia” becomes awash in heavy social issues, but the film tonally resembles that of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” than the more traditional animated fare, and it remains shrewd enough in its story to keep audience members of all ages guessing in its “whodunnit” plot.
And perhaps even more importantly, it will leave open a path of conversation on an important, complicated topic for parents and children to have long after the film concludes.
