Zootopia

You know, I've really noticed as of late, that Disney's 3D animation studios are nearly surpassing Pixar in the quality of movies. Compare the recent films from Disney to recent films from Pixar. Big Hero 6 and Wreck-It Ralph, versus Brave and The Good Dinosaur. Sure, Pixar has seemed to find their stride again with Inside Out, and Disney sure isn't perfect (fuck off, Frozen), but it seems that Disney is starting to slay their own sub-brand of Pixar. Whether this is a good or a bad thing, who knows...but what should be asked is whether or not Zootopia keeps the trend up. While Zootopia definitely isn't the first movie of it's kind (I like to think of it as a modern version of the classic Robin Hood, though with a tad twist on the plot), it's definitely the first attempt at modernizing it that has really worked so far, and I'm glad, honestly. 

The movie follows the story of a bunny named Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) who grows up aspiring to be the first rabbit police officer of Zootopia. She manages to become one, much to everyone's dismay, and she pushes and pushes harder and harder to impress everyone, so they can stop stereotyping her. But, as a conspiracy starts unfolding upon the fair citizens of Zootopia, she has to team up with a sly fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to uncover everything, all while managing to impress her superiors at the same time.

Honestly, I'm really impressed by this movie. I knew that it was going to be good, going based off of the track record of these types of movies, but there were some aspects of the movie that still really surprised me. First off is the plot. Not trying to spoil too much, but if you tear everything away, it's honestly a very subtle story commentating on how things are in our world today. How one person can make a certain individual look terrible, but in reality, they're not as bad as they seem, or were held against their will. Just when I thought that Inside Out could go as deep as a children's movie could, then this comes along talking about the difference between two types of animals. It's almost shocking, in a sense.

Such a great plot is of course held up by a great screenplay. Jared Bush and Phil Johnston absolutely knocked it out of the fucking park. There's so many clever jokes, puns, and references that make you wish you could rewind and play it back, asking, "Did they really do that?" It's so ridiculously on point the cast just accented it so well to boot, and I'm glad they took that creative liberty with it. It's fun when there's jokes that the parents can enjoy while the kids look around wondering what the hell's going on.

If I had to make one small complaint about the film, I'd have to say that it's the lack of diversity between characters. I don't know if it was intentional, but I don't think that a huge city filled with animals should be filled with most of the same characters, mostly being bunnies, rodents, and foxes. That just feels a bit too over-saturated. And, though, they did a very great job of designing the main characters to stand out from the crowd, you can get easily confused sometimes if you blink for a sec, or aren't good with faces.

I can sit here and say with a proud face that this is probably going to be this year's best animated film. It's really not just because it's so beautifully animated, but everything that's buried deep inside this fantastic film is just such a perfect thing to come out with in this day and age. It's like this movie wrote down a flawless formula that cooked up the perfect answer, even with its small fidgets here and there. I'm giving Zootopia 5 out of 5 stars and a strong suggestion to audiences everywhere. It's a great way to spend 2 hours and 15 minutes, which will make you happy and sad all at the same time. Congrats, Disney...you've done it again.