ANIMATED MOVIE REVIEW: Pixar’s ZOOTOPIA (2016)

YES I FINALLY GOT TO SEE ZOOTOPIA!!!! Yeah I’m a little late, but I had finals, you know? Anyway, here’s the review:

Same, Judy. Same.

Synopsis and spoiler-free section:

Zootopia is a movie by the studio Pixar (heard of it?), released in March of 2016. It is an animated movie about a society of anthropomorphic animals who have evolved to live in harmony with each other – predators and prey alike. Our main character, Judy Hops, is a young bunny born in a small town named Bunnyburrow, and is an aspiring to police officer. After achieving her childhood dream, Judy moves to the capital city “Zootopia” to be part of the police force. However, being the first “bunny police officer” lands her in a tough position with all the other officers, and she soon finds that Zootopia is not the paradise she thought it would be. All alone in the city, she soon makes an unlikely alliance with a disillusioned fox, named Nick Wilde.

A lively film:

I cannot think of a better work to describe this film other than “alive”. It is populated with so many animals, and so many different settings – I dare even say that this is Pixar’s biggest film in terms of the work for designing and animating everything (from what we can see on screen anyway). Compared to other Pixar films, which usually stay roughly in one area, there was a lot of jumping from location to location – all of them very interesting and beautiful in their own ways. In addition, this film featured a variety of animals and played with their “personalities” (imagined personalities) perfectly. This film is super vibrant and organic and BIG.

City of Zootopia

Charming characters:

Of course, I am talking about the main leads, Judy and Nick. The dynamics between these two characters, and as characters alone, are really charming and fun to watch. Right from their first interaction to their last, their personalities seemed to be matched up perfectly. And this is due to their personalities being opposite of each other – where Judy comes off as extremely studious and Nick comes off as a little sleazy. Classic comedic dynamics for making jokes off of each other. Aside from the two mains, there are plenty of other characters who are very funny and lovable, and a lot of the really funny jokes come from the side characters.

You may remember this guy from the trailers…

Unique themes:

One thing that makes Zootopia really interesting is its exploration of its movie genre. It is considered to be a “buddy-cop” film (which, for those of you who don’t know, is basically what it sounds like – a movie about cops who are friends, or cops who become friends; it’s a comedy genre). They play with “buddy-cop” movie tropes and pairings like the classic “studious cop” and “sleazy partner” pairing, dealing with bureaucracy bullshit, etc. It’s a very refreshing take on the genre, and something I haven’t seen in animated films before.

Another thing that makes Zootopia so worthy of your two hours of time are the social issues addressed in Zootopia. I don’t want to give too much away, but Zootopia addresses social concerns in a very interesting and thought provoking way that is palpable for children, and not overly cheesy for kids – again, not something I am too used to seeing  in animated films targeted to children. I find that Zootopia is very different from other Pixar movies – and while I love Pixar movies, I mean this in a good way.

When you try to make new friends but you’re 1/20th their size : (

Recommended for:

I honestly loved Zootopia, and I would recommend it to… pretty much anybody. While it is a family film, and it looks like it is probably intended to target “younger” audiences, I doubt any adult walking out of the theatre would write Zootopia off as “childish”. It IS adorable – don’t get me wrong – but it also deals with important issues that I did not expect to appear in Zootopia. It sends such a positive message for any younger viewers who are in the audience to receive, and it has enough substance that any adult could take it seriously. And in addition to this, this movie is legitimately funny – I can guarantee some real laughs when watching this.

I don’t really know who I wouldn’t recommend it to. I guess if you don’t like animated films, this isn’t for you… (but then why are you reading this review?) My friend did say that he was expecting for more heart-string tugging moments because Pixar is always so good at those (and to be honest, I wanted a little more too), so he was a little let down by the lack of that (but it isn’t completely absent).

Bring your friends! Bring your little brothers and sisters! Bring your folks! Bring your kids! (But not if they’re under three and can’t sit still for the entire movie or are susceptible to crying during movies. Don’t bring your kids.)

Detailed-analysis and spoilers section:

SO, if you haven’t watched the movie, here’s where you should stop (and scroll down the the bottom for the ratings). Or go watch the movie and come back.

THE SLOTH!

Let’s talk about the sloth real quick: Flash. Oh my – all the scenes with this sloth is super funny. The whole DMV scene was HILARIOUS! I lost my shit completely after Nick told his joke, and Flash tried to relay it back his friend, Priscilla. And man, the end – they pull him back up again when you forgot he even existed – what a nice way to tie everything up in a neat little bow.

Love yooooou

So uh, what do you think is up with them?

Nick and Judy, that is. Every fiber of my inner teenage girl that still remains was screaming for them to kiss or SOMETHING to confirm my feelings – but in the end, they didn’t. Nick did, however, teasingly say, “You know you love me,” to which Judy replied, “Do I know that? Yeah, I do.” That’s something, right? But my friend said they were “just friends”?! I call bullshit. CAN SOMEONE CONFIRM THIS FOR ME?? I’m dying. Though I don’t know how breeding would work with the two of them.

So cute ^_^

TLDR; and ratings section:

Recommended for: People looking for a movie that you won’t be bored by to watch with your kids, people looking for a genuinely funny animated movie, people looking for a unique twist on the “buddy-cop” comedy genre. And basically anybody.
Not recommended for: People looking for something that tugs on your heartstrings, people expecting the classic Pixar “formula”.

Visuals: 9/10 – Look, you already know that Pixar is going to bring it – they have all the resources to so they have pretty much no excuse not to. Even so, Zootopia looks great – it’s vibrant looking, modern, and populated with life.
Audio: 7/10 – I think where Pixar didn’t “bring it” for me this time was the music – it was very average, and I didn’t really come out of the movie having a song I would try to look up later. I did love the voices they cast for the main characters though.
Overall enjoyment: 9/10 – Like I mentioned before, Zootopia is extremely funny, and unexpectedly thought provoking. It is a refreshing movie to come out of Pixar, that plays on movie tropes not commonly used in animated movies. I am really hoping for a sequel for Zootopia, because I have fallen so completely in love with the characters.