Zootopia predators vs prey3/24/2024 ![]() Luckily, the movie takes us to quite a few of these fully realized locations. In an early sequence, an elevated train zips through all of the city's different biomes, and I found myself hoping against hope that the film wouldn't be constrained to one or two of them because all of the areas were spectacular to look at. In general, Zootopia is an absolute feast for the eyes. The level of attention to detail across species is incredible, even in the smallest of moments. ![]() I can't offhand think of a movie that does a better job of grafting human gestural language onto anthropomorphic animals. I'm a little bit in love with Judy, and I could watch Nick's facial expressions all day. Story elements recur, becoming more meaningful with every iteration, and the two main characters are just so damned likable. They could afford to make those bold choices because the groundwork is all there, and it all works. It's a bold choice in a movie that is admirably full of bold choices. If I considered these parts unsettling, I can't even imagine how compounded that feeling must be for children. I saw the movie with a bunch of people, including my nephews, and I kept wanting to check in with them to see how they were doing. More surprisingly, there are multiple scene of straight-up horror. Once Judy goes down the path of investigating the animal disappearances, the film kicks into a quasi-noir narrative of shady dealings and questionable allegiances with some well-constructed chase sequences peppered in. There are a few contrivances and conveniences, but nothing that can't easily be ignored. ![]() The central relationship between Judy and Nick alone has one of the most complex arcs I've seen in a movie primarily targeted at children, and it is immensely satisfying to see it develop. Zootopia wrings laughs from awkward experiences we've had in the past, but never loses sight of the meaningful way people from all walks of life can come together. Kids will run into these situations, and they'll have more of a language to deal with it thanks to this movie. "Only other rabbits can call rabbits cute," Judy reprimands Nick, and she is horrified when he begins to play with a lamb's wool because it's so soft. It leads to some odd messaging when you dig into it, but luckily on the surface level it gives its audience a great set of tools for dealing with discrimination when they see it on a daily basis. What I'm saying is, Zootopia uses the topic of discrimination haphazardly, plugging it in wherever it is convenient for the narrative while also doing its best to make the discussion meaningful. The movie could have gone one step further and deconstructed the way history is cobbled together and presented to us, but it only ever presents the past as fact. The movie makes moves to deconstruct that last bit, but the confusing racial messaging is still there as our characters run through a natural history museum that displays mice with spears rising up against a sabretooth tiger. The movie sets up a sort of racial barrier between predator and prey, but this becomes allegorically troubling when you realize that means one group has historically dominated the other group through its uncivilized physical superiority. The discrimination Judy faces reads as gender discrimination in the workplace, but this is made confusing by the fact that a male bunny would also have faced that discrimination. I say racial panic, but as an allegory Zootopia's specifics are all over the place. Centuries ago predator and prey were locked in an eternal battle for survival, but Zootopia was where they first banded together and decided to become one healthy community. She graduates and receives assignment in Zootopia, a bustling metropolis with lush biomes for every kind of mammal. Judy proves that it can be done, even in the face of harsh adversity from the academy, and gentle adversity from her parents. No bunny has ever joined the police force, you see, on account of their diminutive stature. The story begins simply enough, with small town rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) setting out to prove herself at the Police Academy. Unfortunately, I'm not fully on board with how the movie handles the message. With the message, it's a refreshingly smart and political mystery that has a lot to teach a lot of people. Without the message, it becomes yet another run-of-the-mill, albeit impeccably crafted, Disney movie about anthropomorphic animals who learn to be themselves. Zootopia is structured around its message.
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