So with the movie still having a near 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the numerous fan shipping of the two main characters, and in spite of the hullabaloo of the film being catered to the Furry fandom, Disney's Zootopia is now officially in theaters in the United States, whereas it aired weeks in advance elsewhere.
The premise of Zootopia goes like this: in an alternate Earth, humans don't exist and the animals ruled the planet. Through evolution, the primal state of the animals changed to a more civilized one similar to humans, thus creating a human-like society.
We are then introduced to the movie's protagonist, Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, who becomes the first Rabbit Officer to join the Zootopia Police Department. She however faces numerous challenges as she is looked down upon due to her species. When Judy is assigned to a missing person..... I mean, mammal case, she teams up with Nick Wilde, a sly hustler fox played by Jason Bateman. What seems to be a simple missing mammals case, however, turn out to be something much bigger.
There's just so many things that makes Zootopia a really great movie and why it has such a high approval rating. The first and most obvious are Nick and Judy being very, VERY likable characters since their introduction. The way Nick and Judy are designed along with their personas brings so much charm, and added several fold thanks to the great chemistry they have together. With regards to the character designs, it does parallel to the ones featured in Disney's Robin Hood as well as in part to Winnie The Pooh, but transitioned flawlessly into CG. In fact, the book The Art of Zootopia features the 2D designs of the Zootopia cast that is greatly influenced by the designs from Robin Hood and Winnie The Pooh.
The world of Zootopia is also unique compared to other anthropomorphic films like Kung-Fu Panda or Surf's Up, or Flushed Away. Not just with the way the characters are designed, but the world as well. The staff at Walt Disney Animaiton Studio really put a lot of effort in making the world of Zootopia looks seemingly like the human world, but build by the animals themselves, with pieces of Zootopia made for specific animals, among other things.
Storywise, it is a buddy cop movie that delves into the serious issue of discrimination. But the atmosphere in Zootopia makes the subject easy to digest to viewers without delving into too much thought (it is a family-friendly film, after all). The movie has a good mix of comedy and drama that's not cringe worthy at all.
I am going to give my thoughts on the relationship between Nick and Judy. Fans have been calling for the two to hook up since their introduction, but Directors Rich Moore and Byron Howard made it clear the two are just friends. When I first heard of this, I thought this is just another attempt by Disney to subvert the tropes they did in the past, such as the case of in Frozen where the "True Love" trope of a guy and a girl was ditched in favor of sisterly love. In the case of Nick & Judy, the progression of their relationship was more natural. It's not forced just because they're the major characters and there is this build-up of trust for each other going on.
Now I've heard that the junior novel version has a slightly different outcome with regards to Nick & Judy's relationship than in the film. I can't however confirm it since I don't have the book. In any event, I truly believe Nick & Judy are meant for each other and it would be quite disappointing if they go their separate ways in future stories (if ever a sequel is a go).
In spite of my reservations with the Disney company as of late, Zootopia is, as I would say a "legitimate" Disney film. It's not a great movie just because it had the Disney logo on it. It's a great movie because it IS, and is a throwback to the classic Disney films. I will vouch for this to be one of Disney's best animated films of all time. Do yourself a favor and watch this movie. You will not be disappointed at all. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Disney's Zootopia "a 5 out of 5".
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