Zootropolis Review

Zootropolis is directed by Rich Moore and Bryon Howard and features the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K Simmons, Tommy Chong and Octavia Spencer. The 55th Walt Disney animation, Zootropolis revolves around Judy Hopps, a rabbit (obviously) who joins the police force of the great city Zootropolis where all species of animal live in a sprawling, multi-regional utopia. Judy ends up teaming up with fox con artist Nick Wilde to solve a missing animal case which leads to something bigger. 

This beautifully animated movie is another tremendous addition to the Disney Classics collection; it is fresh and original and also brings a lot of topical themes with it. Goodwin and Bateman give terrific vocal performances, the former being contagiously excited and occasionally cocky whilst Bateman oozes charm and sleekness as the fox; a character who could probably talk you into doing just about anything. Idris Elba also gives a booming turn as Chief Bogo, the buffalo police chief. 

The narrative starts with Judy living her dream as she becomes a police officer, but only to be reduced as a ticket warden. However an encounter with Nick kick starts the plot as Judy is assigned to find a missing otter. Using Nick's knowledge of the city, the two uncover a plot to turn the predators of Zootropolis back into ferocious, savage beasts with killer instincts. This leads to a strong relationship between the two leads and their double act is the driving part of the film; they start by constantly trying to get under the other's skin and annoy them but end up having spectacular chemistry, overcoming the prejudice of foxes being the same. 

Prejudice is but one theme this film explores, others include stereotyping (here depicted by Judy and Nick as one goes against the stereotype whilst the other is largely stereotypical for the duration of the film), police bias and the fragility of peace which begins to fracture. Not many animated films can boast such timely metaphors as this and not many can say they combine these metaphors with a clever and witty script (the sloth scene is an absolute highlight) and endlessly watchable characters. 

Zootropolis is this year's Inside Out, an entertaining kids flick but with a deeper message for the adults to grasp and a trove of Easter eggs awaiting to be discovered during your next re watch. Forget Frozen, this is surely the best Disney feature since The Lion King.