ZOOTOPIA: The Best In Animation

Without a doubt, the Walt Disney Company is in the midst of a resurgence when it comes to its latest string of computer-animated films. Just when you think they would struggle to recapture the success seen in the nineties with the Disney Renaissance, they go above and beyond with quality material (both original and inspired) registering bigger numbers through new computer technology. Since 2010, Walt Disney Animation Studios have released critically acclaimed and moderately to highly successful feature films in Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and Big Hero 6. Not to forget the smash hit movie Frozen and most recently the visually awe-inspiring Moana. These films had become so commercially popular, that it saw staff feel the need to hear out audiences and expand on franchises through another studio attempt at cinematic sequels. The first of the sequels is to be released in November this year with Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, the sequel to of course Wreck-It Ralph. Of all these latest theatrical releases however, one stands out the most in my eyes. That one being Zootopia.

Zootopia mostly takes place in the city of the same name, where anthropomorphic mammals of different species live in near-harmony, regardless of whether they are predators or prey. The film follows the story of Judy Hopps, a European bunny rabbit who is determined to show others that she can defy the odds. She achieves her life-long dream of becoming a police officer at the Zootopia Police Department, but soon discovers it's not all what she hoped for it to be. Not long after joining the police force Judy is given her first missing mammals case, which is later revealed as being a small piece of another’s major plan to divide animals and tear the entire city of Zootopia apart. Along the way she finds herself teaming up with Nick Wilde, a rebellious northern red fox and small-time con artist who despite being a natural predator to Judy's kind builds the unlikeliest of friendships with her. The two work together to uncover the city's biggest mystery and prove to all that the smallest of creatures can make the biggest of differences.

When one hears Disney, it's suspected that they're to first think of such things like fairy tales and magic. Basically anything that involves princes and princesses, castles, kingdoms, powerful villains, curses, etc. That is pretty much my view of Disney as well. Every time the name is mentioned, I'm reminded of classics like Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Tangled, Aladdin and even Frozen. All of which are inspired by old literary works of the earlier centuries and share many similar themes. But Walt Disney wasn't entirely for this direction alone. Throughout the mid-20th century, they heavily devoted time on simply making children and their families happy. That even meant expanding their focus to include other works like historical folklore and recent professional writers. Zootopia is yet another one of those steps outside the studio's original boundaries (and a successful one). It joins the modern age of CGI animation, and more than anything before it tries to engage with the audience in more ways than one.

Where do I begin with this movie? Well for starters, it's simply one for all ages and provides a perfect balance of content to suit everybody. It's a strong representation of diversity both inside and out. It speaks in many ways about the importance of such a thing and demonstrates it through a large intriguing city divided into sections, each under a different conditions to suit certain animals. Us as viewers are given an independent and resilient female lead to follow. We watch her travel through a seemingly huge amount of memorable situations which include the Mystic Springs Oasis and the famous, side-splitting DMV sloth scene. And that's not all. Not only does the movie make attempts in entertaining the younger audiences with amusing content, the people behind this amazing film (specifically the directors in Byron Howard and Rich Moore) also aimed to educate younger viewers through the simplest and most age appropriate of ways about the real world.

One of the main reasons why I love this film so much, is because of the protagonist. Zootopia aims in telling each and every person to go for broke and achieve anything with a positive outlook on life. Who better to represent this lesson than the energetic bunny? It is hard to find a more inspirational character than Judy Hopps. She carries some of the most important values one could think of. Throughout the entire film, she comes off as strong and resilient, defying the odds and proving every single one of her doubters wrong. She carries confidence, persistence and believes that anything is possible if she puts her heart and mind into it. Judy rarely gives up and even when she does (as seen in the film), she manages to fight her way back and fix her mistakes. She along with her journey, share a strong correlation with reality. Young people are taught that no matter how difficult the challenges are, they are to persist with their heads held high and by doing so they are bound to succeed in something.

What makes Judy more special is that she completely stands out? Ironic is it? The small bunny within the crowd of larger mammals somehow shines the brightest. In a film that heavily touches on discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes, Judy is a representation of the ideal everyday person. One that is calm, supportive and kind-spirited. One that shows a great amount of enthusiasm. One that walks in with respect and never judges anybody without properly getting to know them. Most importantly, Judy is willing to step in and help change one's life for the better when they have almost lose hope, as was the case with Nick Wilde. Overall, her positiveness is extremely infectious, which makes her nearly impossible to dislike. And the fact that she is voiced by Once Upon A Time alumni Ginnifer Goodwin, makes her heaps more enjoyable. If you don't like Judy, then you would most likely be someone hard to make friends with, hard to trust or simply hard to predict.

Judy on her own is amazing, but the relationship she has with her surroundings is next level. Her chemistry in particular with Nick is occasionally seen to define most of the film, which surprisingly was the intention. In a few interviews, the directors themselves had stated that the core of the film mainly revolved around the growing relationship between the bunny and the fox. It looks to have worked a treat. Judy and Nick's friendship/partnership happens to be very popular in fan-art and remains as a huge reason for why Zootopia is loved and enjoyed by many. It's fair to say people aren't wrong here. I find Judy and Nick’s chemistry to be some of the best I've ever seen between two or more characters in quite some time. I could even go as far in saying that it is the best that I've ever seen. The growth seemed so natural and the significant differences between both mixed together quite nicely. It just makes me wonder how Disney did it. How did they make something so breathtakingly meaningful out of predator and prey? Whatever they did, it definitely had them succeed because this is outstanding.

It is important to note that Zootopia does break a few boundaries and explore some dark territories. This film's collection of lovable and quirky animal characters are used to demonstrate social and political issues revolving around discrimination, prejudice, and common stereotyping. Other undertones include workplace bullying, animal cruelty and even certain aspects of life in 20th Century America (in particular the Civil Rights Movement). Most of the time these hidden topics aren't staring us in the face and instead encourage us to find them through hard thinking and strong understanding of each character and the matters they deal with. Nevertheless, this secret adult content never pushes away younger viewers and so it shouldn't. Zootopia is still the extremely entertaining movie it had always aimed to be, and carries a sublime and wonderfully detailed universe with nothing of annoyance in sight. I don't think the crew behind the film ever put a foot wrong.

The dark undertones are not the only things that strongly link Zootopia with reality. The movie regularly addresses actual characteristics and behaviours associated with particular animals and even makes jokes out of a few of them. There are many moments that make fun out of rabbits being fast breeders. Nick Wilde represents the typical cunning fox. We know of the slow-moving sloths at the DMV. Chief Bogo is an African Buffalo, aggressive and hard to get through. And there is no ignoring the Frozen reference with Duke Weaselton (with Alan Tudyk funnily enough, providing the voice of both characters). But the fact is there may be plenty more of these hidden trivial symbols. Mayor Leodore Lionheart could have possibly had some hidden reference to The Lion King or represent the general idea of a lion usually being a king of their habitat. And the yoga instructor Nangi, may have most likely been the filmmakers playing around with the idea that an elephant never forgets. These small details are what they are, but can be a joy for people to find.

For a short period of time, there was a small debate about which of the two was the superior film out of Frozen and Zootopia. As everybody already knows, Frozen was an absolute box office hit and still to this day is successful in merchandise sales. Its achievements have sparked the growth of the franchise, with a further few animated shorts having followed and another full-length feature film set to be released late next year. All of this providing the young viewers plenty opportunities to join their favourites in Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven on many more magical adventures. I admired Frozen for its amazing animation, storytelling and powerful messages. I’m not afraid to admit though that the commercial success and popularity of both the film and the hit song ‘Let It Go’ had at times got on my nerves. The film however screams Disney and allows to expand children’s imagination. Yes, almost every little girl is heavily captivated by its beauty. But that doesn't change the fact that it's the perfect film to keep them occupied.

While the commercial figures favour Frozen, a larger all-round demographic of the population believe it's Zootopia that wins the battle for Disney’s best modern computer-animated feature. And this sector of the population just so happens to include myself. Zootopia looks to be more welcoming and it doesn't appear very selective when it comes to the audience. While both films do visit the same sort of themes like the difference between one another, it's ironically the animals of Zootopia I tend to connect to more than the humans of Arendelle. I see these animals being more grounded, as they share problems people can easily relate to. Compared to the modern icy fairy tale, this fauna-infested flick attempts more comedy, neatly spacing it out and presenting it when most appropriate through numerous different characters. The storyline flows smoothly, whilst the action is more intense and the mystery glues me harder to the screen. Overall I find Zootopia delivering a warmer atmosphere (and it's not because Frozen is associated with most things cold). It's just easier to fall in love with.

And of course, who could possibly forget the catchy pop song ‘Try Everything’, which is sung by Shakira (also the voice of Gazelle). A generic yet powerful track aimed towards everybody, encouraging them to smile, keep their chin up and continue following their dreams with a high level of motivation. The song is a personal favourite of mine, not only for its simplicity of lyrics and tune, but for its positive atmosphere and catchy sing-along lines. In one way, I do consider it to be quite underrated due to its low charting and substandard digital sales. It's one of Shakira's finest English recordings. Not to mention it was one of Australia's super talented singer-songwriters in Sia who would co-write the song (In fact, Sia was also responsible for co-writing my other favourite Shakira song 'Chasing Shadows'). I must warn you not to take the song too literally, because the words 'Try Everything' don't necessarily mean to try things that are not generally recommended by most.

Much to everyone's surprise, Zootopia exceeded expectations. It was something all initially thought would only achieve moderate success and fade out after a few months. Instead, it had went on to become Disney’s biggest original hit and second biggest animated hit so far. The movie has seen the birth of an incredibly large following and remains one of the biggest ideas for fan-fiction. Despite it’s name change in many different parts of the world ('Zootropolis' in selected European countries, 'Zoomania' in Germany, 'Zootopie' in France and 'Crazy Animal City' in China), it’s still the same universally praised feature film. In my honest opinion, it would take a lot of effort to top this movie. There is so much that can be explored of this world, which makes Zootopia seem too good in standing on its own. Not only would it seem to be easy turning the film into a franchise, but it also looks to be something that both Howard and Moore simply have to do.

I personally would recommend anybody who has not seen Zootopia to go and check it out for themselves. This movie is pretty much ‘perfection’ in almost every single way. The originality of the story is staring right at you and the animation is too beautiful to ignore. It's an incredibly rich story, jam-packed with hilarious gags, historical facts, important lessons, heartbreaking backstories, cryptic messages and intense action. It's nearly everything to welcome and accommodate any individual, and it's all delivered through dozens of different animals with colourful personalities. While you may discover many flaws and goofs as the film progresses, everything else just helps with pushing them aside. It just comes to show that you do not have to be a ‘furry’ or any kind of massive animal lover to enjoy this adventurous modern-day masterpiece. If I had to rate this film I’d give it a 9.85 out of 10, with that absent 0.15 being because of me just wanting more. Then again, I don't think it's possible for me to ever have enough of this.

Travis "TJ" James