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Zootopia (2016) - Review


Zootopia is a non-musical Disney animated feature and takes place in a world where animals have evolved to live like humans, in communities and cities etc. The story is your usual buddy cop drama. An out of place cop in a big city teamed up with sly city slinger. And it goes like how you would expect a story like this too, if you have seen many buddy cop movies. Same story beats. But what sets this movie apart is, of course, its setting and how this typical story is fitted into it.

Using animals as a story telling device to actually hit on our real world issues like racism, sexism, gender equality, stereotypes and other social stigmas, and the way they used it all, was brilliant. It was fun, it was entertaining, and it was mature. It's a movie for all ages. Kids can have fun with it while the adults can enjoy the more intricate details in it. You get to see many real world situations emulated in this world, and all you can do is have fun with, as the execution was great. One that really stood out was this whole DMV scene. I laughed till I had tears in my eyes. The way it was all handled, I could not have asked for a better way.

Ofcourse, none of this would have been possible without the voice acting, which definitely was amazing. Jason Bateman as the sly fox was brilliant, and so was Ginifer Goodwin as the bunny cop. And they had an awesome chemistry. They were cute, they were charming and I just loved them together. There was a lot of other talent in the movie like Idris Elba as the typical hot headed police chief, and it all accumulated to a very lively world filled with interesting characters.

The character design was great. And the animation department did a hell of a job. Lots of little nuances in the performances, adding more depth to the characters and making them feel more real. The action was fun and while it wasn't totally ridiculous with long scenes and whatnot like you get these days, it felt fine for the story and the restraint showed is admirable.

My issues with the film were that the opening was kinda slow, as compared to the rest of the movie, and the ending was just too rushed and felt too easy. Could have benefited from more conflict.

All in all, this is another hit by Disney in the non-musical animation department. Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6 and now this, keep em coming Disney. A really good watch. I honestly did not want it to end. I just wanted to see more of the world and I really hope they make a good sequel.

8.8/10

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