Movie Review: Zootopia

Not your typical kids’ film, Disney’s Zootopia packs a feminist punch alongside a powerful allegory about discrimination.

Any socially aware person will know that there are massive paradigm shifts occurring in the world right now. Racism is still in the spotlight, there's been a resurgence in the call for pay equality and increased opportunity for women, and the world is a lot more accepting of homosexuality and gender diverse people.

And so, it’s very timely that a movie like Zootopia - from directors Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush - comes along. It perfectly and perceptively captures the zeitgeist in a way that (for the most part) avoids being didactic, and exposes younger audiences to topical issues and vital moral lessons that are entirely absent in recent family flicks.

Taking place in a world of anthropomorphised animals where predators and prey have an equal standing, enthusiastic bunny Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) defies her parents and societal expectations by graduating top of her class at a police academy, becoming the first bunny to do so. Working alongside almost exclusively male predators (bison, elephants, and such), she is delegated to traffic duty by Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) who overlooks her achievements and focuses only on her species.

Whilst setting out to prove herself (dealing 200 parking fines before noon), she meets dodgy street hustler fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), and, through a demonstration of Hopps’ expansive (and clearly underutilised) knowledge of the law, enlists his help in the search for a handful of missing predators – against Bogo’s directions.

Thus starts a twisty, enthralling and frequently amusing narrative, with inventive use of plot devices. What sets Zootopia apart from recent kids' films, however, is the veritable goldmine of social relevance, presented allegorically. The feature deals chiefly with discrimination and its associated fear, activism and celebrity impact (this celebrity being Shakira in an obvious bid for Best Original Song), and the media’s sensationalist influence. The main example of this is the predator-prey tensions that arise due to a pivotal plot revelation that has clear connections to real-world minorities who are regularly denigrated as being genetically inferior (usually by the terrible people of the Internet).

It doesn’t just critique the discriminators, however. The picture makes a clever statement about militant discriminatees – those who profess blatant misandry under the guise of feminism (for example) – and shows a distinct delineation between helpful activism and harmful counter-discrimination in the most surprising of plot twists.

Of course, the resolution is a happy one, but once again it’s different to that you’d expect in a stereotypical Disney project. Not once does Judy seek the guidance of a male for anything other than knowledge on the case that she is working on. She doesn’t need help doing any of the hard tasks; she does them all herself. Her non-reliance on men and unwavering strength (excepting one scene where she heartbreakingly – and briefly – believes the life-long slurs said to her) shows that Disney has firmly rejected the “helpless woman who need a man to rescue her” cliché. It’s overwhelmingly refreshing.

Disney delivers another visual marvel that admittedly hasn’t advanced much in terms of animation since the lavish futuristic San Fransokyo of Big Hero 6. That definitely isn’t a criticism: the districts of Zootopia – from Sahara Square to Tundratown – and the many other locations, are sumptuously detailed, and the aerials of each could be examined for hours. The world building is very clever, with the menagerie’s needs all catered for, although the logic of the premise falls apart the more you think about it. (So what do the predators eat?).

Ultimately, Zootopia’s message is to be kind and accepting, and to be whoever you want to be, because there’s plenty of opportunity for you to do so. Although these morals are common tropes in heavy-handed family films (and, to be sure, this one does have a couple of heavy-handed moments), they are delightfully given new life and examined from a different angle here, making them feel entirely original.

What an amazing message to be sending to the young audiences that this film is sure to reel in.

4.5/5

In cinemas now. Rated PG for mild themes and threat, some scenes may scare young children.

Kyle Uglow-Turpin is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. Learn more about the contributors program.