My World of Entertainment!: Zootopia ~ movie review

Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde (left), Ginnifer Goodwin as Officer Judy Hopps

Zootopia is the 55th animated feature film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. I've been enjoying my time at the cinemas with the last couple of films from the studio in recent years like Big Hero 6, Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, so seeing how amazing the movie trailers were for this movie, I was certain I would have an amazing time with Zootopia too, and I sure did. So here's my review for Zootopia.

I will try to keep this review spoiler-free so you would know as little as possible regarding the plot if you haven't watch the movie yet.

So what is the basic story for Zootopia? It's about a country rabbit named Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) who had graduated from the police academy and appointed as a new member of Zootopia Police Department. Wanting to prove her worth as a capable police officer to her chief officer, Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), she must solve a missing animal case in 48 hours with the help of a fox who is a small-time con artist, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), who happened to be a key witness in the case.

From the way I wrote it above, Zootopia does seems to have a pretty simple premise but actually it is quite multi-layered. Sure the basic story is pretty simple but the settings, the colourful characters (and I meant their personalities), the background stories for both Judy and Nick, and also the missing animal cases itself and what it represents, give the story multiple layers for audience to digest. The story is still fun and entertaining for young audiences but at the same time the story has depth for mature audiences to dive deeper into the plot and have something to think about.

Zootopia has tonnes of moral values which makes it a very good film for the general audience, kids and adult alike. Some of the messages that it want to pass across might be subtle and hard to catch but the film teaches you so much that even though you might missed some of the messages in some parts of the movie, you will almost certainly learn something else in other parts of it. Some adult might find the messages a bit political but personally I feel the messages in the film are just fine and important for everyone.

Nate Torrence as the obese cheetah, Officer Benjamin Clawhauser

I did find the climax of the story a bit underwhelming though. Thinking back to the studio past works like Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph which both have terrific climax for each of their movie, it seems like the story's climax for Zootopia does not have enough impact. Personally I feel the sequence could have been extended a bit more to make it more powerful. But still, it doesn't take me out of the story and I still enjoyed the movie until the end.

The voice cast was really good in realizing each character's personality and making them different from one another. I would say all of them did a great job but I have to put Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, the obese cheetah Officer Benjamin Clawhauser (Nate Torrence) and the crime boss Mr. Big from Tundratown (Maurice LaMarche) as my four favourite characters.

Let's talk a bit about the visuals. I have to say, the mammal city of Zootopia looks so incredible and amazing. I was in awe just like Judy was when she first travel to the big city. It was truly an amazing city with different landscapes and buildings. Watching the movie from one scene to another almost feels like watching someone playing a video game. The settings, from the road side of the small town of Bunnyburrow to the dark laboratory at the edge of Zootopia, were all brilliantly realized. Not only that, the characters are all looking great too, even for small supporting characters like the howling wolves standing guard at the laboratory tower. It's like a dream come true for furry-art lovers (okay, that was a bad joke for adults - just ignore it if you don't get what I mean). In short, the visuals are incredible! I did watched the movie in IMAX 3D though so maybe that's why the visuals were excellent to me.

The mammal metropolis of Zootopia

Another thing I like about the movie is seeing the animal version of our human life; like their buildings and daily activities. What would their shops, their apartment room or their government office look like? It's fun to see how the filmmakers interpret this to suit into their world. If you are very observant, you could even detect some of the jokes the filmmakers had inserted in the movie like the different lyrics for songs and movie titles to reflect the world that Zootopia was set in. These easter eggs (are they called that?) make the movie refreshing and help to increase the multiple-viewing value of the movie as well.

As a conclusion, I love Zootopia...a lot! Although I do have some issues with its underwhelming climax, I still think it's a great film. The story is wonderful, the characters are well-realized, it has tonnes of good moral values for kids and adult, and the visuals are just breath-taking. I highly recommend this movie for all.