Zootopia

Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush. Written by Byron Howard, Rich Moore,  Jared Bush, Jim Reardon, Josie Trinidad, Phil Johnston, Dan Fogelman, and Jennifer Lee. Starring Ginnifer Goodwin (Judy Hopps), Jason Bateman (Nick Wilde), Idris Elba (Chief Bogo).

Bottom line: Zootopia was cute, fun, and nice; I wasn’t expecting much and was pleasantly surprised.

3/4

As the introduction explains, in ages past, the animal kingdom was divided into two groups, predators and prey, who constantly lived at odds. Fortunately, overtime they evolved to form a society where animals can live in harmony. A utopia...or a Zootopia. Pun aside, Zootopia is the name of the giant city in which all the animals live. In this city, so explains our protagonist bunny (Goodwin), anyone can be anything their heart desires. In the case of our heroine bunny, she dreams to become the first bunny cop (larger animals like Bulls and Elephants tend to be cops). Will she be able to follow her dream despite the adversity that will surely follow?

My expectations were low for Zootopia. It looked colorful but I didn’t think it had much else going for it. I was, however, mistaken. Zootopia is a really pleasant movie overall. The animation isn’t merely colorful, it’s fun and dynamic. The city itself is divided into different climate-based zones: you have the jungle, tundra, desert, and regular old concrete jungle section of the city. Even though you only see brief portions of Zootopia, it feels like a fleshed out world. It’s fun.

I’d recommend Zootopia for anybody. It was a pleasant family friendly movie. It is somewhat predictable here and there but, what do you want, it’s a kids movie.

Have you seen Zootopia? Have you seen any family movies in the recent past that have pleasantly surprised you? Thanks for reading!