Surprisingly Good!

Rating: 7/10 (25 December 2019)

Zootopia is the latest Disney animated film from their own animation studio. From seeing the advertising for the film I had no ambition to see this movie in the slightest. However, after seeing the positive reviews and the praise the film has been getting from people I decided to give it a look finally. I have to say this is probably the most mature animated film from Disney since the Incredibles, which is saying a great deal.
Now, I thought I was in trouble with this film at the very beginning. Honestly, the first fifteen to twenty minutes is my biggest grip with the movie. You have Hopps dreaming of being a police officer and everyone else putting her down saying it's impossible, even her own parents, and she has to prove her worth. It's a theme that's been done to death in movies, especially kids movies. It's not even especially bad in its execution, but it's just very heavy-handed and formulaic.
Fortunately, once we get past those first twenty minutes and we get into the mystery angle of the movie it gets much better. The mystery angle is easily the pest part of this film. The whole "don't judge a book by its cover" theme is still present but I think it's handled in a much better way. It even goes to a place that I did not expect a film like this to go. Though, they do kind of go back on it by the end I was still amazed they went there at all.
The second best thing is the characters. I really do like the two leads, Hopps and Wild. Wild is my favorite character definitely. The side characters are also a lot of fun.
The animation is on-point, as well as the voice acting. Every voice fit their respective character perfectly. The action is also quite well-done and engaging. I also loved the artwork, especially of the city itself. The humor is also quite good. There were some jokes that were typical but most hit. There was this one scene where they straight-up parodied The Godfather and it was hilarious. It was the funniest thing in the entire flick.
I also loved the design of Zootopia and its various sectors it has. The colors are so vibrant and the animation is great. From that to the people and their interactions with each other really brings this city alive and makes it feel like a real city.
Overall, Zootopia is the best animated film from Disney since Frozen. It has a great cast of characters, a great mystery, great action, great art and animation, and a good portrayal of its many themes, adult themes, even if it felt fisted at times. I think this definitely a great film for the entire family.