One of the Best and Most Topical Kid's Movies in a Long Time

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2016)

I had no idea this movie would be as good as it is when I went into the theater. I figured it would be decent just because of the pedigree with people like Byron Howard and Rich Moore working on it but this turned out being one of the best children's films I've seen in a long time. It's also impressive just how topical some of these issues are that are dealt with in the story. If you haven't seen it yet then do yourself a favor and go out and watch it immediately. You won't regret it.
Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a young rabbit that has become the first rabbit ever to be accepted by Zootopia's police force. Zootopia is a city where all kinds of different animals live together in peace. Judy starts her new job on the force but is having trouble since everyone underestimates her since she's a tiny bunny rabbit. She finally gets the chance to prove herself when she's put in charge of a missing animals case. She teams up with a cunning fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and goes out to find out where the animals are but ends up uncovering a plot to change Zootopia forever.
This movie has an excellent cast but it feels like most of these high-profile children's films always do. Goodwin does an excellent job as the upbeat and personable Judy. She's extremely positive but there are plenty of scenes in the film where we see a side of Judy that's afraid of failure and eager to please her superiors. Bateman's Wilde is very calm and collected in most situations but he also has a more caring side and is defensive of his friends. It's great seeing the relationship these two build with one another throughout the movie. I also want to give kudos to Idris Elba's Chief Bogo and J.K. Simmons's Mayor Lionheart. These two characters easily steal every scene that they're in and are probably my favorite characters in the entire film.
This movie has so many positives going for it that it's hard to think of anything wrong with the film. The animation is incredibly well done and there are tons of different locales to flesh out the adventure. The characters are incredibly likable and genuinely funny. Speaking of funny, the jokes will easily make the young ones laugh but I'm surprised how much of the humor is geared towards adults. The only thing I didn't really like about the film was the character of Gazelle and the music of Shakira. I don't have anything against the songs in the movie, it's just not really my type of music.
The thing that really impressed me with the story was the way they dealt with prejudice. This is something that I wasn't expecting in a children's movie but the backbone of the plot deals with the different prejudices felt by the main characters. Judy, Nick, even Chief Bogo and a myriad of others all feel some degree of prejudice whether because they feel they're better than others or because they were wronged by another and ended up blaming an entire set of animals because of it. I don't want to spoil too much if you guys haven't watched the film yet but it is really interesting how they were able to integrate such a hot button issue into this movie.
I can't recommend this film enough. I absolutely loved it and I thought it was easily one of the best family movies I've seen in a long time. My only complaint is that I didn't enjoy some of the songs in the film but literally everything else I absolutely adored. Take the kids or friends or whatever and go watch this heartwarming movie as soon as possible.