A Menagerie of Imaginative Delights

Rating: 9/10 (7 March 2016)

(RATING: ☆☆☆☆½ out of 5)
THIS FILM IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
IN BRIEF: A delightfully zany animated jaunt through the detective genre with our four-legged animal friends.
GRADE: B+
SYNOPSIS: In this world, all animals coexist in perfect harmony and take on stereotypical human traits. This animated buddy cop film introduces an idealistic rookie bunny teaming up with a cynical fox to investigate a series of attacks.
JIM'S REVIEW: The evils of prejudice and the need for diversity are the underlying themes in Disney's Zootopia. We view a pastel-colored utopia sans humans where animals are "10% predator, 90% prey". That is until some violence upsets the natural order of things. Which brings Officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and con artist Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) together to solve this whodunit.
The film spoofs film noir, detective stories, The Godfather, Breaking Bad, cop films, and other pop references as the duo go about following leads while not-too-subtly handling the message of tolerance and equality. The puns are plentiful in Jared Bush and Phil Johnson's funny screenplay which contrasts this crazy metropolis with our real world. The script uses animal profiling to the nth degree in a most seductive and insightful way which brings about much of the comedy elements.
A committee of directors are credited with this film (Bryon Howard, Rich Moore, and, once again, Mr. Bush), so their individual contributions are not readily known, but their end result is seamlessly blended to create a wonderful children's film that seems more skewed for the adults in the audience.
The animation is highly detailed and beautifully rendered, creating a satirical universe. The visuals work in unison with a strong narrative, so rare in today's animation which usually panders to sophomoric humor and bad story-telling. Although the filmmakers lay their overly positive message on too thickly and their politics is biased to the obvious liberal left (of which, I firmly concur), this does not interfere with one's full enjoyment of the film's overall wholesomeness and "kumbaya" positive vibe.
Ms. Goodwin and Mr. Bateman bring such joy and credibility to their characters. Providing expert voice-overs as well are Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Tommy Chong (superb as a holistic yak named Yax), Nate Torrance, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Shakira, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, and Raymond S. Persi as Flash, the slowest sloth clerk at the Department of Motor Vehicles, whose short (and long) bit is the film's laugh-out-loud highlight.
Zootopia is the type of film whose main purpose to to entertain and amuse. Yet, it doesn't shy away from some serious issues. This animated film is not afraid to talk about the elephant in the room, even when there is an actual pachyderm in close proximity, which makes it all the more charming and memorable family fare.
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