Strong story and characters create something special

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2016)

I'll admit that a spunky hero pursuing her dreams in spite of the odds is pretty much half of the cartoons out there. And yet, this one seemed to do more with the story. I was engaged by Judy's seemingly ridiculous determination to overcome prejudice and biology to follow her dream. Using a world of animals to call out racism and suspicion of "the other" was ingenious and well handled. And the central mystery was genuinely intriguing. Often spunky heroines and clue solving feel like simply a hanger off of which to hang the jokes, but it feels like more than that here.
And the same time, the movie does have those jokes and clever concepts. There is in particularly a fabulous use of scale involved in a world in which giant giraffes and elephants life in the same city as mice, with different neighborhoods built for their occupants.
I found this movie funny, touching, and intelligent, and yet there is also something rather slight about it.
There is something about this movie that makes me somewhat articulate. I can't quite explain why I was more affected by the story than that of dozens of other overcoming-the-odds movies, and I also can't quite explain what subtle something was missing that prevents me from giving it a higher score (I was torn between 8 & 9). But it's a terrific movie.