8.5/10

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2016)

Tangled, Wreck it Ralph and now Zootopia. It looks like Disney Animation is quickly becoming a pool of great movies. I came out of this one with a smile that covered my whole face and I still find hard to shake it off, this movie blew me away in excitement, fun but most of all heart.
One cannot start to talk about Zootopia without mentioning some of the best world building of recent years. other than being animated to perfection, this film is alive, it is engaging even in its background and other than being intelligently thought out, it tells a story only with its world. Be it comedy or social commentary, I just wished multiple times I could put it pause the film or instantly rewatch a scene to absorb everything that was going on. This is a further example of the truly excellent, intelligent visual storytelling animated films are excelling at, especially recently and I remember clearly having a moment in the film in which I was effortlessly happy for cinema and its future, because this was the living proof of correctly using new mediums and technologies to tell a story.
And I haven't even started yet talking about the characters of Zootopia. As I was watching the film I thought to myself that these were going to become staples of the genre, that's how good they are. The chemistry between the two main characters is unbelievable and their arch is riveting to watch at every moment, with a fantastic pay off. This film is so well written: be it the running gags, the pop culture references which never end and never miss, the character development, the storytelling, the themes incorporated seamlessly, the emotional connection, the perfect handling of secondary characters, the hilarious, laugh out loud comedic moments, I hope I am not missing anything, all of these were part of screenplay that I am sure I will revisit and study joyfully. I can't believe how much I fell in love with this world and its characters and only now I realized how entertained I was with them, not to mention how absorbing the story proved to be.
The film does have its false steps, but none of them really mattered to me. The introduction is somewhat off beat and uneven with the rest, there are a little too many coincidences and whilst the characters are thankfully in danger many times, they are as many times handed a solution to problems which makes things a little too easy for them at times, yet fortunately the film does integrate these very organically to the point were you roll along, without even thinking about it.
I wished this film would not end, that's how much fun I was having with it, this is a very recommended watch in the theater, where possibly adults are going to have more fun than kids. Can't wait to check this out again.