Comrade Stalin would be proud

Rating: 8/10 (7 September 2016)

Although a children's film with a political message may sound off- putting, Disney scoots around outright indoctrination by making itself as unsubtle as possible. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together, and in this case, four manifests as a plainly obvious "profiling based on biological heritage (aka racism) is bad". It's completely harmless, but shouldn't happen again. Now I don't mean to sound like a doomsday prophet, but this might be only the beginning, a calculated TEST DRIVE for indoctrination in children's films, the first of a slew of increasingly subtle political weapons focused on mass hypnosis. And with these puff pieces, Disney will establish its iron grip over not only our entertainment, but our very SOULS.
I'm kidding. But seriously, though. The entertainment industry shouldn't be educating kids.
Gladly, Zootopia has much to offer beyond an awkward ditty on racism. The story is action-packed and intelligently executed, the animation is typically gorgeous, and the thrills come fast and hard. Although it occasionally feels like a frustratingly juvenile music video, it's mostly stellar entertainment that's sure to please kids and adults alike. It's especially timely as a film that breaks Disney's cold streak of artificial and unoriginal fluff, which comes as a personal relief.
Zootopia plays like a furry, buddy-cop hoodunit with all the warm, fuzzy fixings. Judy Hopps, the first rabbit on the Zootopia Police Force, is an idealistic young rabbit raring to make a difference. But, as with every eager beaver these days, her dreams are quickly crushed by a careless "meter maid" assignment, cold-blooded (though not literally) superiors, and a particularly eye-opening encounter with a wily fox, who, just in case you were wondering, is a fox. And yes, I suppose you'd call him wily.
From this setup, the film bounds into charted, but massively entertaining territory as the unlikely rabbit-fox duo find themselves cracking the case of a streak of missing mammals across Zootopia. As a caper filled with twists and turns, guffaw-inducing humour, and surprising depth of character, Zootopia succeeds brilliantly. As an added bonus, the wit is present and ever-so- obvious, ranging from tricks of the eye to comical verbal gags. There's a scene in which Judy says that rabbits aren't good at adding, but great at multiplication. Hopefully that one goes over the kids' heads, but my adolescent self stifled a chortle of appreciation.
Ignoring the ham-fistedness of the film's message, Zootopia is a raucous, gleeful little film that trumpets Disney's return to form with startling certainty.
And please ignore my clickbait title.