Entertaining enough for all ages

Rating: 7/10 (20 September 2016)

Zootopia is an easy movie to describe. That's neither a compliment nor a criticism, but for the most part this is a pretty straight forward movie. It's about an underdog who rises up to the top (after facing many difficulties, of course); we follow this underdog - Hopper - as she investigates the case of a missing person - a case which get larger and larger as the movie goes on. It follows a very standard formula (the storytelling technique is nothing more than the cop finds the first clue, which leads to second clue, which leads to third clue, etc, until eventually they find the big bad villain). It probably sounds familiar as this is the basic storyline to most detective movies, especially animated ones. But instead of conforming to complete conventionality as you might it would, Zootopia boosts itself by adding in some refreshingly new ideas for such a movie. It's a movie with a valuable message laid out throughout, about not stereotyping or labelling people, and looking past outward appearances. Although it debatable gets a little too preachy at times, you still have to commend the movie for trying to teach the younger end of the audience a very valuable lesson.
The movie never quite hits any of those belly-laugh moments that you often find in a Pixar movie (although one particular scene with a sloth is hilarious), but the humour is good enough to keep older audiences entertained, although most of the humour would certainly work better with a child. The voicing casting is on-point and the movie never really gets dull, so this is sure to entertain all of the family - just as an animated movie should do.