A children's guide to multiculturalism

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2016)

We were prey and predators once, antagonizing each other. But it was thousands of years ago, now we're all evolved, peaceful and equal. And if anything falls out of that paradigm then it's definitely a result of some malicious interference.
That's basically the message of Zootopia. Calling it utopian is hardly insightful, but there's no better way to describe it. An upbeat and positive story of a little bunny who wanted to be different and to change the world by making it a kingdom of kindness and equality once again - that doesn't seem remotely realistic, even if the story was not about animals but humans. Still, with nice visuals and enough goofing around, it's exactly what would keep kids captivated for enough time so that their parents could get their much-needed precious rest. By being somewhere else or doing something else.
And I mean it. Zootopia may be full of surprises for the young generation, but it's not a film that can provide a second layer an adult viewer could enjoy. There's no subtlety, instead, everything is explicit and for show, so any attempt to demonstrate some character development is somewhat staged. The difficulties are temporary and solve themselves without much labor. So, at the end of the day, even rooting for the happy ending is not too engaging because it never really seems that it could happen any other way.
It's hard to blame Disney for a lack of the real-world complexity. After all, it's what they do: flicks for kids. And those flicks are more or less fairy tales where the good wins simply because they want us to believe in goodness and uphold it. However, there's a thin line between teaching the good and claiming that it's the natural way for everyone, which could be corrupted but is still something we all perceive equally. And while the fairy-tale thinking, despite being obviously naive, bears no big harm, the white lies of the latter approach create a much more distorting illusion. An illusion that we're all the same inside and that we all want to be the same.
Come think of it, there might even be a second layer in Zootopia. Unfortunately, that layer looks like some sort of leftist propaganda, telling us that whoever we are, we have no other destiny but to stay united. That no matter who you are, a predator or a prey, a Muslim or an atheist, a Syrian refugee or a German burgher, living together is something that all of you must want and love. And if you wanna separate and set your own order of things, even if you're a vast majority, then there's something wrong with you and you're definitely a bad guy. No dude, stay put and love your neighbors, even if they bang at your wall and yell all night. And don't you dare expecting them to apologize for it!
For more than half a century the real-world us were being told that there's no other way, and those who disagree should be branded fascists. So it's quite symbolic that I got to watch Zootopia just a few days after the British people showed the world that an alternative is possible. So nice try Disney, but sometimes it's better to ask difficult questions rather than to make up overly simple answers. And a word of advice to the audience: if you so desperately want a Disney's fairy tale about the world's issues, watch Tomorrowland instead. It's equally simplistic, but at least it leaves you the freedom of choice without stamping the moral labels on it.