Zootopia

***Zootopia*** (titled ***Zootropolis*** in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the TBD Disney animated feature film, directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, co-directed by Jared Bush, and stars the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, and Shakira. Taking place in the titular city where anthropomorphic animals coexist, it tells a story of an unlikely partnership between a rabbit police officer and a red fox con artist as they uncover a criminal conspiracy involving the disappearance of predators.

*Zootopia* premiered at the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 13, 2016, and went into general theatrical release in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX formats in the United States on March 4. *Zootopia* received positive reviews from critics, who praised its screenplay, animation, voice acting, subject matter, and Michael Giacchino's musical score. The film opened to record-breaking box offices in several countries, and earned a worldwide gross of over $1 billion, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2016. The film earned numerous accolades; it was named one of the top ten best films of 2016 by the American Film Institute, and received an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Critics' Choice Movie Award, and Annie Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

## Plot

In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, Zootopia is a gleaming metropolis populated by animals, divided into several districts including Sahara Square, Tundratown, Little Rodentia, and Rainforest District.

This film begins with a jungle which fades into a children's play about the history of Zootopia. One day, Judy Hopps, a bunny rabbit from rural Bunnyburrow, fulfills her dream of joining the Zootopia Police Department as the first rabbit officer, however, she is regularly assigned parking duty by Chief Bogo, who refuses to recognize her talent. During one of her shifts, she is humilliated by Nick Wilde, a con artist fox.

The next, a burglar weasel named Duke Weaselton steals a bag of crocus bulbs known as Midnicampum holicithias. Judy abandons parking duty to recover them and arrest Weaselton, and is reprimanded by Bogo until Mrs. Otterton, an otter, arrives pleading help on locating her missing husband, one of the many recently missing predators. To Bogo's dismay, Judy volunteers and the assignment is praised by assistant mayor, sheep Dawn Belleweather. However, Bogo gets Judy to agree to resign if she cannot solve the case within 48 hours. Seeing that Nick is a key witness of Mr. Otterton's disappearance, Judy locates the fox and convinces him to assist her with the investigation or else he will be charged with tax evasion, which he openly admitted and Judy recorded with her carrot pen.

After acquiring Mr. Otterton's license plate number from Mystic Springs Oasis, Judy and Nick track the vehicle from the Department of Mammal Vehicles to Mr. Big, an arctic shrew crime boss in Tundratown. Mr. Big spares their lives after learning that Judy had rescued his daughter earlier, and informs the pair that Mr. Otterton was his florist and had been picked up by his chauffeur Manchas, a black jaguar, to bring him to Mr. Big to talk about something important. However, en-route, Otterton suddenly "went savage" - meaning he reverted to a feral state - and attacked Manchas before running off. Judy and Nick locate Manchas at his home in the Rainforest District for questioning. Manchas describes the attack on him and mentions that Otterton had been yelling about "night howlers". However, before he can reveal anything else, Manchas suddenly turns savage himself and chases the pair, but they manage to escape. Judy calls the ZPD for help, but when Bogo and his reinforcements arrive, Manchas is nowhere to be found. Bogo demands Judy's resignation, but Nick takes a stand, insisting Judy has 10 more hours to solve the case. As the pair leave the Rainforest District, Nick opens up to Judy, revealing that he became a con artist because, as a child, he tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts, only to be mistreated and rejected simply for being a fox.

Nick realizes that the city's traffic camera system may have captured how Manchas disappeared, and the pair consults Assistant Mayor Bellwether. They then discover that Manchas was captured by wolves, which Judy assumes is what Otterton had meant by "night howlers". Judy and Nick locate Cliffside Asylum, where the wolves have detained the missing predators (including Mr. Otterton), all of which have gone savage, and eavesdrop on Mayor Lionheart consulting with a doctor about their condition, revealing that he is keeping the savage predators hidden from both the public and the ZPD, and trying to ascertain the cause of their behavior. The pair escape, inform Bogo and the police swarm the area, arresting Lionheart and those involved. Bellwether subsequently becomes the new mayor.

Having developed a friendship with Nick throughout the case, Judy requests that he joins the ZPD and become her partner, which Nick happily considers. However, a pressured Judy describes the savaged predators' condition during a press conference as them reverting to their natural instincts. This seemingly confirms Judy's bigotry against foxes to Nick, who angrily walks out on her offer after he asks her if she sees *him* as a savage predator. When fear and discrimination against predators spread across Zootopia, a guilt-ridden Judy resigns.

Two to three months later, Judy has returned to Bunnyburrow and rejoined the family business as a carrot farmer. However, she later learns from her parents and reformed childhood bully, fox Gideon Grey, that "night howlers" are toxic flowers that have severe psychotropic effects on mammals. Realizing that the flowers are what Otterton was referring to and that they are the cause of the outbreaks, Judy returns to Zootopia, where she reconciles with Nick. They then locate Weaselton, who explains that he has been collecting night howlers for a ram named Doug Ramses, who owns a lab hidden in the subway tunnels. The pair finds the lab and discovers Doug creating a night howler serum, which he has been exposing to predators via paintball-like pellets fired by an air-powered sniper gun. Judy and Nick hijack the lab (which is on a still functional train) and race to the ZPD with the evidence but are pursued by Doug's henchcats Tin, Pan and Alley, whom they barely manage to defeat. The train is destroyed in the process, but Nick manages to save a case containing Doug's sniper gun and the serum pellet.

Just short of the ZPD, the pair encounters Bellwether, who insists she takes the evidence. Realizing she is the mastermind of the conspiracy, Judy and Nick try to flee but are knocked into a pit by her henchrams. Bellwether shoots a serum pellet from the evidence case at Nick to make him kill Judy and frames a call for help to the ZPD. Nick seemingly becomes savage and corners Judy, but it turns out the pair was acting in order to trick Bellwether into openly admitting her prey-supremacist scheme to take over Zootopia and rid it of all predators, and that they replaced the dart gun ammo with blueberries from the Hopps' farm. With Bellwether's monologue recorded on Judy's carrot pen just as Bellwether made her short-lived threat to frame them as she did with Lionheart, Chief Bogo and the ZPD arrive and arrest her and her accomplices upon hearing everything. Upon being informed and interviewed on the matter, Lionheart, still in prison, denies any knowledge of Bellwether's plot, but admits to having illegally imprisoned the savage predators, claiming it to have been done for "right reasons".

Later, Judy is reinstated into the ZPD. An antidote is discovered for the effects of the night howlers, and all the infected predators, including Mr. Otterton and Mr. Manchas, are cured. Months later (about a year after Judy started her job at the ZPD), Nick joins the ZPD as the first fox officer and Judy's new partner. The final scene (during the credits) has almost all Zootopian citizens attending Gazelle's concert while Bellwether, Doug, his henchcats, and the other prisoners watch it on a television set in prison.

## Cast

* Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps
	+ Della Saba voices a younger Judy Hopps.
* Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde
	+ Kath Soucie voices a younger Nick Wilde.
* Idris Elba as Chief Bogo
* Jenny Slate as Dawn Bellwether
* Nate Torrence as Benjamin Clawhauser
* Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps
* Don Lake as Stu Hopps
* Tommy Chong as Yax
* J. K. Simmons as Mayor Lionheart
* Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton
* Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaselton. The name is a reference to the Duke of Weselton from *Frozen*, whom Tudyk also voices.
* Shakira as Gazelle
* Raymond S. Persi as Flash
	+ Persi also voices Officer Higgins, a hippopotamus who is an elite member of the Zootopia Police Department's 1st Precinct.
* Maurice LaMarche as Mr. Big
* Phil Johnston as Gideon Grey
	+ Johnston also voices an angry offscreen character who states that his taxes pay Judy's salary upon being given a parking ticket by her.
* Fuschia! as Major Friedkin
* John DiMaggio as Jerry Jumbeaux Jr.
	+ DiMaggio also voices a moose that gets a parking ticket from Judy; and a pig reporter.
* Katie Lowes as Dr. Madge Honey Badger
* Gita Reddy as Nangi
* Jesse Corti as Manchas
* Tom Lister Jr. as Finnick, a fennec fox who is Nick's partner in crime.
* Josh Dallas as an unnamed frantic domestic pig who is the owner of the "Flora and Fauna" flower shop that is robbed by Duke Weaselton and frantically asks Judy for help. He later appears as a protester at Gazelle's peace rally arguing with a female leopard.
* Leah Latham as Fru Fru
* Rich Moore as Doug
	+ Moore also voices Larry, a gray wolf that is a security guard at Cliffside Asylum.
* Greg Ellis,Jess Harnell, and Richard McGonagle as Tin, Pan, and Alley, a trio of Siamese cats who are Doug's assistants. This is the trio's 18th appearance in a Walt Disney Animation Studios film and their second appearance in a CGI film following *Spy Rabbits*.
* Fabienne Rawley and Peter Mansbridge as Fabienne Growley and Peter Moosebridge, the snow leopard and moose anchors of the ZNN News.
* Byron Howard as Bucky Oryx-Antlerson
	+ Howard also voices Travis, Gideon Grey's black-footed ferret friend.
* Jared Bush as Pronk Oryx-Antlerson
* Mark Rhino Smith as Officer McHorn
* Josie Trinidad as Mrs. Dharma Armadillo
* John Lavelle as the unnamed construction mouse foreman of Little Rodentia's construction crew who receives the Pawpsicle sticks from Nick and Finnick.
* Kristen Bell as Priscilla

## Trivia

* Bucky and Pronk Orynx-Antlerson are the first LGBT characters in the Disney Animated Canon. Disney now has an LGBT character in all of their major branches (Pixar has Specter, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has Valkyrie, and Star Wars has Moff Mors)
* This the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to the 12 minutes of end credits.
* The film would currently be the 35th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide if *Jurassic Park* and *Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace* had never been re-released.
* This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film not to be accompanied by a short film since 2012's *Ted*.
* The filmmakers were inspired by previous Disney films during the making of *Zootopia*: director Byron Howard wanted to create *Zootopia* as an homage to *The Wind in the Willows* and *Robin Hood* (which he has always considered his childhood favorite Disney films) with modern CG technology, and producer Clark Spencer was inspired by *The Jungle Book* to produce *Zootopia*.
* During story development, there were other districts in the city of Zootopia that were developed but not used in the film. These include **Outback Island**, **the Meadowlands**, **the Nocturnal District**, **the Burrows**, **the Canals**, and **Happytown**. The Burrows may have been a precursor of Bunnyburrow (an area outside of Zootopia), and Happytown (which was actually a slummy district) seems particularly geared toward the darker, more dystopian, and mean-spirited versions of the story that were later abandoned.
* The word "Zootopia" is spoken 23 times during the film.
* Throughout *Zootopia*, there are numerous animal parodies of real-life companies and popular culture names from their original copyright owners:
	+ Lululemmings - Lululemon
	+ Just Zoo It - Just Do It, Nike's famous slogan.
	+ Preyda - Prada
	+ Vanity Fur - Vanity Fair
	+ Bearberry - Burberry
	+ DNKY - DKNY
	+ Snarlbucks - Starbucks
	+ Zoogle - Google
	+ Targoat - Target
	+ ZNN - CNN
	+ Mousy's - Macy's
	+ iPaw - iPad
	+ Carrot Inc. - Apple Inc.
	+ Some smartphones feature a logo that looks like the logo, though here, it has the shape of a carrot instead, parodying Apple Inc. smartphones called iPhones. There are also devices resembling tablets but with a paw print logo and the name "iPaw".
		- In the preview clip of the Little Rodentia chase scene, the "Mousy's" name does not appear on the store front, though Targoat does appear on Fru Fru's bag.
	+ Lucky Chomps - Lucky Charms, a popular cereal.
	+ MuzzleTime - FaceTime, Apple's video chat service.
	+ Trader Doe's - Trader Joe's
	+ Hoof Locker - Foot Locker
	+ Molex - Rolex (Incidentally, Molex *is* the name of an actual company, a major industrial electronics manufacturer.)
	+ PB&J - AT&T
	+ Lemming Brothers Bank - Lehman Brothers
	+ ITREEA - IKEA
	+ ZUBER - UBER
	+ Star Trunk - Star Trek
	+ Catsio - Casio, a company that produces calculators, keyboards, and watches.
* *Zootopia* is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to have its background music score be composed by Michael Giacchino and also the second film score from that studio to be composed by a recurring Pixar composer; the first being *The Princess and the Frog*, where its score and songs were composed by Randy Newman.
* The character Peter Moosebridge's portrayal differs based on each region's version of the film. While Moosebridge remains in the Canadian, American, and British (where he was renamed Moosos Alexander and voiced by BBC sports reporter, Veesos Alexander, though the UK home release used his US name and voice) versions, he is replaced by a jaguar called Boi Chai in the Brazilian version (voiced by Rede Bandeirantes news anchor Ricardo Boechat), a tanuki in the Japanese version, a koala in the Australian and New Zealand versions and a panda in the Chinese version.
* Because the movie and titular city were renamed "Zootropolis" for its release in the UK and Ireland, an ADR group re-recorded the original cast's lines to accommodate the change, matching the original voices perfectly. Despite this, the characters' lips still mouth "Zootopia" when they say "Zootropolis."
* On Judy's music player (that closely resembles a 6th generation iPod Nano), several famous artist and band names are parodied, including The Beatles (The Beagles), Fleetwood Mac (Fleetwood Yak), Foo Fighters (Fur Fighters), Guns N' Roses (Guns N' Rodents), Selena Gomez (Hyena Gomez), Kanye West (Kanine West), and Mick Jagger (Mick Jaguar).
* Many of the events in the movie reflect events that occurred during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s:
	+ Gazelle's protest to return Zootopia to its ordinary state reflects the various nonviolent protests that occurred throughout this era.
	+ The prejudice that the ZPD (particularly Chief Bogo) had against smaller and 'weaker' prey mammals (until Judy Hopps' triumph for the ZPD) is similar to the racism against African-Americans and all minorities during this era.
	+ At the beginning of the film, during Nick's Ice Cream parlor scene, Jerry Jumbeaux Jr. states that his establishment has the right to "...refuse service to anyone." "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" was commonly found in public areas such as restaurants during this era.
* At one point in the movie, just before she gets on the train for Zootopia, Judy's parents are reminding her of all the animals she has to fear, Judy quotes U.S. President FDR's famous statement "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
* The calendars throughout the movie suggest the film's events took place during the month of May.
* Outside of Jumbeaux's Cafe (where Judy bought the Jumbo Pop for Nick and Finnick), next door, there is a theater that is showing *Star Trunk*, a reference to *Star Trek*.
* Finnick's van plate, which reads **HB051986** is a reference to actor Herschel Bernardi, who died in May 1986.
* In the original theatrical release, Mayor Lionheart's in-jail interview was slightly longer. After explaining why he imprisoned the animals, he asks the reporter, "You can understand that, can't you?" To which the reporter, a porcupine (prey species), replies flatly, "No." In all subsequent releases of the movie, these two lines are not present.
* This is the first and only movie since 2005 to have the old Disney Interactive logo from 1995-2005.
* The musical *Rats* is an homage to *Cats*.

### Cameos and other Disney references

* On the theatrical release poster for *Zootopia*, standing behind Yax is a zebra whose son appears to be holding a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll. A Mickey Mouse doll can also be spotted in a stroller being pushed by a hippo in the scene where Nick is driving Finnick in a stroller.
* In addition to the previously mentioned songs on Judy's music player, several Disney songs are parodied, including "Let It Go" ("Let It Goat") from *Frozen*, "Part of Your World" ("Part of Your Wool") from *The Little Mermaid*, "Somewhere Out There" ("Somewhere Zoo There") from *An American Tale*, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" ("Can You Feel the Fluff Tonight") from *The Lion King*, and "Arabian Nights" ("Ara-bunny Nights") from *Aladdin*.
* In Tundratown, two little elephant girls are dressed like Elsa and Anna from *Frozen*.
* The flower emblem on the two plates in Jumbeaux's Café comes from a decoration on Anna's bed from *Frozen*.
* In Little Rodentia, there is a building called Hans' Pastry Shop, alluding to Hans from *Frozen*.
* At one point, Chief Bogo references "Let It Go" from *Frozen*. This is not only an obvious reference to the aforementioned film but also a nod to *Frozen*'s co-director Jennifer Lee, who served as a co-writer for *Zootopia*.
* Pascal from *Tangled* appears as a silhouette on a medal in Chief Bogo's office.
* Genie's Lamp is sitting on a shelf in the Mystic Springs Oasis' reception office.
* The bears scratching their backs against the trees in the naturist club resembles what Baloo was doing during "The Bare Necessities" from *The Jungle Book*.
* In one scene, Duke Weaselton is seen selling bootlegged films, all of which are animal variants of Walt Disney Animation Studios' previous films and Pixar films along with a fewer then-upcoming films. Those include:
	+ *Wrangled* - *Tangled*
	+ *Headin' South*
	+ *An American Tail* - *An American Tale*
	+ *Wreck-It Rhino* - *Wreck-It Ralph*
	+ *Weaseble Me* - *Despicable Me*
	+ *Meowana* - *Moana*
	+ *Floatzen* - *Frozen*
	+ *Mice* - *Trolls*
	+ *The IncrediDogs* - *The Incredibles*
	+ *Toy Mouse Story* - *Toy Story*
	+ *How the Woozle Stole Christmas* - *How the Grinch Stole Christmas*
	+ *TBD* - *Monsters, Inc.*
	+ *TBD* - *Brave*
	+ *Chicken Little*
	+ *TBD* - *Coco*
	+ *TBD*
	+ *TBD*
	+ *TBD*
	+ *TBD*
	+ *TBD*
	+ *TBD* - *The Mitchells vs. the Machines*
* Oswald the Lucky Rabbit appears as graffiti on the side of Doug's laboratory/subway car.
* The deer mannequin Nick shreds apart in the film's climax bears a resemblance to Bambi.