Spoilers Zootopia/Zootroplis - Review, Discussion, ect.

[JD]

Zootopia aka Zootropolis, Disney's 55 animated film was released today.
The film is written by Jared Bush, directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore and co-directed by Jared Bush.
Cast:
Ginnifer Goodwind as Judy Hopps
Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde
Idris Elba as Chief Bogo
JK Simmons as Mayor Leodore Lionheart
Nate Torrence as Officer Benjamin Clawhauser
Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps
Don Lake as Stu Hopps
Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaslton
Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton
Shakira as Gazelle
Tom Lister Jr. as Finnick
Story:

The modern mammal metropolis of Zootopia is a city like no other. Comprised of habitat neighborhoods like ritzy Sahara Square and frigid Tundratown, it’s a melting pot where animals from every environment live together—a place where no matter what you are, from the biggest elephant to the smallest shrew, you can be anything. But when optimistic Officer Judy Hopps arrives, she discovers that being the first bunny on a police force of big, tough animals isn’t so easy. Determined to prove herself, she jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering with a fast-talking, scam-artist fox, Nick Wilde, to solve the mystery. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Zootopia,” a comedy-adventure directed by Byron Howard (“Tangled,” “Bolt”) and Rich Moore (“Wreck-It Ralph,” “The Simpsons”) and co-directed by Jared Bush (“Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero”), opens in theaters on March 4, 2016.

This is a great movie. I knew from the reviews going into this that it was going to deal with rascism and stuff like that, but I was surprised by the approach it took. I was expecting this to be a goofy talking animal movie that maybe subtle touched on some of the themes, but it actually approached them in a very matter of fact manner. The case itself that the characters were investigating was actually very interesting, and actually kept me very curious to see what was going on. I was not expecting that either, I figured it was going to be a fairly simple little thing that just gave an excuse for a bunch of cute animals to run around. It was actually fairly complex, with some surprising twists.

I loved the city's design, and the way they approached all of the different animals needs, from the different environments, to the different sized cars and doors on the train.

I got a big kick out of all of the references, with my favorites being Emmet Otterton. I grew up as a big fan of Emmet Otter, so that got my attention. I've never seen Breaking Bad, but I have enough awareness that the reference to Walter and Jessie got a big laugh out of my. As a big Frozen fan, the Duke Weaslton joke was another favorite.

It gets a definite Outstanding vote from me.

 

[Christopher]

Any explanation for why they changed the title to Zootropolis in Europe? The press release I found just says "In the UK we decided to change the US title (Zootopia) to Zootropolis to merely allow the film to have a unique title that works for UK audiences," which explains nothing. Why would that work better for UK audiences?

 

[JD]

I haven't heard anything, I just the saw alternate title on Wikipedia, and then I confirmed it on the Disney UK site.

 

[Gepard]

Any explanation for why they changed the title to Zootropolis in Europe? The press release I found just says "In the UK we decided to change the US title (Zootopia) to Zootropolis to merely allow the film to have a unique title that works for UK audiences," which explains nothing. Why would that work better for UK audiences?

It's a copyright issue. As I recall, there's a zoo or theme park of some sort that trademarked "Zootopia" in Europe forcing a change to the overseas name. According to TV tropes, the name Zootopia was overdubbed in the film itself, but the animation was left untouched. For comparison, Disney actually created region-specific versions of the newscast segments of the movie, so that suggests it was a pretty last-minute alteration.

Anyhow, I caught a late Thursday showing and was blown away. It's not a perfect movie -- it has a few plot holes/niggles and thematically it bumped against the limits of what's possible in the current family-friendly Disney/Pixar formula -- but I was staggered by the ambition of it. Both on the world building front and on the themeatic front. It wasn't always as successful as I might have liked but I will always prefer a movie to push the boundaries of what's possible over playing things safe.

It also might be the cutest movie I've ever seen. The opening alone gave me insulin shock.

 

[TrekAlliance92]

This was a really excellent movie, and I truly enjoyed it.

I won't post any spoilers right now since it was just released, but I will say that it has great main characters, awesome animation and voice acting, terrific animation, enjoyable music and a very interesting and compelling plot mixed with some really top-notch humor. I highly, highly recommend it!

 

[tomalak301]

I'm leaning towards seeing this movie, but I remember when I went to see The Force Awakens and this trailer was played. I don't think I know another movie where the entire trailer was one whole scene. That DMV scene alone makes me want to see this movie, not knowing what the movie is about.

 

[Christopher]

I don't think I know another movie where the entire trailer was one whole scene.

That's been done before with teaser trailers, like this one for Gravity. I think it's actually pretty common for animated movies' teaser trailers, e.g. the initial Big Hero 6 trailer that was just about Hiro trying to cram Baymax into his armor. I seem to recall one or two Pixar teaser trailers depicting scenes that weren't even in the actual movies, that were made specifically for the teasers. Of course, they're always followed by other trailers that show more of the film, and I believe that was the case here as well.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

The Lion King trailer was the first few minutes of the movie.

 

[JD]

I just remembered stuff other stuff I wanted to mention that I forgot about in my first post.
Not only is it a great animated talking animal movie, but it's also a great cop movie. If you go rid of all animal stuff, and switched it over to humans in LA or New York, I think it would still be a great movie.
I'm really hoping we get a sequel or even TV series sometime soon, I can't wait to make more trips to Zootopia.
I'm also curious if future stories would address where the other types of animals are. Zootopia/tropolis is all mammals, so where are all of the reptiles, birds, insects, or fish?
I also forgot to mention the great performances from the entire cast.

 

[Showdown]

I'm looking forward to this movie, and glad to hear glowing reviews. Hope I don't to hyped.
Also, I prefer the name Zootropolis.

 

[Gepard]

"Zootopia" fits the themes of the movie better, though, seeing as it's a play on "utopia." (The main character, Judy Hopps, starts the movie believing Zootopia is one but -- spoiler alert -- it's not that simple.)

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, "Zootopia" works phonetically as a pun on "utopia." "Zootropolis" is more arbitrary and phonetically clumsy, because it doesn't correspond to the sound of "metropolis."

And as a bonus, "Zootopia" is actually a valid Greek formation (though it would more properly be pronounced "zoh-oh-topia"), while "Zootropolis" doesn't work etymologically. It'd have to be "Zoopolis" ("zoh-op-olis").

 

[Mr Light]

LOVED this movie! Great story, characters, humor, action, visuals... it was all excellent! I was fascinated by the design of a city populated by every species of animal, where massive and tiny creatures must co-exist together in different sized areas and temperature regions.

 

[Snaploud]

This movie was a lot better than I expected. I give it an A minus.

 

[JD]

LOVED this movie! Great story, characters, humor, action, visuals... it was all excellent! I was fascinated by the design of a city populated by every species of animal, where massive and tiny creatures must co-exist together in different sized areas and temperature regions.

Not every animal. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, it's just mammals.

 

[Mr Light]

Ah, that's true. Maybe the sequel can be the invasion of the reptiles or something!

 

[Gepard]

I'd love the sequel to tackle police brutality and social justice. And also to be like The Empire Strikes Back with our heroes being split up and failing at their tasks, and maybe Nick gets frozen in a Popsicle or something and shipped to Mr. Big.

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

This movie was outstanding! I would love to see a sequel.

 

[Mr Light]

The interesting thing about the movie is how it's about Black Lives Matter* but it's not a one to one analogy. The police are almost entirely predator species and they're actually the minority being victimized in the story; though the prey species are also being disenfranchised. Hell, even our hero character, noble and idealistic as she is, discriminates against other species. You could also say the predators are the upper rich class since they're only 10% of the population, taking advantage of the 90%.

*Though given the long development time, I guess that was just a coincidence stemming from a timeless issue.

 

[Gepard]

I'd have to watch the movie again to be sure, but I was under the impression that the police were a pretty even mix of predator/prey species. The discrimination there was more about size than diet.

Predictably, certain corners of the Internet are already fighting over which real-world group(s) the different species map to, and if various characters would be real-world right wing or left wing or (ugh) "SJW..." but it seems to me Disney made a movie about differing power/privilege/intersectionality by cleverly avoiding actual 1:1 mappings.

Aspects of African-American issues were given to rabbits and sheep: "n-word privileges" and "token [person]l for rabbits, while white people touching African-American hair without permission got mapped to sheep when Nick touched Bellweather's mane.

Fears of black/Arab violence were given to predators, who also represent minorities in making up only 10% of the population. But at the same time predators clearly have no problem holding positions of authority and are themselves part of a system oppressing smaller animals.

There's not really a good way to make it allegorical for the real world, though it's applicable as hell. I thought it was great worldbuilding that they came up with biases and institutional prejudice that made sense for an animal universe rather than just porting real world tensions over wholesale.