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The Walt Disney Animation unit has made movies in just about every genre imaginable, but it wasn't until this year's Zootopia that the studio reached the crime procedural. While it might seem like an unlikely marriage between studio and style, the team of Wreck-It Ralph's Rich Moore and Tangled's Bryon Howard figured out how to make it work, integrating a message without getting too preachy.
In the world of Zootopia, animals have evolved in a world without humans. But unlike the world of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur, Zootopia's animals have taken the characteristics of humans, building the beaming metropolis the film takes its name from. In this world, we find Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a rabbit hoping to become a police officer even though rabbits usually don't take that job.
When Judy graduates at the top of her class from the academy, she is first assigned to parking duty. But she forces her way into the biggest case puzzling the ZPD – the mysterious disappearance of mammals. Realizing that she doesn't know much about Zootopia, she enlists the help of a con artist she met earlier, the sly red fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Much to his surprise, they end up working together to solve the crime.
This world was clearly created by animators at the top of their game and enjoying every minute of their work. Character animation is also fantastic, perfectly melding the characteristics of each animal with a touch of familiar humanity. And the writers played to each animals' strengths, creating hilarious gags that have audiences laughing during entire scenes. They have also crafted gags that only adults will get, like the film's subversion of crime cliches and a Godfather parody like we've never seen before.
The case takes the film into surprisingly dark territory. Of course, Moore and Howard pull themselves a bit back before Zootopia becomes as dark as The Black Couldron, but the trailers do not prepare you for the twists the case takes. It eventually takes the form of a battle between a minority (predators) and the majority (prey). All that means Zootopia is eerily more relevant to what goes on in the news than other animated films have the guts to be. While the basics of the ideas are understandable to children, parents and young adults sitting next to them are delivered a fuller plate to dig into.
Unfortunately, the message comes to the forefront a bit too often later in the film and leaves a simpler idea – that no one can tell you what you can't be – behind. Zootopia is at its best when it embraces some of the more formulaic Disney traits (friends feel betrayed, learn to help each other, etc.) and lets the story build to a surprising finish. When the movie starts to go a bit off the tracks by pounding that message in your head, thankfully Moore and Howard get things moving again. Eventually, Nick and Judy get back on the same page (which you know will happen because it's still a Disney movie), the movie goes full speed ahead to the end.
Don't get the idea that Zootopia is forcing some political thought. The chosen message is completely universal. It's just that it feels stunning to see Disney take it head on. At a time when sister studio Pixar can't figure out how to avoid making “journey” movies, the Disney Animation team is overflowing with creativity and original ideas. These animators don't want to make you cry. Instead, Zootopia is a movie that will make you think. Those characters on the screen might be furry, but what they have to say is incredibly important. After all, Zootopia feels more relevant than most Disney movies with humans do.