ZOOTOPIA
Directors: Byron Howard, Rich Moore
Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Shakira
Rating: (PG) ★★★★
Another week, another CGI animated kids' film featuring an adorable cast of anthropomorphic animals, except this time Disney hits it for six with a very funny, fresh and likeable creation that feels just as much aimed at adults as it is the under-12s.
Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a young enthusiastic bunny who, rather than settling for a life slinging carrots from the family farm, dreams of becoming the first rabbit police officer in Zootopia, a bustling metropolis inhabited by all different species of talking mammals.
Relegated to parking duty on her first day on the force, she encounters wily fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) after observing him pulling a scam on an ice cream parlour run by a xenophobic elephant. She eventually calls on his street smarts to help her solve the case of a missing otter who appears to have gone savage.
The importance of tolerance in a prejudiced society is a central theme throughout. In true Disney style, the animals of Zootopia stand for various human traits, and the city is fashioned as a mirror on the modern world. It's a cunning ploy that adds real depth.
Amazingly, Zootopia also throws in elements from mismatched buddy cop movies, welcome-to-the-big-city cautionary tales and even film noir (think Chinatown meets Lethal Weapon but with more badgers) into its satirical melting pot, without ever feeling like it might go over the heads of its younger target audience.
- By Jeremy Quinn
