“Zootopia” is an important animated film for the modern age. The movie’s themes make it a surprisingly deep children’s movie. It truly is hard to talk about because of the number of things going on in the film.
Zootopia is an interesting world; it establishes that both predator and prey have come together to live in peace, so they leave their savage past behind and found the aptly named animal utopia. This, admittedly, made me wonder what the predators eat,this is not answered in the film.
Zootopia
The plot of the movie involves an anthropomorphic rabbit who has aspirations of becoming Zootopia’s first rabbit police officer. Everyone tells her that she can’t make it because she is a rabbit, and there seems to be a strong bias based on what kind of animal an individual is. For instance, foxes are always treated as shifty and dangerous. So Judy is treated like an unwanted burden on the police force by the chief, who feels the only reason she is there is because the government has a mammal inclusion program. So others feel she got affirmative actioned in without earning it.
That is one of the main themes of “Zootopia,” as its lesson is about how we should not judge anyone based on their “racial” background. This is a rather simple message but the way they use this message is really advanced for a kid’s movie. At about halfway there of the movie is some tension between predator and prey. The type of imagery used is very reminiscent of America’s own civil rights movements. This shows how assumptions can get out of control and become detrimental to society.
The reason the strife is taking place is very interesting as well, and it leads into what I feel is the other message of the film. Without spoiling everything about the conspiracy; the reason that predators are going savage is because someone in the government wants to marginalize predators. This is because prey make up about 90% of “Zootopia” and the official is tired of prey being a silent majority in the city. These certain individuals find a way to drug certain predators to drive them crazy so that prey animals mistrust the city’s predators.
It is just an assistant mayor…or is it…
This is a heavy message, but also a good one because it shows how the government can try to control a populace through fear. In the current political environment, it can be seen that certain politicians prey on the fear of people to win elections. “Zootopia” shows that fear does not win and the end of the film the city begins to heal.
Our hero.
“Zootopia” is such a wonderful film and, so far, it has been my favorite of 2016. Everything about it is wonderful from the animation, to the script, and the voice acting. I cannot believe how well the movie is animated, it really deserves a write-up all its own, but I really cannot explore that properly. My personal recommendation is to go out of your way to see this movie; it is well worth it. The only negative I can bring up is the message is heavy handed, but I am fine with that because it is a great message.
