Now there may be mild spoilers for this, so avert your eyes if need be.
Disney has 3 generations. The classics: Snow White, Cinderella. The Prince Charmings and the true-lover's-kiss.
The new: Lion King, Aladdin. The 90s nostalgia and the true-lover's-kiss, so to say.
The now: Tangled, Frozen. The sass, the hot-hot-HOT male lead (I'm looking at you Flynn Rider!) and though less, but still the true-lover's-kiss, interpreted in different ways.
And then there's this. Zootopia. Legitimately ushering in a new phase, the 4th generation, altogether for Disney.
Now see this, I was going to write out a Facebook review as I usually do, but I have a lot more to say about this. So much so I busted out a new blog for this and more to come.
Not only is it, graphics wise, the MOST detailed Disney film till date, but it packs the punch of subtle humour, bust-my-guts-humour (Flash the sloth, you've seen the trailer), and things that are far too much experienced in life and less spoken, much less in a Disney movie.
The story goes thus, without letting too much out. Judy Hopps is a bunny, spunky and smart who wants to be a cop, even in the face of a lot of discouragement. She becomes one, in a completely male-and-large-animal space and is given a useless post. In a good-but-ends-up-very-bad twist, she is handed a high priority dangerous case which she must solve, or else quit. She ends up collaborating with a wily hustler fox, and they uncover a sinister plot. Just when everything was alright, things take an unexpected turn with her losing her friendship, Zootopia turning into a town which no one had imagined, and she quits. How she returns, and repairs her friendship and reinstates Zootopia to what it was, forms the rest of the story.
But there's more to the story.
There's treatment of females in the real world.
A female lead, who is not taken seriously by anyone. Not in the cute way, if there ever was one. Hollywood would know that. But in the crush-your-dreams way. There are her parents who discourage her, not to be cruel, but in a genuine well-meaning way, for they're scared for her, a tiny bunny in the big city. There's the village bully who hurts her because she stands up to them. There's her not giving up. Just. Not. Giving. Up. It's her against the system, when she is included in an all-male police force as the "token bunny" as part of the new policies of inclusion, but only on paper. There's her being given an absurdly difficult task, purposely to watch her fail, because she spoke out of rank. There's her making mistakes. There's her idealism being shattered. And there's her returning.
There's a lady who has a big post, the assistant to the male mayor. But as she knows, says and accepts, it's little more than a secretary. She is happy for the small bits flung out to her. And she knows her job is to secure the vote bank of the large section she represents.
There are the terrible problems of today.
Unreasonable police detainment, *SPOILER ALERT* there's using fear as a control mechanism, us versus them, there's labelling and discrimination basis something that one has no control over. There's media misrepresentation. It's incredible how a Disney movie ends up talking reasonably about things that mainstream media doesn't even understand.
Any of these two paragraphs sound familiar to our lives today?
What there's not...is romance. Disney, so far ALWAYS known for a romance, or at least a theme of love a la Frozen. Zootopia operates on a different plane altogether. There's no theme of romance or love. And I cannot begin to tell you how refreshing that is. To see a spunky as all hell bunny's story to prove herself, without any subplot of love is just what the kids need to see. Everything isn't centred around relationships. There's self, there's differentiating between right and wrong, there's our fellow people, there's friendship, there's pure brainwork and hard work that goes into success. That's what the kids need to know.
Now to the fun part. Zootopia is HILARIOUS. There are jokes that the kids will squeal over, and there are jokes that the accompanying adults will bust a gut laughing at. There's the amazing track "Try Everything" by Shakira, the beautiful Gazelle, that's bound to be an addition to your workout playlist. There's Disney referencing itself, what with breaking the fourth wall being in fashion lately. And it does so marvellously. Comic timing is spot on, the level of detailing in animation is stunning, with 64 different hair textures being identified and recreated for the animals in the movie.
All in all, an absolutely FANTASTIC watch.
I'd give this a full 5 stars!
Disney, you've really hit it out of the park with this one.
