Ever since she was a little bunny, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has dreamed of serving as a police officer in the mammalian megalopolis of Zootopia, where anthropomorphic creatures from aardvarks to zebras dwell together in hesitant accord. However, law enforcement is normally the domain of big-and-burly species like the water buffalo Chief Bogo (Ildris Elba). As the “token rabbit,” Judy is relegated to parking meter duty, and it’s on this detail that she runs afoul of con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Eventually, Judy squirms her way into a real, non-parking case, and—their species’ primeval animosity notwithstanding—the bunny shrewdly recruits Nick for her investigation, reasoning that his street smarts will come in handy.
The latest work from Walt Disney Feature Animation, Zootopia is the studio’s most conceptually ambitious film in ages, and their finest computer-animated picture to date. With the exception of a few unfunny caricatures and wheezy parodies, it’s a film of seemingly limitless pleasures. The clever, often jaw-dropping design of Zootopia and its mammal citizenry are the feature’s most conspicuous elements, but there’s lots to swoon about, from Goodwin’s splendid performance to the lively, inspired camera work. (It’s surely the most cinematic work of studio animation since The Adventures of Tintin.)
What gives Zootopia its truly memorable sparkle, however, is the script’s quiet fearlessness in tackling bigotry—brazen and subtle, individual and institutional—in a kid-accessible manner. This is, for all meaningful purposes, Disney’s Race Movie. While Zootopia’s society doesn’t map onto the real world seamlessly (and thankfully so), the film’s screenplay conceals a treasure trove of empathetic observations, ingenious social satire, and subtle rebukes to the feel-good platitudes that were once a Disney staple. It’s impressively daring without ever being preachy or estranging, bestowing braininess and pathos on a first-rate animated adventure.
Zootopia opens on Friday, March 4 in wide release.
