Zootopia

⭐8/10

Kinda a random Disney movie that came out when I wasn't really into Disney movies, so I'm not sure I've actually seen this one before. It was a choice from Jess, and not really one I had an interest in. 

Man, this is a strange one to watch in 2025. Just not a movie that could be made today, or at least not this way. It's a movie where all animals live in society together, but there are tensions between predators and prey, and this movie is all about perception and stereotypes and stuff like that. It really is a movie about racial tensions, and this movie doesn't really hide that at all. But the thing is also that it's a pretty light kids movie, and so all of this is treated with a levity that you simply wouldn't see today. There is a sequel coming out in the fall and I'll be VERY curious to see it because if this one came out today, I don't think these jokes would have made it through the edit, and we probably would have gotten an over-earnest examination of race instead. And I'm not sure that's a bad thing because this movie has nearly an all-white cast, all-white crew, and maybe these topics could have been treated with more sensitivity. 

I actually love the thought of this world. I think a bit of a message of this movie is that differences do exist and that's okay, but it gets into issues when describing those differences. But what would the would look like if people groups were just naturally bloodthirsty, or had to kill to survive? I know, I know, it's not that deep, but I thought this movie was a pretty interesting examination into the circle of life and natural morality. We speak a lot about animal rights, but then animals like wolves or even house cats torture and tear up their prey. Are we okay with this?? There's one for the philosophers!

But this movie mostly glides along the surface of the harder questions, dipping its toe in on occasion, but mostly uses stereotypes for jokes. Sloths are slow, and that's funny. I also loved that Shrews were randomly Italian mobsters? There are a million jokes in this movie and it made me laugh a lot if I didn't think too hard. Mostly this movie works because there are no direct parallels to human races, but they come awfully close. 

There is also some chatter about this being copoganda (it's true) and that Jason Bateman's fox is turning people in furries. Lots more going on than I would have thought! This is a long review for a kids movie, but I thought there was way more here than it gets credit for. Fascinating movie!