‘Zootopia’ takes on world problems with adorable mammals

Disney creates perfectly timed masterpiece

Max Blackburn

Screen Shot 2016-04-08 at 9.03.35 AMUsed with fair use from Walt Disney Animation Studios
Disney creates many high-selling, incredible movies that remain popular decades after their initial release, and “
Zootopia” is no exception.

“Zootopia” leads its story with the classic idea of a sweet main character with massive dreams and an adventure to eventually reach them. Despite this plot device’s popularity, while watching the movie the plot never gives off a feeling of being unoriginal.

Judy Hopp, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, is a bunny who lives on a carrot farm outside the city of Zootopia, and her dream is to become the city’s first bunny police officer. This fanciful and incredibly designed metropolis of Zootopia is home to all the mammals of the animal kingdom, both predators and prey living in harmony. Just like any other city, though, life there is no cakewalk. Judy finds it hard to acclimate to her new life — especially when she’s suddenly thrown into a Los Angeles-style detective case affecting the entire city.

The basis of the case is the whether or not the predator and prey mammals can continue to live in harmony in Zootopia. The case throws social life and justice into question, causing a massive rift between the two groups. There’s even mention of finding some way to separate the two groups, and although production for this movie started in 2013, it still feels like a blatant Donald Trump reference.

With all of the social justice problems and equal rights movements happening in our country at the moment, this movie shows in a very cute way the notion of accepting everyone is possible and truly important in modern society.

The movie has countless other positives as well. The cartooning and artwork in the movie amazes the audience and the imagination behind it is truly inspiring. Jason Bateman, who plays the sly fox Nick Wilde, always has the perfect thing to say at any moment. All the characters were written perfectly and the plot contained no major, or even minor, holes.

The movie had the right level of humor so every age group could enjoy it, not to mention an amazing reference to the “Godfather” that was so accurate it almost didn’t fit within the scene in “Zootopia.” The movie also does its usual Disney movie job of teaching an important lesson about social justice and equality to the younger generation and it does it perfectly.

“Zootopia” will likely not be the answer to all the world’s problems surrounding equality, but it could be a place to start — or a frame of reference. It’s worth whatever someone pays to see it and will probably be worth it for decades to come. Teaching important life lessons through animated mammals may seem like a childish way to deal with world problems, but if it’s done to this level of quality, it should be done all the time.

Rating 10/10