The animators took a lot of care in creating a world that is populated by talking animals. Zootopia is laid out in different districts, for the most part, and contains areas that any animal would be comfortable in. Like all films with animals, animators traveled the world to get inspiration on how to properly animate the inhabitants of Zootopia. Zootopia itself was modeled after several different major cities, including New York City, Shanghai, Paris, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Brasilia, and Las Vegas. Animators had to create a whole new piece of software to create the fur for all the animals, as they hadn't had a CG film with animals since 2008's Bolt. The IT engineers created iGroom, which gave character designers precise control over the brushing, shaping and shading of fur and made it possible to create a variety of eccentric character styles for each animal.
The cast of Zootopia is headed by Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, and Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde. They could not have cast this better. Bateman plays a smart aleck very well, and Goodwin plays Hopps well as a somewhat naive, yet determined, cop. The rest of the cast includes Idris Elba (he is in everything these days!) as Chief Bogo, Jenny Slate as Dawn Bellwether, Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps, JK Simmons as Leodore Lionheart (pssst...he's a lion), Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton, Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaselton, and Shakira as Gazelle. There are two things I really like about the naming of characters in this movie. The first is that the missing otter, Mr. Otterton, is named Emmitt. If you happened to watch obscure Christmas specials from the 70's, you may recognize the name as an homage to Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, a Jim Henson TV special from 1977. The second thing is Alan Tudyk's character being named Duke Weaselton, an obvious joke about another character Tudyk voiced in Frozen, the Duke of Weselton.
Zootopia continues
Disney Animation's recent domination, honestly putting Pixar to shame.
Considering that John Lasseter runs both, I'm sure he's doing just fine.
Financially, they are both doing great, but critically, I feel that Pixar
hasn't put their best foot forward in quite a few years. Inside Out is their
only certifiable hit critically, but it's a movie that is surrounded by sub-par
sequels and a dinosaur movie nobody watched. Both Finding Dory and The Good
Dinosaur were not even nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy
Awards. Zootopia has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and has been praised as an
important movie in the Disney canon for its message (more on that later). Financially,
the movie grossed $1.024 billion dollars against a $150 million budget. I'd say
they made quite a bit of money. It is currently sitting at 5th for highest
animated film gross (not adjusted for inflation) just below Finding Dory, Toy
Story 3, Minions, and the mighty Frozen. Zootopia went on to win Best Animated
Feature Film from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, the Annie Awards,
and the Critic's Choice Awards. It was nominated at the BAFTA's but lost to
Kubo and the Two Strings.
While not a perfect
allegory for how we are dealing with bigotry and prejudice in present day,
Zootopia attempts to show what can happen when our fears get the better of us.
In present day Zootopia, mammals all live in harmony, but it wasn't always this
way. In the distant past, predators hunted and ate their prey, hearkening back
to a more savage time for animal kind. Times have changed an all seem to live
in peace, though it doesn't take much for a large amount of the population,
animals that would traditionally be considered prey, to begin to fear predators
again when they think they are going feral. Things get worse when it is
incorrectly surmised that it is in the predator's DNA to be savage and violent,
and therefore they could snap at any moment. It is only when Judy Hopps and
Nick Wilde uncover a larger conspiracy that everyone realizes how silly they've
been acting, including Judy herself. This film has humor, mystery, action, and
some of the most nuanced characters to come out of Disney in a while. This is
definitely a new Disney favorite for my family and I couldn't recommend it
more.
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