Monday, September 12, 2016

Zootopia

The trailer for Zootopia shown during Star Wars stood out as being the one that didn't have a single person save the world from blowing up. It also made the movie look extremely boring. (Slow talking sloths do not a fun movie make.) However, it was misleading on both counts. Almost. We do have a single bunny that is off the save the world. And the movie was quite entertaining. The plot centers around a society of animals that no longer divides themselves into predators and prey. (How do they eat? That is an awfully large population of vegetarians!) The society sets itself up for plenty of visual humor. There are trains with multiple size doors and a fox that runs a racket by melting down elephant popsicles to make multiple rodent size ones. There is also a chase into a "rodent town" and plenty of other great bits of visual humor.

The theme is that you can do anything that you want and should not fall victim to predefined stereotypes. These stereotypes come from multiple different sides, with even the oppressed finding they are holding views that limit what their supposed oppressors can do. It does a good job of bringing out the theme without trying to attack any individual group.

In the end, the bunny saves the day by uncovering a plot for one group to obtain power by using a plant extract to make animals "wild". In the end, the bad guys are busted, an antidote is made, and an animal sings the catchy song. Make the animals out of legos and it could pass as the next Lego Movie.

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