Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Zootopia

I feel that I should start this particular article with a disclaimer. This article will deal with the very heavy and serious topic of racial prejudice. In addition, in this article, I will be discussing police officers often and at times referring to them in a positive light. Given today’s current climate and the ongoing issue of police brutality, I want to make it clear that the police officers I am referring to are strictly fictional and my comments are entirely within the context of the film. While I have my own thoughts on the numerous hate crimes committed by members of the real-life police force, those are for a different article entirely. The intent of Deep Dive Disney is to provide entertainment and intellectual analysis, nothing more. That out of the way, welcome everyone to Deep Dive Disney, where today, we’ll finally be discussing another film in my much vaunted Big 5. Since it’s been a little while, My Big 5 are the five Disney movies that hold the most special place in my heart. So far, we’ve already covered The Great Mouse Detective, Hercules and my all-time favorite Disney movie, A Goofy Movie. Now, we’ve finally reached the final two, and as an added bonus, we’re hitting them back-to-back, starting with today’s article, Zootopia. I absolutely love this movie. Not only is the film incredibly charming, funny and creative, filled with likable and interesting characters, it is also a surprisingly strong commentary on the nature of prejudice. In a world entirely populated by anthropomorphic animals (a world I theorize to be the same one from Disney’s Robin Hood), we are introduced Judy Hopps, a young bunny-rabbit who dreams of one day moving to Zootopia, the shining capitol city of this society, to become a police officer, feeling that that’s how she might best make the world a better place. The fact that there has never been a bunny cop before only seems to further motivate Judy to prove the naysayers wrong and despite the disadvantage of being smaller and weaker than a lot of the other animals, she still manages to graduate at the top of her class at the academy. However, once Judy reaches Zootopia, being a police officer turns out to be far more difficult than she anticipated. Judy is certainly tenacious and skilled at her job, but her over-eagerness tends to get her in trouble with her chief who insists she remain on parking duty. Judy is finally given the opportunity to prove herself when she’s given forty-eight hours to solve a missing persons case or turn in her badge. With the help of a streetwise fox con-artist named Nick Wilde, Judy learns that her simple missing persons case is actually tied to a string of disappearing predatory animals all over the city, many of whom turn up later as mindless feral beasts. This development serves to exacerbate the already deep-seated anti-predator bias within the city and special tension threatens to tear the fabric of the community apart. Now it’s up to Nick and Judy to uncover the truth of this conspiracy, as well as overcome some of their own biases and preconceptions about each other, in order to save the day. It’s one of my favorite Disney movies for a reason, now let me show you why when we look at Zootopia.

Main Character:

Once again, we have characters who share the role of main character in equal measure. We’ll start with Judy. A common recurring theme we’re going to be seeing throughout this film is the subversion of expectations by playing around with our preconceptions about certain animals. It’s not present with every character, but it’s enough to where it’s worth pointing out whenever it comes up. As such, Judy, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, who at the time was known for another Disney related project in her role as Snow White in ABC’s Once Upon a Time, a subject we really should tackle in greater detail one of these days, is assumed to be weak and timid because she’s a rabbit, but in actuality, she’s pretty tough and very clever when she needs to be. Judy is an optimist who just wants to do good in the world, despite being either blissfully unaware or simply uninterested in the fact that she lives in a world where optimism seems like a nearly futile practice, definitely something yours truly can relate to. She’s a bit too eager to do good and make a difference, which gets her in a lot of trouble with her superior officers, but it’s coming from a good place. She wants to make the world a better place and in doing so, prove that she’s more than just a dumb bunny like the bullies who picked on her as a child always said she was. What Judy doesn’t realize is that she has some deep-rooted prejudices of her own that she needs to overcome, especially when it comes to predators, with a particular emphasis on foxes. Afterall, Judy buys the suggestion that the predators going savage is tied to biology and when Nick calls her on it, she’s not sure how to respond and even instinctively reaches for her fox repellent when Nick shows signs of aggression. It’s a line of thought that costs her the most meaningful friendship she’s ever had, albeit temporarily. On that subject, while I’ve had my misgivings with films that make use of the third act breakup trope in the past, I feel that this is one of those rare movies that actually earns it. Nick is rightfully outraged by Judy’s actions and Judy is so devastated by what she’s done and how it’s affected both her friendship with Nick as well as the city as a whole that she quits the force in shame. It’s surprisingly powerful and makes it all the more of a satisfying moment when they make up.

That in mind, let’s move on to Nick Wilde, voiced by the very talented Jason Bateman. When we meet Nick, he’s clearly a lot more world weary than the somewhat naïve Judy. Having lived in Zootopia his whole life, he has a much more accurate picture of how crappy the place can be for someone like him than Judy who’s only just arrived. As a fox, Nick is typically seen as shifty and untrustworthy as well as often uncomfortably referred to simply as “Fox” in the same tone of voice that one might use to refer to a person of color as “Boy.” While Nick is happy to play the part of a sly con artist, believing that if that’s how Society is going to see him, there’s no point in being anything else. However, as we get to know Nick, we see that he is, again, in a subversion of one’s preconceived notions regarding his species, noble, loyal, kind and willing to look out for the little guy. Notice that when Bogo tries to take Judy’s badge, Nick immediately stands up for her and soon after, he opens up to her about his past. He doesn’t admit it, but he’s definitely grown pretty fond of Judy during their time together. By the way, Nick’s story about his past is something that we’ll be saving for the Dark Disney Factor because it is a doozy. I actually really like that Nick is genuinely touched by Judy’s suggestion that become a police officer and even fills out the application. Finally, a chance to be more than a fox. And then comes Judy’s speech about the predators going savage is tied to their biology. Credit to the animators, Nick’s reaction to this is brilliant. To borrow an old gag from The Simpsons, you really can pinpoint the moment Nick’s heart rips in half. He finally thought he’d found someone who respects him and believes in him, but she’s just as prejudice as everyone else. And after the press conference, Nick rightfully calls Judy out on her bullshit, even mentioning that he noticed that Judy carries Fox repellent the first time they met. Then, Nick asks a simple question, “Are you afraid of me.” Judy doesn’t answer, but the look in her eyes says it all. Judy, for all her talk of making the world a better place, is still part of the problem, even if she’s not conscious of it. Together, Nick and Judy actually form a fun and interesting duo. They’re very much in the vain of a lot of great buddy-cop films of the past, but they still are given plenty of depth, both individual and in their relationship to one another.

Villain:

Another day, another twist villain. I’ll admit, the reveal that Dawn Bellwether, the put-upon assistant mayor of Zootopia was actually the mastermind behind the entire conspiracy could have been set up a lot better, but it is still hinted at in some very clever ways throughout the film, most of them only visible in hindsight, my favorite example being that the reporter who asks the question that leads to Judy’s theory of predator biology was actually one of Bellwether’s ram henchmen. In yet another subversion of preconceptions, Bellwether, a sheep, a term often used to describe a mindless follower, is actually a ruthless, intelligent and diabolical manipulator. With the aid of her henchmen, specifically a sniper named Doug, Bellwether drugged various predators with a serum that causes them to go savage with the aim of increasing anti-predator biases that she can then fan the flames of in a bid for more power. While she may be a cartoon sheep, the evil that Bellwether represents is all too real. As long as prejudice has existed, which is an unfathomably long time, there have always been those who try and profit from it in one form or another. Sometimes they believe their own bullshit and sometimes they just go along with it to rally the people behind them, but either way, such people prey on the biases of others in order to further their own agenda. And that, ironically, is what Bellwether is, a predator. Not one who hunts weaker animals for sustenance, but one who preys upon the misfortune of others for power. While she may not be the strongest Disney villain, she is still a monster, one who is sadly all too real.

Side Characters:

Alright, here we go. There are a LOT of side characters in this film and I’m going to do my best to hit each one. Let’s Go!

Judy’s parents are pretty good and I like how they stress the importance of realistic expectations to their daughter. They may not be very tactful about it, but they seem to know that not everyone gets to be what they want to be when they grow up and want to make sure that Judy is emotionally prepared for disappointment.

Gideon Gray is a bully from Judy’s childhood and the one primarily responsible for Judy’s anti-fox bias. As a child he’s a jerk and kind of a moron but I really like what’s done with when we catch up with him later in the film. As an adult, Gideon is still a bit of a hayseed, but he’s shown to have matured a great deal since his youth. He’s now running a successful business, he’s apologetic towards Judy for how he acted when he was a kid, he’s clearly been going to therapy to deal with his own issues and he even, albeit unknowingly, provides Judy with the vital clue that she needs to blow the case wide open.

Benjamin Clawhauser, the dispatcher at the precinct, is one of the more obvious species-based subversions. Most people associate cheetahs with being vicious and incredibly fast. But Clawhauser is overweight, friendly and pretty much completely harmless. While I’m not usually a fan of fat jokes, at least there’s a point to it with this character.

Yax is a yak who runs an animal nudist club and is voiced by Tommy Chong. Get this guy together with Bonzai Hyena from The Lion King and we have ourselves a party going. In addition, Nongi the elephant, a yoga instructor at the club is shown to be incredibly forgetful, subverting the old saying, “An Elephant Never Forgets.”

Alan Tudyk plays a low-life thief and bootlegger named Duke Weaselton, an obvious reference to The Duke of Wesselton from Frozen, both characters being voiced by Alan Tudyk, Tudyk doing his best Steven Buscemi impression to portray the former. You think that’s crazy, wait until you see what they have Tudyk doing in the next movie. Actually, on this subject, now’s a good time to point out that this movie came out right around the time that people were finally starting to get fed up with the oversaturation of Frozen. It seems Disney was aware of this since this film actually takes a couple of cheap shots, more on that later.

Lionheart is the mayor of Zootopia. Voiced by the wonderful J.K. Simmons, who I just recently found out is also the voice of the Yellow M&M from all those commercials, Lionheart is a politician through and through. It’s actually him who assigns Judy to Precinct One, likely a political move in order to secure the bunny vote. What we later learn is that Lionheart knew about the predators going savage and was actually doing all he could to solve the problem. This is partially motivated by self-interest since if the people learn of predators going savage, they’re likely to turn on their lion mayor, but he also isn’t so heartless that he wants to see his city torn apart from the inside by a wave of anti-predator bias. Notice that after Lionheart is arrested (rightfully so since good intentions or not, kidnapping is still kidnapping), predators start going savage in public as opposed to secluded areas like before. This is likely another insidious part of Bellwether’s scheme since now that Judy’s blown the lid off things and inadvertently created a wide-spread panic, Bellwether can now escalate things freely and has gotten Lionheart out of the way.

The late Tiny Lister, known for the role of Deebo in the movie Friday, plays Finnick, a fennec fox who is one of Nick’s partners in crime, usually posing as a child due to his small stature to aid with Nick’s cons. While the little person posing as a child for the sake of some nasty scheme is a trope that dates all the way back to Bugs Bunny, it is still yet another subversion of expectations.

Judy’s gemsbok neighbors are unapologetically loud and also canonically a gay couple, that’s neat.

Josh Dallas, Ginnifer Goodwin’s husband and Once Upon A Time co-star, has a cameo as a pig who runs a produce store, that’s also neat.

Mr. Big, a crime boss voiced by the legendary Maurice Lamarche doing a high-pitched Marlon Brando impression, is an awesome character. I love how as soon as Nick finds out that they’re dealing with Mr. Big, his normally Snarky façade drops immediately, showing that Mr. Big is seriously bad news for those who cross him, and since Nick sold his grandmother a rug made from a skunk’s ass, I’d say that puts him on the list. Mr. Big is actually a two-fold of subversions. First, you’d think a guy named Mr. Big who keeps a ton of enormous and tough-looking polar bears in his employ would be a massive, hulking brute himself as opposed to the tiny little shrew he actually is. Second, while he is undoubtedly a ruthless crime boss and will ice anyone who he feels deserves it, he’s also shown to be a loving father and a kind-hearted gentlemen to those who get on his good side, demonstrated by his more than amicable attitude towards Judy once he learns that she saved his daughter’s life.

Finally, there’s my favorite character Chief Bogo, the African Buffalo police chief voiced by the eternally awesome Idris “Tonight We’re Cancelling The Apocalypse” Elba. I think the way some of Bogo’s actions in the film are framed, he can come across as a bit of a jerk, but I don’t think he actually does anything wrong. Sure, he’s a bit of a hard ass when it comes to running his precinct and is certainly not the type to give anyone special treatment, but he’s absolutely in the right when he assigns Judy to parking duty. Look, I love Judy, and I appreciate that she wants to prove herself, but I think graduating at the top of her class at the academy gave her a bit of a swelled head and she can definitely stand to be taken down a peg or two with this more humble assignment. Also, it’s probably a smart idea not to trust this untested rookie who’s been a cop for all of twenty-four hours with this high-profile missing persons case and instead give her this comparatively easier assignment and then make see about bigger assignments based on her performance, you know, like how it works in the real world. Then, he chews Judy out for abandoning her post to chase Duke. While Judy did the right thing in going after the thief, but she also caused a ton of collateral damage that could have been avoided had she followed proper procedure. Later, when Bogo tries to fire Judy, he’s absolutely right to do so since she undermined her superior in front of the public. Believe me, that will get you fired at any job and Bogo only relents when Bellwether insists, likely seeing an opportunity to further her own agenda. All that having been said, I appreciate that we do see Judy earn Bogo’s respect, and once she does, he becomes one of her biggest supporters. I also like that we briefly see his soft side as he’s shown to be a fan of a pop singer named Gazelle, more on her in our next section.

Songs:

There’s only one song of note in Zootopia. It’s called Try Everything and it’s performed by the previously mentioned pop singer, Gazelle who is herself voiced by Shakira. The song itself is a lot of fun, at least in my opinion since I’ve always enjoyed Shakira’s music. What? Hips Don’t Lie was a Jam when I was in high school. Not really too much else to say about the song, it’s just a fun and catchy tune.

Memorable Scenes:

Well, I would normally talk about Judy and Nick’s big fight here since I personally feel it to be the best and most poignant scene in the film. However, we pretty much covered all that needs to be covered about it when we discussed Nick and Judy so… next!

As I mentioned earlier, this film takes a more than a few cheap shots at Frozen, my favorite coming during the scene where Bogo chews out Judy. And I quote: “Life isn’t some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true! So let, it, go.” Nice!

Finally, I need to talk about the sloth scene, the scene that was so hilarious, not even having it shown in its entirety for the film’s teaser trailer could ruin it. Following up on a lead, Nick and Judy head to the department of motor vehicles to run a license plate, only to find that the entire DMV is run by sloths. Now personally, I don’t mind the DMV, I usually see it as an excuse to catch up on my reading, but this is still some pretty hilarious satire. The super slow speech patterns of the sloths combined with their slow reaction time never fails to get a laugh, same with Judy’s increasing frustration and impatience. The best part is where Nick tells a joke and there’s a long pause as the Sloth’s expression slowly morphs into one of pure joy as he laughs in slow motion. Priceless.

Story:

Before we get into the real meat and potatoes, I just want to comment on how cool the world of Zootopia really is. There’s so much attention to detail in the design of the city and the backstory given is incredibly creative. Also, I have always theorized that Zootopia takes place in the same universe as Disney’s Robin Hood and that Nick is a Descendant of Robin Hood himself. It would certainly explain his more noble tendencies. So, we’ve pretty much established by this point that this is a movie about prejudice. We’ve covered a lot of the major points I wanted to hit in the earlier sections, like how even the most well-meaning individuals can have deep-rooted prejudices, corrupt individuals will prey upon these prejudices to further their agenda and that often times our preconceived notions about certain groups are false. What I appreciate is that this film shows that the prejudice isn’t caused by one villain and it doesn’t go away after the villain is foiled. Bellwether just takes advantage of a problem that’s already there and, while things improve somewhat once Bellwether is brought to justice, it’s clear that there’s still a lot of work to be done, just like in real life. I think there’s a line from Bogo that really illustrates what this movie is trying to say. After Judy’s whole speech about predators and biology, she’s devastated by the violent increase in the divide between predators and prey. Judy says that she wanted to make the world a better place but ended up breaking it instead. Bogo, in a scene that shows the character at his most sincere says: “Don’t give yourself so much credit, Hopps. The world has always been broken, that’s why we need good cops, like you.” Regardless of your opinion of the police, Bogo is absolutely right. Prejudice and hatred is a problem that’s not going away any time soon. What it needs for things to improve is good people, people willing to acknowledge their own prejudices, work to correct them, learn about others different from yourself, put in the effort to make the world a better place, and inspire others to do the same.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Well, seeing regular everyday people turning into… well… for lack of a better term, animals, is pretty unsettling and some of the encounters that Nick and Judy have with the infected predators can get pretty scary.

There’s also the small matter of Nick’s traumatic childhood. Apparently, as a kid, nick wanted to be a junior ranger scout, but when he took the oath, the other scouts attacked shoved his face into a muzzle, leaving Nick with a cynical world view, a belief that he’ll never be more than what he is and a serious case of PTSD, all because he’s a Fox. The scene is utterly horrific because of how real it seems and it’s definitely one of the darkest moments I’ve seen in a modern Disney film.

Final Thoughts: I LOVE this movie. It has rightfully earned its spot within my Big 5. It's incredibly charming, creative and poignant and the characters are a ton of fun. It's a film that gets better and better every time I watch it and this time around was no exception. It's message about the nature of prejudice is one I think a lot of people really need to hear in today's world. Give it a watch and see for yourself. Next time, we tackle a movie that's ranked even higher in my Big 5 as we finally tackle Moana.