Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

(2016)

One can like Zootopia and not go to conventions wearing fuzzy animal mascot costumes. I’m living proof of that.

I would like to see more gritty crime dramas featuring cute woodland creatures. Oops. Sorry! I didn’t mean to say “cute”. That’s their word.

The racial tensions notwithstanding (even though ultimately these tensions are at the heart of the plot) this story is Duh-ARK! It’s dark! It’s as dark as The Incredibles 2 was. It starts out with fun and funny little scenes; world building moments where the myriad of species interact and move about each in their unique way. It’s really… uh… can I say “adorable”?

However as the plot thickens and Judy Hopps delves into the shady underworld of Zootopia, the *ahem* “cuteness” factor is replaced by nefarious organizations and seedy laboratories concocting dubious formulas. The humor is replaced with downright scariness. It was kid friendly enough, I suppose, but it was content I’d expect to see in a nighttime TV crime drama, not a Disney animated feature.

But my opinion on this is the same as for The Incredibles 2. Yes, it is dark but I liked it. I’d like it if you just replaced all the characters of CSI with Judy Hopps and other anthropomorphic animals, with its serious plots, animal criminals un-aliving other animal-people, and… Well, I’m gonna draw the line at sex and seduction because that is how weird fetishes get started. Not kink shaming or weird shaming here but we have enough kinks going around without making more. Pretty sure this one has already started anyway and I refuse to be party to perpetuating it.

Nick Wilde (the fox) was a really likable character too. He and Judy make a great team. A sequel where he joins the force will be great, I think. I wish they’d go all Miami Vice with it and slather on a thick helping of 80’s.

All in all, I think the first film had a lot of potential for growth so I’m excited for the sequel, whatever they do with it.

The message was important but maybe a little confusing when trying to apply it to the human condition. It requires some deeper thinking than most of this film’s target demographic is likely to engage in. I don’t mean to sound arrogant with that comment. I’m just saying it’s easy, myself included, to watch this and think “Yay! Funny animal movie! Aw, movie over? Time for hot dogs!”

Like, who am I in the story? Am I a predator or am I prey? Is my mother a sheep? But the prey were the bad guys, right? No! Neither predators nor prey were inherently bad. The division between predator and prey was bad for society. The prejudices were the badness. Someone was trying to make one group look bad in order to reignite prejudices. That’s bad. See, what I mean? It’s complicated. But it’s a good message. It’s a good thing to delve into this message mentally and emotionally. I encourage it. Good movie… wait, what do the predators eat in this film?