Viewed – 06 August 2016  Blu-ray

I struggle reviewing animated movies, now more than ever it seems as I absolutely love all aspects of animation and in recent years we seem to have been absolutely spoilt.  So it’d be easy to automatically praise and gush over a big name animated movie, but my job here is not to do that despite my slight bias and tell you people straight…so I’ll try my best.

Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) is set in a sort of alternative reality where animals have evolved into living like humans, having jobs, going to work etc … and one such animal, a rabbit called Judy Hopps has dreamt all of her life of being a Police Officer.  Soon she’s defying her unassuming, safe-living parents and attending Police Academy.  There she wows her instructors until she gets a job at the ZPD over in the city of Zootropolis.  However being a rabbit, Judy’s quickly met with prejudice from cops more thought to be tigers, rhinoceroses or elephants.  However whilst battling said prejudices Judy befriends a cunning, street-wise Fox who faces similar problems.

The first thing to be said about this one is that it’s a solid concept, somewhat borrowed from Monsters Inc. as far as it’s blue-collar workers world is concerned, but is presented imaginatively with some great in-jokes and colourful characters.  The city itself also has a great sense of place, with various distinct districts.  The movie aswell looks gorgeous, incredibly colourful and full of little details – nothing unusual for Disney these days, but this is certainly one of the best looking movie’s you can watch right now.   The character of Judy is somewhat clichéd however … all boundless enthusiasm that’s soon brought crashing down to earth and then having to typically prove herself.  Also that message of prejudice and racism is hammered home a bit too thick at times, and could have done with a little subtlety.  It also isn’t as funny as I’d have hoped, going for more of an action and character piece, but with sly Fox Nick Wild this movie at least finds it’s secret sauce and he’s a character I’d sure like to see more of.  So another solid effort from Disney and another top-drawer animated feature to go check out.  This one had a little more going for it than your typical Disney Princess fair, but despite lacking the heart of say… Inside Out I still had a great time.

Verdict:  4 /5