Zootopia - Barney's Incorrect Five Second Reviews

I saw a trailer for this before, I think, Star Wars and it was mostly a scene where they go to the DMV and meet the sloths. Not a single kid in the theater and everyone was laughing their asses off, including me. I may actually watch the whole movie at some point just to see the rest of that scene.

Yeah, that scene is a crowd pleaser- very well written and very funny...pretty bold too, because they really let that one go on for comedic effect. That said, it is actually abbreviated a little in the film.

LOVE this movie. I think it's just awesome. Probably the most sophisticated, honest film about racism ever made. I don't know if I've ever seen a film where the hero basically says something really racist and then later is like "oh crap, I said that?" It also doesn't play the "we're all the same" platitude...because the characters in this film are actually biologically, psychologically different. What matters isn't their race/species/whatever. What matters is that they are all ANIMALS. There's a really powerful, very timely message in the film that doesn't ignore that everybody is different, cultures are different...and that accommodation, tolerance and understanding are the way to go.

My kids demand to hear the Gazelle song every day.

I hate that in the UK and elsewhere they changed the name to Zootropolis. That's a terrible decision because it messes with the themes of the film. It's supposed to be UTOPIAN. Without that play on words, some of the messaging is slightly muted.

I don't know about important, but it was a really good film. I loved that it was a kid version of a caper flick framed in an "underdog overcomes" veneer.

Kids started singing along with the gazelle chick, can't really get much better than that.

The only thing that bugs me about it is that the race analogy is a bit strained. If you take it from the other side, it seems close to suggesting, "hey, these animals of different species should get along. We should do the same thing with people." And then... well... different races are NOT different species. They're the same species. The biological and dietary differences between different species are real, not imagined or created by society. In that last scene where Judy and the fox are all, "I love you too," it comes short of strongly suggesting a romantic relationship. And then you might say, "well, people can have romantic relationships with people even if they can't produce offspring." You know, homosexuality and stuff is fine... but again, I don't think people want interracial marriage or homosexuality to be compared to interspecies mating, which is usually called bestiality.

Or maybe I'm way off base here. The movie had some great scenes, like the one where Judy is chasing the fox through town, including Little Rodentia. I also liked the little part where Judy is all "it's not nice to call a bunny cute," to show how even positive stereotypes can be limiting or patronizing.

I didn't get any feeling at all of a romantic relationship between Judy and Jason Bateman. It felt like a genuine friendship, even a professional one.

Yeah, going through little Rodentia was brilliant.

Yeah, part of me cynically thought back to Hillary Clinton's "Super-Predator" diatribe when they were talking about predators. The 10% minority of predators kept coming up.

That kind of bugged me a little.

All in all, I saw it way more as a story about a person who could break stereotypes and be what they want to be (a rabbit cop and a reformed con artist cop) than about racial relations.

That's a theme that runs through pretty much everything Disney. Dream big, don't let people put you in a box, etc.

I think the really novel part is that it's a caper film. I can't remember a good Disney caper film other than The Adventurers, or even The Adventurers Down Under to a lesser degree. Don Bluth made better films, IMO - All Dogs Go To Heaven is pretty much better than anything Disney ever put out aside from maybe Treasure Island, as far as writing goes.Titan AE is mind-blowingly good, too Land Before Time, An American Tail, and NIMH....those are what animated films should be.

If it wasn't for Ghibli, and now this film, I'd argue that Disney has lost the ability to write a quality story. I'm thinking that Ghibli probably has impacted ol' Walt Disney more than anything - they don't have to write shitty kids' films anymore. There's a market for thoughtful films with an artistic value too (Ponyo is my favorite animated film EVAR), and they're just now starting to think about that.

We saw this a few days ago and thought it was absolutely amazing. You guys nailed it on the head as far as the depth of this movie. I was thoroughly impressed with Disney going this route with this film.

I talked to some friends yesterday about how good this film was. They said it was "ok" and it looked more like a Dreamscape movie to them instead of a movie like Lion King or Aladdin. I have no idea what the hell they were talking about. When I think Dreamscape movies, I think of more comedy-heavy stuff like Shrek or Kung Fu Panda. This was not even close to being something like that. Also, traditional Disney movies have songs and have fluffy plots with obviously good-looking protagonists and obviously bad-looking antagonists. I'm severely suspicious of their ability to judge movies. Am I wrong here?

Dreamscape? Do you mean Dreamworks?

If so, your friends are out to lunch. That studio's only great movie was How to Train Your Dragon. Everything else runs from mediocre to terrible. If anything, Zootopia feels like a PIXAR movie more than a traditional Disney animated movie. We don't have a female protagonist in desperate need of a male to save her. I think Judy does just fine on her own.

Your friends sound cynical hipsters and are prolly hating on the movie because it's so popular and widely praised. Maybe the point they're making is that it doesn't feel like a traditional Disney movie but more in line with modern animated movies, which is true. And that's a good thing! Disney has grown up and is making much more empowering films.

I comlpetely agree this is a great movie and I plan to buy a copy.

Though PIXAR does not need to worry about trying to beat this as PIXAR is now Disney. They even took the Executive Producer (John Lasseter) at PIXAR and put him in charge (Chief Creative Officer) of Disney is addition to PIXAR. That may be why this feels like a PIXAR movie as Disney is learning from the talent they merged with.
Who knows now where one begins and the other ends now.

Oops... I meant Dreamworks.

Yeah, my friends are probably the opposite of hipsters. They're a little bit dense sometimes. I think they expected something like Frozen. Maybe they'll have second thoughts on Zootopia since I praised it so much.

Black Barney wrote: Dreamscape? Do you mean Dreamworks?

If so, your friends are out to lunch. That studio's only great movie was How to Train Your Dragon. Everything else runs from mediocre to terrible.

Are you fucking nuts?

Shrek
Road to El Dorado
Prince of Egypt
MUNICH
TROPIC THUNDER
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
BRIDGE OF SPIES

The list goes on and on. Many Oscar nominated, and awarded.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DreamWorks_Pictures_films

Please do not disseminate bullshit. That's Barnes' job

He's talking DreamWorks Animation--it's a sub-studio and he's right, their films are hot garbage.

And Varys, your friends like Disney PRINCESS movies. The animated musicals. Zootopia is an animated feature film. I bet that's what's stuck in their craw.

I liked Zootopia--it's a little too pat sometimes, and some of the dialogue is Sorkinish. But it's clever and some of the jokes are genuinely great. My kids were busting up and swear to God a four year old was dancing in the aisle when the credits rolled.