Zootopia
Growing up watching children’s television in the early ‘90s, it was practically impossible to get through a week without being treated to a parable about prejudice and xenophobia. Invariably they boiled down to the same, simple message: be nice to one another.
Zootopia, Disney’s latest animated adventure, offers similar platitudes early on. Rural rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) wants to join the police force, and despite the judgements of her parents and peers – who are astounded at the very idea of a ‘bunny cop’ – she steels herself through a tough run at police academy and becomes a full-fledged officer.
Despite encountering species stereotypes – rabbits are ‘cute’ carrot farmers, foxes are ‘sneaky’ and untrustworthy – the moral is straight out of those ‘90s cartoons: try hard enough and you can overcome the odds.
Thankfully, Zootopia’s creators soon update their anti-racist rhetoric for the 21st century. Zootopia – a sprawling metropolis divided into different settings (snow, desert, rainforest, etc.) and populated by innumerous animal species – isn’t the haven of tolerance and acceptance Judy expected.
Judy’s forays into ‘real’ police work – such as defending a fox (Jason Bateman) from discrimination – don’t warrant the acclaim you (and she) might expect. That fox turns out to be a popsicle hustler named Nick Wilde. Nick comprehensively shuts down the young cop’s optimistic view, but ends up partnering up with the rookie cop to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances. They discover those disappearances are linked to the kind of racist (or ‘speciest’) fearmongering familiar to anyone following American politics.
For the kiddies in the audience who might not be overly receptive to ruminations on racism, directors Bryan Howard and Rich Moore offer up a colourful, richly detailed world. There’s plenty to satisfy the parents, too, with the occasional pop culture reference. (Thankfully, they’re light enough to keep this from feeling like a Shrek sequel.)
Using animal species as an allegory for race seems clever. But it’s an imperfect analogy. A fox is a predator and a rabbit isn’t; there’s a biological component involved that isn’t relevant to race. Thankfully, the screenwriters recognised this failing in the film’s third act, in which the biological component of their world is explicitly challenged (alongside some admittedly ropey plotting).
“In Zootopia, anyone can do anything,” is rejected for something appreciably messier. Neat, huh? Zootopia is an another success for Disney: gorgeously animated and brilliantly imagined with a nuanced consideration of racism to boot. (DC)
***1/2
BY DAVE CREWE
