Zootopia

My daughter loved Zootopia. It was her first movie theater time!

 

Watched it yesterday - it was a lot darker and more political in places than I expected, great movie and there's on doubt they can move forward with a sequel.

 

I felt it was bit too heavy handed in propaganda.

 

Over-analysis if I ever heard it.

 

I've heard the creators were in talks of another film and television potential. It would be pretty fun to see Nick and Judy

Spoiler

fight crime as officers like what they've shown at the end of the film.

 

No, I'd agree with Deuce and Webster: there's clearly an "agenda" in the film. It's hard not to see how the story connects to stereotyping/judging that currently exists in today's political climate...

 

Lovely film, enjoyed it thoroughly. Great animation, great characters, good humor and most importantly of all, a solid story AND original (not a remake). I can see the sequels coming though, but the cop/detective type setup is be very amenable to exploring new stories/cases within the established universe framework. Thumbs up.

 

I think the message was a little heavy-handed, but I also think it had good intentions and was entertaining, so in that sense it can be forgiven. I also agree with the message, and I think most of the audience would also agree in general, but it went on a bit long.

I finally got around to watching ZOOTOPIA on Blu-ray this week, and I thought visually it was a really beautiful movie. The three funniest moments (which I'll spoil a little bit): there's a very amusing BREAKING BAD reference that made me fall down laughing, plus a side-gag about a street punk selling bootleg DVDs that look suspiciously like they're from a certain Burbank animation studio. And the "missing person" in the police case is a Mr. Emmet Otter(ton)... which I bet few will remember was a now-obscure 1977 Muppet TV special.

The single funniest moment in the entire film is the surprise reveal of Mr. Big (voiced by Maurice LaMarche of Pinky & The Brain), but I won't reveal anything more. I also think the final scene, a concert that allows every major character to take their bows, was a riot. Terrific film, but I'd give it a B+ rather than an A.

BTW, my hand to god, Colin, ten minutes into the film I turned to a friend who was watching the movie with me and I said, "just watch -- the sheep will be the villain behind the entire plot." Total guess on my part.

 

I thought the sheep with the glasses was Sarah Silverman; it was actually Jenny Slate.

 

How is that over-analysis? I also thought it was heavy handed. They practically slap you in the face with "don't judge based on race" theme. About the 4th time they mentioned it, I thought: "Okay, I get the theme already..." It was an okay cartoon. I only fell asleep for about five minutes, not bad for me.

 

Great movie, great message, my kids loved it (as did I). Everybody who thinks it comes across as "heavy-handed"...well, it is aimed at children.

 

Yes and no. Yes, children are a large part of the audience, but no, I don't think the message is aimed at them - at least not in terms of its political subtext.

Face it: a lot of adults won't get the movie's analogies, so that side of things will be far over the head of the kiddies.

Animated movies attract a lot of adults and many filmmakers work hard to make sure those films work for young and old...

 

Anthropomorphized animals exhibiting character traits often ascribed to the real animal is nothing new and indeed goes far back to folk tales and into ancient times. Foxes are sly, tigers are fierce, owls are wise, etc, etc. Get over it, and enjoy the movie.

 

That's not the "message" under discussion...

 

Okay. Let's try and not go too deep into politics because I do want this thread to remain open.

 

I think we all know which world-view (groupthink!) is held by Hollywood. I just let it go and if a film is over-the-top with it, then it's usually crummy anyhow and I can avoid.

There are complete spoilers in this thread, by the way. Shouldn't there be a warning?

 

Watched the BR last weekend, excellent audio and video. Enjoyed it. Also enjoyed Disney's last two feature films Brave and Frozen.

 

DISNEY RENAISSANCE (1989-1999)
The Little Mermaid
The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Tarzan

(Post-Ren featured Lilo and Stitch)

DISNEY REVIVAL (2009-present)
The Princess and the Frog
Tangled
Winnie the Pooh
Wreck-It Ralph
Frozen
Big Hero 6
Zootopia

 

I personally think Disney's current revival began with 2008's Bolt since that was the first Disney animated film I really enjoyed in years.

 

Oops! you are right.

 

That was a huge bomb. I saw that at Disney's El Capitan theater in Hollywood, and while the technical quality was fantastic, the plot was really, really lame.

The last few Disney features have had kind of a rigid structure in terms of plot and characters, kind of predictable in a lot of ways, but I have to admit I enjoyed Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia quite a bit. This is an unusual year in that they already had Zootopia and are about to release Finding Dory, and I'd bet you right now both those films will wind up way over the $1 billion mark.

Who came up with these arbitrary dates and names? To me, I'd put recent Disney animation into the Katzenberg era (through 1994), the Eisner era (through 2005), and then the John Lasseter era (2006 to present). Those are the guys who really guided all those animated feature films.

By the way, you left off Treasure Planet and several other horrific Disney animated films that bombed big-time. I worked a little bit on Emporer's New Groove, Dinosaur, and Emporer's New Groove, and they were bad almost beyond belief. Everybody who worked there knew that Eisner was sailing the ship right off the edge of the world. I was glad to see a guy as bright and energetic as John Lasseter take over (years after they canned him); he's got the right attitude and really knows what it takes to make a good animated film, as well as one that can find an audience.

 

I mention Lilo & Stitch from that "post-renaissance" era (2000- '08) and left the bombs out. Your opinion as to the arbitrary eras will have the same impact as any of ours- zilch. It's just a way to put Disney animated feature length films into perspective. The Renaissance is pretty obviously delineated since it began 12 years after The Rescuers and ends when the slump began.

 

Disney is getting sued.

Disney Hit With Lawsuit Claiming 'Zootopia' Ripped Off 'Total Recall' Writer

Disney is now facing a serious lawsuit alleging that Oscar-winning animation film Zootopia was copied from the work of Gary L. Goldman, a reputable author whose distinguished credits includes writing Total Recall and Next and producing Minority Report.

The complaint filed on Tuesday in California federal court comes from Esplanade Productions, Inc., which is being represented by the prominent law firm of Quinn Emanuel.

It opens by quoting Zootopia director Byron Howard as saying, "Don’t worry if you feel like you’re copying something, because if it comes through you, it’s going to filter through you and you’re going to bring your own unique perspective to it."

In the lawsuit, Disney is alleged to have a track record of ripping off work including The Lion King, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Up, Inside Out and more.

"They did it with Zootopia, too, when they copied Gary L. Goldman’s Zootopia," states the complaint. "Twice — in 2000 and 2009 — Goldman, on behalf of Esplanade, pitched Defendants his Zootopia franchise, which included a live-action component called Looney and an animated component called Zootopia. He provided a treatment, a synopsis, character descriptions, character illustrations and other materials. He even provided a title for the franchise: 'Zootopia.' Instead of lawfully acquiring Goldman’s work, Defendants said they were not interested in producing it and sent him on his way. Thereafter, consistent with their culture of unauthorized copying, Defendants copied Goldman’s work. They copied Goldman’s themes, settings, plot, characters, and dialogue — some virtually verbatim."

see link for full article


Example of alleged copying of artwork.