ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2016-03-08 05:48 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2016-03-08 05:48 pm
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Review: "Zootopia"
If you have not yet seen the movie Zootopia, go do that. It's about a rabbit policewoman and her quest to make the world a better place. This movie is sweet, funny, exciting, and even subtly creepy in a few places. Be careful with your popcorn and soda; this is "you could choke while laughing with your mouth full" territory. Zootopia is well worth the ticket price, and most highly recommended. This concludes the non-spoilery part of my review.
Below this point lie some spoilers. I've painted over the ones that blow the whole plot.
The main themes are free will and civilization.
Judy Hopps wants to become a policewoman even though no rabbits have done so before. And she does. And it's awesome. The movie takes a wonderful look about how diversity works to make a better society, and how it takes work for that to happen. People make mistakes, and make up for them -- or not. There are characters played to type, like the weasel con man; and against type, like the fox who turns out to be honest at heart. It was really fun to see that because it created suspense over how any individual character would turn out.
I am particularly charmed by Judy's characterization. She is absolutely unstoppable, as long as the challenge consists of other people getting in her way. But when she falls short of meeting her own standards, then she pulls the rug out from under herself, and it's really hard for her to get back in action after that. She does it anyway. I'm thrilled to see a real hera in action: she is smart, capable, kind, responsible, and willing to learn from her mistakes. Not a perfect person, but terrific role model.
She's not the only well-written character. The police chief is consistently obnoxious -- even when trying to give a pep talk! But that's what made it funny when the message changed but the tone stayed the same.
The worldbuilding is spectacular, and coming into Zootopia for the first time, you see a great many adaptations of infrastructure made to accommodate widely different sizes, shapes, and needs. Among my favorites is a pneumatic tube used to raise smoothie cups to where giraffe customers could reach them conveniently. But inside the police station, everything is sized for the cops -- who are elephants, rhinos, bears, and other big species. Interestingly they are not all predators, but they are drawn from formidable species.
The diversity comes up again when we see how the different species approach police work. For instance, Judy has to learn how to use her speed, agility, and even her small size to best advantage instead of trying to do things the same way as larger characters do. At one point we get a glimpse of an employee application form, filled out with someone else's very different set of species gifts. Diversity isn't about making everyone the same. It's about capitalizing on the differences, while making sure that people have equal opportunities.
In terms of civilization, the movie looks at how people move together and apart. Some of the city is divided into different environmental zones, not just by climate, but also by size. Other parts are much more mixed. There is a lot of exploration into what it means to be a person, to have a civilization. Respect. Laws. Ethics. There's a hilarious scene with a naturist club where all the characters are naked, and doing some atavistic things like licking themselves. Judy is very put off by this, but refuses to let it stop her. It's a terrific example of harmless quirks contrasted against the very real crimes. That's the old principle of "it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket" in action.
The plot is the creepy part. It starts out with a bunch of missing persons, all predators. The early implications point to straightforward foul play. But then it turns out that something is making decent people suddenly behave in violent, atavistic ways. The loss of self, of agency, of higher thought is not harped upon but very present. I can't help but be reminded that Narnia's capital punishment for Talking Beasts is not death, but reversion to the animal state. For all the lovely fluff on the surface, there is serious stuff underneath.
WARNING: While the movie is not very violent overall, and the injuries are minor, the serious underpinnings of the plot could be very squicky for some people. Characters are drugged and turned into mindless animals. If you are sensitive about bodily and mental integrity, or loss of cognition, there are some very ouchy scenes about that and they are not all the violent ones. Consider your tastes and headspace if these are touchy topics for you.
The things I loved the most about this movie are the messages:
1) Anyone can be anything. <3 this so very much. And it's not wishing that gets them there, it's hard work, both physical and moral. Biology is not destiny. This is demonstrated throughout the movie by showing different character choices and development.
2) Making the world a better place starts with you. If you want something, then you have to work for it. Even if other people make bad choices, you don't have to agree with them or go along with them. You can make your own decisions. Having a nice culture depends on people, individually and collectively, choosing to prioritize civilization over savagery. It's not about having power. It's about having compassion.
3) How you treat people matters. The core conflict actually derives from the fact that Zootopia is idealistic yet imperfect. There are different characters acting on the same perceived injustices in different ways, some constructive and others destructive. People are highly contextual, and most of them will reflect whatever they see around them. So treating people well encourages them to do better, while treating them badly encourages them to do worse.
My one complaint is that Judy never passed along the information that the toxic effects of the night howler plant affect prey species as well as predator species. That really needed to be said, or better yet, shown somehow.
Overall, watching this movie made me happy. I really enjoyed seeing a film that not only celebrated diversity but showed how it works, and how it breaks down, and how to get it running again. I loved that it has genuinely heroic characters who use their wits to accomplish their goals instead of using brute force.
Below this point lie some spoilers. I've painted over the ones that blow the whole plot.
The main themes are free will and civilization.
Judy Hopps wants to become a policewoman even though no rabbits have done so before. And she does. And it's awesome. The movie takes a wonderful look about how diversity works to make a better society, and how it takes work for that to happen. People make mistakes, and make up for them -- or not. There are characters played to type, like the weasel con man; and against type, like the fox who turns out to be honest at heart. It was really fun to see that because it created suspense over how any individual character would turn out.
I am particularly charmed by Judy's characterization. She is absolutely unstoppable, as long as the challenge consists of other people getting in her way. But when she falls short of meeting her own standards, then she pulls the rug out from under herself, and it's really hard for her to get back in action after that. She does it anyway. I'm thrilled to see a real hera in action: she is smart, capable, kind, responsible, and willing to learn from her mistakes. Not a perfect person, but terrific role model.
She's not the only well-written character. The police chief is consistently obnoxious -- even when trying to give a pep talk! But that's what made it funny when the message changed but the tone stayed the same.
The worldbuilding is spectacular, and coming into Zootopia for the first time, you see a great many adaptations of infrastructure made to accommodate widely different sizes, shapes, and needs. Among my favorites is a pneumatic tube used to raise smoothie cups to where giraffe customers could reach them conveniently. But inside the police station, everything is sized for the cops -- who are elephants, rhinos, bears, and other big species. Interestingly they are not all predators, but they are drawn from formidable species.
The diversity comes up again when we see how the different species approach police work. For instance, Judy has to learn how to use her speed, agility, and even her small size to best advantage instead of trying to do things the same way as larger characters do. At one point we get a glimpse of an employee application form, filled out with someone else's very different set of species gifts. Diversity isn't about making everyone the same. It's about capitalizing on the differences, while making sure that people have equal opportunities.
In terms of civilization, the movie looks at how people move together and apart. Some of the city is divided into different environmental zones, not just by climate, but also by size. Other parts are much more mixed. There is a lot of exploration into what it means to be a person, to have a civilization. Respect. Laws. Ethics. There's a hilarious scene with a naturist club where all the characters are naked, and doing some atavistic things like licking themselves. Judy is very put off by this, but refuses to let it stop her. It's a terrific example of harmless quirks contrasted against the very real crimes. That's the old principle of "it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket" in action.
The plot is the creepy part. It starts out with a bunch of missing persons, all predators. The early implications point to straightforward foul play. But then it turns out that something is making decent people suddenly behave in violent, atavistic ways. The loss of self, of agency, of higher thought is not harped upon but very present. I can't help but be reminded that Narnia's capital punishment for Talking Beasts is not death, but reversion to the animal state. For all the lovely fluff on the surface, there is serious stuff underneath.
WARNING: While the movie is not very violent overall, and the injuries are minor, the serious underpinnings of the plot could be very squicky for some people. Characters are drugged and turned into mindless animals. If you are sensitive about bodily and mental integrity, or loss of cognition, there are some very ouchy scenes about that and they are not all the violent ones. Consider your tastes and headspace if these are touchy topics for you.
The things I loved the most about this movie are the messages:
1) Anyone can be anything. <3 this so very much. And it's not wishing that gets them there, it's hard work, both physical and moral. Biology is not destiny. This is demonstrated throughout the movie by showing different character choices and development.
2) Making the world a better place starts with you. If you want something, then you have to work for it. Even if other people make bad choices, you don't have to agree with them or go along with them. You can make your own decisions. Having a nice culture depends on people, individually and collectively, choosing to prioritize civilization over savagery. It's not about having power. It's about having compassion.
3) How you treat people matters. The core conflict actually derives from the fact that Zootopia is idealistic yet imperfect. There are different characters acting on the same perceived injustices in different ways, some constructive and others destructive. People are highly contextual, and most of them will reflect whatever they see around them. So treating people well encourages them to do better, while treating them badly encourages them to do worse.
My one complaint is that Judy never passed along the information that the toxic effects of the night howler plant affect prey species as well as predator species. That really needed to be said, or better yet, shown somehow.
Overall, watching this movie made me happy. I really enjoyed seeing a film that not only celebrated diversity but showed how it works, and how it breaks down, and how to get it running again. I loved that it has genuinely heroic characters who use their wits to accomplish their goals instead of using brute force.
Re: Hmm...
The problem with the wheelchair is collateral damage. Without showing a healthy wheelchair user elsewhere in the movie, it plays into a problem that actual wheelchair users already have, being viewed as an object of horror.
While I don't think it's reasonable to take away a motif, I do consider it reasonable to ask that it be counterbalanced so that it doesn't hurt people.
Re: Hmm...
(Anonymous) 2016-03-12 08:07 am (UTC)(link)Though I found the translucent cages stagelike when they panned the shot back a bit to show the scope of things.
thinking back, though they did take effort to show different body types and give snapshots of them interacting (im thinking of the mousetown chase and the.subway scenes) nd some of the difficulties with having such different scale living side by side I am left wondering how afilm focusing on.so much diversity missed a few oportunities to do a little more. well it does leave room for improvements/variations for the sequel (if they do) or.the fandom (whether they do or don't)
on a different note, something you didnt mentioned that I liked was the more laid back.gender roles that were presented in the form of the adorable.receptionist.cheetah. how it was ok for.him to be how he was and no one mocked or teased him for it. That was a welcome addition to.tje good messages all around in this film.