“Zootopia” is an entertaining, charming film that will captivate children and adults. It’s also a Disney first, when it comes to tackling sensitive issues that affect society all over the world. It’s not easy to create that type of balance, especially for Disney when there is high expectations for each animated film released. But “Zootopia” manages to entertain and deliver important messages, to children and adults with efficacy. “Zootopia” is recommended!
TITLE: Zootopia
FILM RELEASE: 2016
DURATION: 108 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 2:39:1 Original Aspect Ratio, Color, English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Descriptive Audio, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish / DVD Widescreen (2:39:1), English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital and English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish.
COMPANY: Disney
RATED: PG (For Some Thematic Elements, Rude Humor and Action)
Release Date: June 7, 2016
Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
Story by Byron Howard, Jared Bush, Rich Moore, Josie Trinidad, Jim Reardon, Phil Johnston, Jennifer Lee
Screenplay by Jared Bush, Phil Johnston
Story by Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Meg LeFauve, Kelsey Mann, Bob Peterson
Produced by Denise Ream
Executive Producer: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Associate Producer: Mary Alice Drumm
Music by Jeff Danna, Mychael Danna
Casting by Natalie Lyon, Kevin Reher
Edited by Stephen Schaffer
Production Design by Harley Jessup
Featuring the voices of:
Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps
Jason Basteman as Nick Wilde
Idris Elba as Chief Bogo
Jenny Slate as Bellwether
Nate Torrence as Clawhauser
Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps
Don Lake as Stu hopps
Tommy Chong as Yax
J.K. Simmons as Mayor Lionheart
Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton
Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaselton
Shakira as Gazelle
Raymond S. Persi as Flash
Della Saba as Young Hoops
Maurice LaMarche as Mr. Big
Phil Johnston as Gideon Grey
From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes a comedy-adventure set in the modern mammal metropolis of Zootopia. Determined to prove herself, Officer Judy Hopps, the first bunny on Zootopia s police force, jumps at the chance to crack her first case even if it means partnering with scam-artist fox Nick Wilde to solve the mystery. Bring home this hilarious adventure full of action, heart and tons of bonus extras that take you deeper into the world of Zootopia. It s big fun for all shapes and species! le of.
In 2016, “Zootopia”, the 55th Walt Disney Animated Classics film was released in theaters.
The $150 million film would earn over $1 billion dollars in the box office, becoming the second highest-grossing film of 2016 and the second highest-grossing Walt Disney Animation Studios film of all time (after “Frozen”), the second highest-grossing original film and the fourth highest-grossing animated film of all time.
The film would receive critical acclaim, and now “Zootopia” is available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Directed by Byron Howard (“Tangled”, “Bolt”), Rich Moore (“Wreck-It Ralph”, “The Simpsons”) and Jared Bush (“Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero”, “All of Us”), the animated film would feature a talented cast which includes Ginnifer Goodwin (“Once Upon a Time”, “Walk the Line”, “Something Borrowed”), Jason Bateman (“Horrible Bosses”, “Arrested Development”, “Up in the Air”), Idris Elba (“Pacific Rim”, “Prometheus”, “Thor”), Jenny Slater (“Obvious Child”, “The Lorax”), Nate Torrence (“She’s Out of My League”, “My Best Friend’s Girl”), Bonnie Hunt (“The Green Mile”, “The Bonnie Hunt Show”), Don Lake (“Life With Bonnie”, “The Bonnie Hunt Show”), Tommy Chong (“Up in Smoke”, “After Hours”), J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”, “Spider-Man”, “Juno”), Octavia Spencer (“The Help”, “Being John Malkovich”, “Fruitvale Station”), Alan Tudyk (“I, Robot”, “Frozen”, “Serenity”) and singer Shakira.
“Zootopia” is a film that follows a rabbit named Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) from the rural Bunnyburrow who dreamed of becoming a cop and fulfilled her dream of becoming the first rabbit officer in the Zootopia Police department.
While Judy graduated top of her class, because she is smaller than most of those in the police force, she is not sent on high-profile missing predator cases and is assigned by her boss, Chief Bogo (voiced by Idris Elba) to be a parking duty officer.
While unhappy with the fact that she is using her skills as a parking duty officer, she wants to excel in her job and doing more than is expected from her.
While on the job, she sees a fox named Nick Wilde (voiced by Justin Bateman) and a baby. Seeing that they are in need, Judy buys them a huge popsicle but as she watches over them, she realizes that Nick and the baby (which is actually a small thief pretending to be a baby) were using Judy, in order to turn the big popsicle and making smaller popsicles and reselling them to others.
Feeling that she was duped, she goes after Nick who then tells her to stop being a cop and do a job that is more appropriate for a bunny.
VIDEO:
“Zootopia” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:39:1 aspect ratio). The film looks absolutely gorgeous and vibrant in HD. Closeups of the characters are full of detail, clothing and environments are wonderfully rendered. This is reference picture quality and no sign of banding or artifacts whatsoever.
Overall, “The Good Dinosaur” looks amazing on Blu-ray!
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Zootopia” is presented in English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Descriptive Audio, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. As picture quality was fantastic, the lossless audio is also amazing. With the amount of action in this film, especially with city surroundings. Not only is dialogue and ambiance crystal clear, the action sequences utilize the surround channels effectively and the soundtrack is an audiophile’s dream.
Subtitles are in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Zootopia” comes with the following special features:
- Research: A True-Life Adventure – (9:58) The filmmakers take a trip in the animal kingdom to learn more of the animals for their film.
- The Origin of An Animal Tale – (9:15) The filmmakers discuss the ideas and development of “Zootopia”.
- Zoology: The Roundtables – Featuring three short featurettes (Characters – 5:47, Environments – 5:44 and Animation – 6:52) with actress Ginnifer Goodwin.
- Scoretopia – (4:59) A featurette about the making of the musical score.
- Z.P.D. Forensic Files – (3:23) Disney Easter Eggs shown throughout the film.
- Music Video – (3:21) Music video for “Try Everything” by Shakira.
- Deleted Characters – (3:16) Characters that did not make it to the final cut of the film.
- Deleted Scenes – Featuring seven deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore.
EXTRAS:
“Zootopia” comes with both the Blu-ray and DVD version of the film plus a Disney Movie Rewards code for a digital HD copy of the film.
Typically, when you watch a Disney Animated Classic, you expect family fun and an animated film your children would love. And for parents, we can see a clear message that the writers are trying to get across. Leaving the more deeper stories for the Disney Pixar animated films, it’s more or less how things have been for many years.
Along comes “Zootopia” and not only do we get a family fun animated film, there is not one simple message that the film is trying to get across. If anything, the film is strong on feminism, tackling racism and a film that tries to have its place in cinema with a few references that cineaste or older viewers will no doubt understand and have something to smile about.
So, not only will the children love it, the parents will enjoy it as well.
But does a multi-message film seem a bit too much? Or was it something that people have long yearned for and now, we have a Disney Animated Classic that has surely evolved with the times when it comes to storyline and reaching out to an audience?
Suffice to say, I have always loved Disney’s forward-thinking and “Zootopia” has no doubt reflected that style and delivering a really entertaining film for today’s audiences.
The film focuses on a bunny named Judy Hopps, when she was young, wanting to make a difference in the world, she has had her sights set on becoming a cop.
But being the first bunny in the force, they don’t think she’ s up to the job, especially compared to her male counterparts. She is given a job to write tickets as a parking duty officer.
Needless to say, things happen and Judy gets the opportunity to take on a duty that her Captain doesn’t think she has much of a chance in succeeding.
Meanwhile, Judy befriends a criminal fox named Nick Wilde and he happens to be a predator. Predator’s are seen as animals that are troublesome and have been bred in violence. And for some reason, several predators have reverted to their original nature and are causing violent attacks. Animals have gone missing and everyone immediately blames the predators. So, much that law abiding predators are unable to keep their jobs and all predators are feared to be violent.
As mentioned, this film takes on feminism in a positive note, it also takes on racism and unfortunately, bringing up real events of fear and hate mongering and the generalizing of one race as being violent.
This will no doubt make teenagers and adults praise the film for taking on these complex issues affecting the world, and for children, the shenanigans and adventures that Judy and Nick experience throughout the film, especially their interaction with sloths will make them chuckle.
As for the Blu-ray release, animation is magnificent as detail is incredible. Lossless audio is well-utilized, considering all the action featured throughout the film. Also, there are a good number of special features included as well.
It’s important to note that there is also a 3D version of the film available on Blu-ray as well.
Overall, “Zootopia” is an entertaining, charming film that will captivate children and adults. It’s also a Disney first, when it comes to tackling sensitive issues that affect society all over the world. It’s not easy to create that type of balance, especially for Disney when there is high expectations for each animated film released. But “Zootopia” manages to entertain and deliver important messages, to children and adults with efficacy.
“Zootopia” is recommended!
