[CRITICAL] ZOOTOPIE

The first thing that jumps to the eyes, it is as well the technique. Far from being as impressive and photo-realistic that in The Journey of Arlo, she is shown mainly through the interesting art direction. It expresses the coherence between form and content, between speech discrimination and the cliché, and this world that is both utopian and dystopian. We regret, however, that the film does not exploit better the different districts of Zootropolis (polar, jungle, desert, urban, suburban).

The staging, meanwhile, accompanies wisely this speech. For example, the camera adopts the point of view of Judy Hopps (and, by extension, Nick Wilde), that is to say, is at the height of the “small animal” in a world generally designed for larger animals. There are as well a fantastic immersion in a universe that is both very recognizable (a megalopolis, New York), but often inappropriate, and incomprehensible when it comes out of his “placeholder”.

The staging wife, also the moods and attitudes of the characters ; Judy Hopps, eternal, positive, will, in a first step shown by a sound effect of counter-diving accompanying his wonderment at the vastness of the megalopolis, and then as its disillusionment, shut up in the narrowness of the framework. The arrival of Nick Wilde will result in the need to use this “framework” in every detail, in order to survive. Here again, the art direction gives substance to this thought by calling this “framework” for these elements (scenery, narrative) that it will be necessary to understand and move forward together.

A realization, however, very clean and smooth, which never shines in their cutting plans, or by camera movements ambitious.

Without doubt, the most damaging of the film, because the storyline is very predictable, as a whole. But that it is predictable does not mean that there is a lack of interest.

In fact, there is a degree of accessibility through the use of revenue tattered, which greatly facilitates the understanding of different metaphors for society. The buddy-movie allows a clear contrast between species and thoughts, the use of elements typical of the polar (the cop, the “private detective”, the investigation of drawers, the twist) is very stimulating and immediately recognizable, for lack of being original.

And then the scenario operates before the whole universe, and the keynote of the film. In this sense, the traditional relationship to the other through the classic combo : misunderstanding / empathy / disappointment / reconciliation / collaboration, above all, to question the founding myth of this utopia, and to prove the need not to rely on appearances.

We had already found in the latest productions Disney (specifically from 2009 and the arrival of John Lasseter at the head of the studio) a certain maturity and a keen awareness of the complexity of their environment defines the characters in the animated films of the studio.

Judy Hopps, a rabbit who is presented to us in its purest, values built from childhood. She wishes to defend and protect the other at all costs, by becoming the first doe cop – a job usually reserved for LARGE and MALE animals, more likely to face violence in the world. This character will be confronted with the reality of a world ruled by determinism, rather than any justice, in reality, to discourage its purpose first and make him lose sight of his own destiny.

A meeting with a character counterpoint (Nick Wilde, a fox, also with motivations contrasting) will allow him to gain experience of life. First, between cynicism and individualism to altruism exacerbated, then through the need to collaborate and therefore to feel empathy for another species, and finally in the report (friendly and non-romantic) on the other.

The interpreters of Hopps and Wilde, Ginnifer Goodwyn and Jason Bateman (Michael in ‘s arrested Development) form a duo absolutely perfect, which as in any good buddy movie, sees the character of one feed to the other – shaping a classic story of trust and friendship, in a speech on discrimination and tolerance.

If the 2 protagonists are particularly interesting, ZOOTOPIE we also have other characters that are defined by a lived and persistent, and fleshed out as a character always marked (thanks to the intelligence of the casting and the excellence of the dialogues). They express in all the malaise of a society that thinks of itself as utopian, but reflecting, however, the paradoxes of a thought too all-embracing.

ZOOTOPIE abandons once more the humour front-end-based gags are purely visual humor of the situations and dialogues, focusing often on the offbeat, and that always appears when a character is faced with the inadequacy of his animal nature within this world. Thus it is that the jokes the funniest are also the bearers of the discourse on discrimination (we repeat over and over, but it is to highlight the coherence of the film at this level !), as these lazy people who are administrative officers, a fox gangsta, who pretends to be an infant, the godfather of the mafia, which is a wild pig shrew, or the nature of the grand villain of the story, shows you : [spoiler mode=”inline”]a fucking sheep lol[/spoiler].

Here we refer to the review of the movie by Doc Cineco, listing judiciously a few concrete examples :

• The whole film is based on a rabbit becoming a police officer, and where everyone in the world finds this ridiculous. With the discrimination in the world of work that our world is experiencing, unfortunately, currently.
• Judy says something like : “This is not because he is a fox, and it is dangerous. Gidéon is an idiot who happens to be a fox, nuance.” No need to spend too many words on it.
• Judy also says that rabbits have the right to call them by the qualifier “cute”, but that the other species do not have the right to call them like that. Which, of course, reminds us of the word “Nigger” for the african-american community.
• One of the scenes of the film sees a fox and his son refuse in a store of ice reserved for elephants, recalling of course the segregation and the fact that african-americans were refused because of their colour, as in some institutions arrears.
• The mayor of Zootopie speaks of a project of “integration of mammals”, showing on one hand that a community is not fully integrated due to its physical characteristics, but especially remember all the projects of positive discrimination operated by the United States since the end of segregation.
• One scene shows an ibex recite by heart without realizing something so that it asks the same thing to an elephant based on the cliche that the elephants would have a very good memory. This scene thus shows that a stereotype about a community is not necessarily true of any individual belonging to the same community, and that we can even see these same pictures in other communities.
• At one point, Nick Wilde said “Since everyone thinks that the foxes are sneaky, what is the point of doing otherwise ?”. Nick Wilde is being martyred in his youth, precisely because of the fact that he is a fox. And, of course, the moral of the film shows that it was wrong to think like that.
• In another scene, Nick is surprised at the fact that he believed that the rabbits do cultivated as carrots so they grow blueberries, for example. Once again a message about the fact that it is not necessary to believe on the speech stereotypes.

By Doc Cineco, to read in its entirety on a Critical Sense : http://www.senscritique.com/film/Zootopie/critique