Zootopia is fairly predictable as it cashes in on Jason Bateman doing his “sly fox” thing, Idris Elba being gruff and the underrated Jenny Slate utilizing her helium-esque voice to play a sheep who’s also the assistant mayor. It is entertaining because there’s all the stereotypes with the animals as they’re given anthropomorphic roles: gangsters, hustlers, cops, politicians, pop stars, etc. Then comes all the product placements (ugh) which I won’t repeat, they received enough free advertising as it was.
I’m skipping the plot since the trailer drove it into the ground so I’m jumping to the highlights I did enjoy.
- John DiMaggio getting a significant part as a curt elephant in charge of an ice cream parlor for large creatures.
- Maurice LaMarche as a small rodent who acts like Marlon Brando’s Don Corleone of Zootopia.
- Directed by former Futurama director Rich Moore with some help from former Simpsons writer/artist Jim Reardon.
Alamo Extras: Unusual pairings of animals being cute, e.g. a cat grooming a fox, a puppy wrestling with a tiger cub, etc.; Max Fleischer’s “Vegetable World” cartoon; a quartet of rabbit jewel thieves cartoon; Animal Farm trailer from the Fifties; Japanese music video of a yodeling singer going on about chickens; Augmented Reality cartoons (the cels are held over the real world); Techno Chicken!; “Can Can” from the awful Jive Bunny medleys from the Eighties.