Zootopia/Zootropolis

‘Zootopia’ Poster

Following on from the huge success of arguably one of Pixar’s best films, last year’s Inside Out, Disney has returned with their latest offering, Zootopia (otherwise known as Zootropolis over here in Britain). Disney and Pixar have continued, both independently and collaboratively, to develop and produce animated films that have gone on to be considered modern classics over the last twenty years, and the ensuing pressure that each subsequent film feels to match the achievements of the illustrious predecessors grows. Into that environment enters Zootopia, but does it succeed in living up to Disney and Pixar’s supreme and daunting canon of recent powerhouse animations.

Disney’s continued ability to create expansive and immersive universes for young and old minds alike to get lost within continues to bring audiences into cinemas worldwide in great numbers, and in many ways they’ve at least equalled any of their previous creations, with their visionary interpretation of a city of animals living their anthropomorphised existences amongst the intelligently and beautifully imagined expanses of Zootopia. As with so many successful modern animations, part of the fun of viewing these films, is in observing the minutiae of the world’s created, the little lovingly observed details that add humour, personality and a richness to the environment the characters inhabit – such as the astutely observed recreations of human culture that we recognise within our own urban landscapes – that is transferred upon the animals and characters of Zootopia.