Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
03-04-16, 09:11 PM
#30
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
Awesome movie.
Enough injokes/adult jokes for adults, exciting plot, great animation, tons of little side jokes. A few obvious ones and the very ending (just before, and into, the credits) has been done oh so many times, but every thing else about it was great.
The story works at face value and also has a lot of timely and relevant real life allegory/analogy/whatever without being a brickbat (Happy Feet, I'm looking at you).
The
bit was a little predictable but still very funny.
The name of the
could not have been a coincidence -
Enough injokes/adult jokes for adults, exciting plot, great animation, tons of little side jokes. A few obvious ones and the very ending (just before, and into, the credits) has been done oh so many times, but every thing else about it was great.
The story works at face value and also has a lot of timely and relevant real life allegory/analogy/whatever without being a brickbat (Happy Feet, I'm looking at you).
The
Spoiler:
The name of the
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
03-05-16, 06:33 PM
#34
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
Quick review of Disney's newest - You might mistake this as a Pixar feature, which is completely understandable. While it is not, Zootopia is as good or better than many of Pixar's films in the past few years. A bunny who's also a newly minted cop in the sprawling metropolis of Zootopia forces a reluctant con-fox to help her with a missing citizen case, and that is about as much of the plot as I want give away. This movie is very funny, the visual and verbal jokes working pretty much all the time. The story does takes an unexpected turn about halfway through that could be scary for kids under 8 or so, and Zootopia becomes a pretty good crime thriller. The amount of thought put into creating the world of Zootopia is amazing. We were thoroughly entertained, and both my wife and I are looking forward to seeing it again to catch all the jokes and Easter eggs we missed the first time around. Highly recommended 4.5 out of 5 stars.
03-05-16, 06:39 PM
#35
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Formerly known as "Solid Snake PAC"/Denton, Tx
Posts: 39,239
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes
on
4 Posts
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
I don't think anyone would confuse this w/ a Pixar film. Visually it doesn't really carry stylistic shaping of one in the visual.
Course... that Dinosaur one didn't look like a Pixar film based on the trailers sooooo yeah. I dunno shit, I guess.
Course... that Dinosaur one didn't look like a Pixar film based on the trailers sooooo yeah. I dunno shit, I guess.
03-05-16, 07:12 PM
#36
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
From the original post...
"In the animal city of Zootopia, a fast-talking fox who's trying to make it big goes on the run when he's framed for a crime he didn't commit. Zootopia's top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they're forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends."
Just going to say, this description in this thread's original post was way off. Plot was pretty complicated for an Disney animated film.
"In the animal city of Zootopia, a fast-talking fox who's trying to make it big goes on the run when he's framed for a crime he didn't commit. Zootopia's top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they're forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends."
Just going to say, this description in this thread's original post was way off. Plot was pretty complicated for an Disney animated film.
03-06-16, 11:57 AM
#39
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
The sloth trailer had me rolling, and it's pretty rare that a preview does that to me. I'm happy to see the good reviews, although it's incredibly unlikely I'll see it in the theater.
03-06-16, 03:49 PM
#40
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
The news director of a Florida panhandle radio station (who is a friend of mine) asked me if they could start using the reviews I post on Facebook for my friends and family. They want to include them in a newsletter they publish for their listeners. I said yes, I'm not getting paid, but I do enjoy giving my opinion about some of the films I've seen. I used to do movie reviews for the Navy in the mid-90s.
There's no exclusivity here, so this is the expanded version of that I post here and on Facebook last night.
ZOOTOPIA - Where the (not so) wild things are...
By Stephen Orr, contributing writer
You could mistake Zootopia, Disney Animation's latest, as a Pixar feature, which is completely understandable. While it is not, Zootopia is as good or better than many of Pixar's films in the past few years (Inside Out is the exception). A bunny, who's also a newly minted cop in the sprawling metropolis of Zootopia, forces a reluctant con-fox to help her with a missing citizen case, and that is about as much of the plot as I want to give away. This movie is very funny, the visual and verbal jokes working pretty much all the time. The story does takes an unexpected turn about halfway through that could be scary for kids under 8 or so. It does have a few dark "jump scare" scenes and very young kids may find it a little frightening. This is the point that Zootopia becomes, of all things, a pretty interesting crime thriller.
There are a lot of themes in Zootopia that are culturally significant and important, as predator and prey strive to live and work together peacefully. But, like with any society of diverse cultures, there are unspoken fears, stereotypes, and prejudices that manifest themselves in amusing, embarrassing, and reflective ways. I noticed a few that kids will miss completely, but made this child of the 60s and 70s stop and go "Hmmmm..."
Zootopia is a very "dense" movie in the way it is designed. Imagine traveling to New York for the very first time. You and a friend are having an intense conversation as you step out onto Times Square. Your conversation continues for several blocks - you're concentrating on the conversation, but all the cool stuff is vying for your attention, and you know you are going to have to walk back through Times Square to see all the stuff you missed. That's how I felt watching Zootopia. The amount of thought put into creating the world of Zootopia is amazing. My wife and I were thoroughly entertained and are both looking forward to seeing it again to catch all the jokes and Easter eggs we missed the first time around. Highly recommended 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Zootopia is rated PG for thematic elements, rude humor and action.
Bio: Stephen Orr wrote his first movie review in 1977 for Star Wars, published in his high school newspaper. A life-long fan of cinema, his interest in movies led to serving as the Navy's very first official movie reviewer on the weekly video magazine "Navy/Marine Corps News". A military retiree (since 2002) now working in IT maintenance and management for a school system in Virginia, he continues to write and post reviews of popular films on Facebook for his family and friends.
I plan to do 10 Cloverfield Lane and Batman V Superman next.
There's no exclusivity here, so this is the expanded version of that I post here and on Facebook last night.
ZOOTOPIA - Where the (not so) wild things are...
By Stephen Orr, contributing writer
You could mistake Zootopia, Disney Animation's latest, as a Pixar feature, which is completely understandable. While it is not, Zootopia is as good or better than many of Pixar's films in the past few years (Inside Out is the exception). A bunny, who's also a newly minted cop in the sprawling metropolis of Zootopia, forces a reluctant con-fox to help her with a missing citizen case, and that is about as much of the plot as I want to give away. This movie is very funny, the visual and verbal jokes working pretty much all the time. The story does takes an unexpected turn about halfway through that could be scary for kids under 8 or so. It does have a few dark "jump scare" scenes and very young kids may find it a little frightening. This is the point that Zootopia becomes, of all things, a pretty interesting crime thriller.
There are a lot of themes in Zootopia that are culturally significant and important, as predator and prey strive to live and work together peacefully. But, like with any society of diverse cultures, there are unspoken fears, stereotypes, and prejudices that manifest themselves in amusing, embarrassing, and reflective ways. I noticed a few that kids will miss completely, but made this child of the 60s and 70s stop and go "Hmmmm..."
Zootopia is a very "dense" movie in the way it is designed. Imagine traveling to New York for the very first time. You and a friend are having an intense conversation as you step out onto Times Square. Your conversation continues for several blocks - you're concentrating on the conversation, but all the cool stuff is vying for your attention, and you know you are going to have to walk back through Times Square to see all the stuff you missed. That's how I felt watching Zootopia. The amount of thought put into creating the world of Zootopia is amazing. My wife and I were thoroughly entertained and are both looking forward to seeing it again to catch all the jokes and Easter eggs we missed the first time around. Highly recommended 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Zootopia is rated PG for thematic elements, rude humor and action.
Bio: Stephen Orr wrote his first movie review in 1977 for Star Wars, published in his high school newspaper. A life-long fan of cinema, his interest in movies led to serving as the Navy's very first official movie reviewer on the weekly video magazine "Navy/Marine Corps News". A military retiree (since 2002) now working in IT maintenance and management for a school system in Virginia, he continues to write and post reviews of popular films on Facebook for his family and friends.
I plan to do 10 Cloverfield Lane and Batman V Superman next.
03-06-16, 08:04 PM
#42
Banned
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Conducting miss-aisle drills and listening to their rock n roll
Posts: 20,052
Received 168 Likes
on
126 Posts
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
I'm going to have to go Armond White on this flick; the movie isn't very good.
From a young kids' perspective it definitely fails. My 5 and 8 year old were engrossed until about half-way when a scene involving a deadly Jaguar occurred. That scene scared them and after that they were bored and restless for the remainder of what is a very convoluted and talky film. For reference these kids enjoy, and are not terribly scared of The Goonies.
From a grown ups perspective it has a few fantastic moments. There's a train ride scene that introduces us to the Zootopia city that is both magnificent in it's own right and a lovely homage to Murnau's Sunrise. There's a very funny spoof of The Godfather that wins tons of laughs even though satirizing that film should be a cliche by now. The animators also do some magnificent stuff with objects and characters in multiple scales in a world where very large animals and very small animals have to live side by side.
The biggest flaw of the film, the elephant in the room as it were, is that the film is extremely preachy and heavy handed in delivering what feels like a very pandering and "touchy-feely" message. "You can do anythings" and "follow your dreams" and "don't judge books by their covers" are ladled over everything like Thanksgiving gravy. Its story contains many elements that correlate with things in our world and it addresses them from a naively liberal perspective. Judy Hopps becomes the first non-predator police officer due to a politician-created hiring quota and it is depicted as a good thing. The predators are all depicted as jar heads and bullies in a manner I equate with the lazy short hand of television writing.
The news of Nancy Reagan's passing this morning brought back a memory of her appearance on Different Strokes in an episode about drugs. I mentioned it in her obit thread. It was a cloying and cringing-ly embarrassing moment. Even at the age of 8 I felt discomfort; I felt embarrassed for her as she (and everyone else involved) tried to insert a cloying and preachy message into something that was meant to entertain with light laughs and snappy catch phrases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a film having a message, but it needs to be implicit and handled with finesse. Zootopia is blunt and clumsy.
The goodwill the film generated with me during the Murnau Sunrise homage is completely negated late in the film with an homage to The Taking of Pelham 123 and Speed; a totally mindless and unnecessary subway chase that stands up as the new gold standard for poorly integrated action.
On a final note, at this stage in my life I have no further patience for fantasy worlds where everything and every product is a funny joke. "Look honey, his credit card is Animal-erican Express! LOL and guffaw all night long!" This movie is wall to wall THAT and I feel sorry for the gag writers who wasted their time.
From a young kids' perspective it definitely fails. My 5 and 8 year old were engrossed until about half-way when a scene involving a deadly Jaguar occurred. That scene scared them and after that they were bored and restless for the remainder of what is a very convoluted and talky film. For reference these kids enjoy, and are not terribly scared of The Goonies.
From a grown ups perspective it has a few fantastic moments. There's a train ride scene that introduces us to the Zootopia city that is both magnificent in it's own right and a lovely homage to Murnau's Sunrise. There's a very funny spoof of The Godfather that wins tons of laughs even though satirizing that film should be a cliche by now. The animators also do some magnificent stuff with objects and characters in multiple scales in a world where very large animals and very small animals have to live side by side.
The biggest flaw of the film, the elephant in the room as it were, is that the film is extremely preachy and heavy handed in delivering what feels like a very pandering and "touchy-feely" message. "You can do anythings" and "follow your dreams" and "don't judge books by their covers" are ladled over everything like Thanksgiving gravy. Its story contains many elements that correlate with things in our world and it addresses them from a naively liberal perspective. Judy Hopps becomes the first non-predator police officer due to a politician-created hiring quota and it is depicted as a good thing. The predators are all depicted as jar heads and bullies in a manner I equate with the lazy short hand of television writing.
The news of Nancy Reagan's passing this morning brought back a memory of her appearance on Different Strokes in an episode about drugs. I mentioned it in her obit thread. It was a cloying and cringing-ly embarrassing moment. Even at the age of 8 I felt discomfort; I felt embarrassed for her as she (and everyone else involved) tried to insert a cloying and preachy message into something that was meant to entertain with light laughs and snappy catch phrases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a film having a message, but it needs to be implicit and handled with finesse. Zootopia is blunt and clumsy.
The goodwill the film generated with me during the Murnau Sunrise homage is completely negated late in the film with an homage to The Taking of Pelham 123 and Speed; a totally mindless and unnecessary subway chase that stands up as the new gold standard for poorly integrated action.
On a final note, at this stage in my life I have no further patience for fantasy worlds where everything and every product is a funny joke. "Look honey, his credit card is Animal-erican Express! LOL and guffaw all night long!" This movie is wall to wall THAT and I feel sorry for the gag writers who wasted their time.
Last edited by Mabuse; 03-07-16 at 12:04 AM.
03-06-16, 09:09 PM
#43
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
I'm going to have to go Armond White on this flick; the movie isn't very good.
From a young kids' perspective it definitely fails. My 5 and 8 year old were engrossed until about half-way when a scene involving a deadly Jaguar occurred. That scene scared them and after that they were bored and restless for the remainder of what is a very convoluted and talky film. For reference these kids enjoy, and are not terribly scared of The Goonies.
From a grown ups perspective it has a few fantastic moments. There's a train ride scene that introduces us to the Zootopia city that is both magnificent in it's own right and a lovely homage to Murnau's Sunrise. There's a very funny spoof of The Godfather that wins tons of laughs even though satirizing that film should be a cliche by now. The animators also do some magnificent stuff with objects and characters in multiple scales in a world where very large animals and very small animals have to live side by side.
The biggest flaw of the film, the elephant in the room as it were, is that the film is extremely preachy and heavy handed in delivering what feels like a very pandering and "touchy-feely" message. "You can do anythings" and "follow your dreams" and "don't judge books by their covers" are ladled over everything like Thanksgiving gravy. Its story contains many elements that correlate with things in our world and it addresses them from a naively liberal perspective. Judy Hops becomes the first non-predator police officer due to a politician created hiring quota and it is depicted as a good thing. The predators are all depicted as jar heads and bullies in a manner I equate with the lazy short hand of television writing.
The news of Nancy Reagan's passing this morning brought back a memory of her appearance on Different Strokes in an episode about drugs. I mentioned it in her obit thread. It was a cloying and cringing-ly embarrassing moment. Even at the age of 8 I felt discomfort; I felt embarrassed for her as she (and everyone else involved) tried to insert a cloying and preachy message into something that was meant to entertain with light laughs and snappy catch phrases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a film having a message, but it needs to be implicit and handled with finesse. Zootopia is blunt and clumsy.
The goodwill the film generated with me during the Murnau Sunrise homage is completely negated late in the film with an homage to The Taking of Pelham 123 and Speed; a totally mindless and unnecessary subway chase that stands up as the new gold standard for poorly integrated action.
On a final note, at this stage in my life I have no further patience for fantasy worlds where everything and every product is a funny joke. "Look honey, his credit card is Animal-erican Express! LOL and guffaw all night long!" This movie is wall to wall THAT and I feel sorry for the gag writers who wasted their time.
From a young kids' perspective it definitely fails. My 5 and 8 year old were engrossed until about half-way when a scene involving a deadly Jaguar occurred. That scene scared them and after that they were bored and restless for the remainder of what is a very convoluted and talky film. For reference these kids enjoy, and are not terribly scared of The Goonies.
From a grown ups perspective it has a few fantastic moments. There's a train ride scene that introduces us to the Zootopia city that is both magnificent in it's own right and a lovely homage to Murnau's Sunrise. There's a very funny spoof of The Godfather that wins tons of laughs even though satirizing that film should be a cliche by now. The animators also do some magnificent stuff with objects and characters in multiple scales in a world where very large animals and very small animals have to live side by side.
The biggest flaw of the film, the elephant in the room as it were, is that the film is extremely preachy and heavy handed in delivering what feels like a very pandering and "touchy-feely" message. "You can do anythings" and "follow your dreams" and "don't judge books by their covers" are ladled over everything like Thanksgiving gravy. Its story contains many elements that correlate with things in our world and it addresses them from a naively liberal perspective. Judy Hops becomes the first non-predator police officer due to a politician created hiring quota and it is depicted as a good thing. The predators are all depicted as jar heads and bullies in a manner I equate with the lazy short hand of television writing.
The news of Nancy Reagan's passing this morning brought back a memory of her appearance on Different Strokes in an episode about drugs. I mentioned it in her obit thread. It was a cloying and cringing-ly embarrassing moment. Even at the age of 8 I felt discomfort; I felt embarrassed for her as she (and everyone else involved) tried to insert a cloying and preachy message into something that was meant to entertain with light laughs and snappy catch phrases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against a film having a message, but it needs to be implicit and handled with finesse. Zootopia is blunt and clumsy.
The goodwill the film generated with me during the Murnau Sunrise homage is completely negated late in the film with an homage to The Taking of Pelham 123 and Speed; a totally mindless and unnecessary subway chase that stands up as the new gold standard for poorly integrated action.
On a final note, at this stage in my life I have no further patience for fantasy worlds where everything and every product is a funny joke. "Look honey, his credit card is Animal-erican Express! LOL and guffaw all night long!" This movie is wall to wall THAT and I feel sorry for the gag writers who wasted their time.
Lots of political ("naively liberal"? seriously?)and personal bias wrapped up as a review.
I, and the audience I saw it with, loved it. I think it is one of the best animated movies in a while. My bias is I have never really cared for the Pixar films or many of the recent Disney efforts. This movie seems to break out of that and have truly broad appeal.
But you want to politicize some basic and fundamental messages for young people as "liberal". Give me a fucking break. At this point in my life, I have no patience for the endless masturbatory rheotirc like this that both sides of the political spectrum seem so wont to spew.
03-06-16, 09:46 PM
#44
Banned
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Conducting miss-aisle drills and listening to their rock n roll
Posts: 20,052
Received 168 Likes
on
126 Posts
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
I talked about a lot more than politics in that review. Sorry you can't see that. Glad you enjoyed the film. You offer no personal insight of your own into the merits of the film, only criticisms of me, so I have little more to say. There was a time when discourse was appreciated on this forum.
P.S. The audience I watched it with was so checked out. I was the only one who laughed at the Frozen joke.
P.S. The audience I watched it with was so checked out. I was the only one who laughed at the Frozen joke.
Last edited by Mabuse; 03-07-16 at 11:16 AM.
03-06-16, 10:02 PM
#45
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Valley of the Sun (PHX)
Posts: 1,204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
The family and I saw it today and we all loved it. Plenty of laughs (the constant population increasing in bunny burrow was funny) and the story is good as well.
03-06-16, 10:48 PM
#46
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
Full house where I saw it in the "liberal" east-coast state I live in. Everybody loved it and the audience clapped during the ending. Talking to friends on FB, males and females, this one was praised for being smarter and meatier than a lot of American animated films. I look forward to seeing it again when I can take my SO to this.
And, yes, my furry friends all creamed their kigurumis over this movie...
And, yes, my furry friends all creamed their kigurumis over this movie...
03-07-16, 02:48 PM
#48
DVD Talk Legend
03-07-16, 06:45 PM
#49
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
I loved the movie and its message. I thought it beautifully communicated some rather adult themes (xenophobia and classism) well in a children's movie. It was also pretty funny at times (the sloths at the DMV, the Godfather parody).
03-07-16, 07:51 PM
#50
Banned
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Conducting miss-aisle drills and listening to their rock n roll
Posts: 20,052
Received 168 Likes
on
126 Posts
Re: Disney's Zootopia - (3/4/16)
Take it up with the filmmakers. They could have simply shown her prove herself and win her place, but they made a point of showing her get the job due to some new government policy to include smaller animals.