History FridgeBrilliance / Zootopia

* When Nick delivers the oath as a Junior Ranger Scout, he promises to be Brave, Loyal, Helpful and Trustworthy. His harsh rejection and muzzling by the other members of the troop caused him to become cynical and live up to the stereotype of a sly fox. However, during his time with Judy on the Nighthowler case he finally gets to fulfill each part of that oath. He bravely stands up for Judy when Chief Bogo demands her badge and later comes to her defense yelling "Back off" when one of the rams breaks through the subway car window and starts grabbing at her. His loyalty is shown when refuses to leave her behind when she injures her leg at the museum. Many times he is helpful to her on the case especially in saving the evidence as the subway car crashes. And finally, he proves his trustworthiness when he fake attacks Judy's throat as part of their BatmanGambit.

* The preponderance of ALizardNamedLiz seems silly and rather immersion-breaking, until you realize that species-based surnames are the setting's equivalent of the occupation-based surnames so common in our world.

* The black panther Manchas is only ever referred to as a jaguar. This makes a whole lot of sense as zoologically black panther is a term for both jaguars and leopards with black coats. It's a term used to describe two different species from very different parts of the world based purely on the color of their fur and if it even exists in the world of Zootopia it would probably just be asking to be used as a slur.

* Other than Judy, there have been no other small animals in the police force, so the larger animals can't even physically enter the neighborhoods inhabited by small animals, let alone do their police work properly? No wonder there's a shrew mob boss in Zootopia - he's probably the *only* source of anything even resembling order in parts of town like Little Rodentia.

** Mr. Otterton, a perfectly normal, happy husband and father, likes to hang around nekkid and has ties to the mafia.

** Mr. Otterton, a perfectly normal, happy husband likes to hang around nekkid.
** Otterton's yoga instructor is an elephant who can't seem to remember anything.

* The division of mammals to "Predator" and "Prey" is a gross oversimplification - omnivorous animals eat both meat and plant, smaller predator species may be prey for larger predators, etc. But that's exactly how social classification and labeling works: classifying people in four or five "race" categories ignores the massive ethnic diversity, not to mention people of mixed parentage.

* Related to the above, Mr. Big actually has a pretty valid reason to help Judy in her investigations the second time: he and all of his mooks are predators (and he already lost one subordinate to the HatePlague), so if one is spreading hatred against them it is in his best interests to stop that. Plus, Judy is by far the smallest police officer -- the only one small enough to actually deal with rodents -- and that might be dangerous for his operations, so getting on her good side can't be a bad thing.

*** Weaselton was left in the care of Mr. Big last we saw. Yeah, it is doubtful he is still alive.

*** Weaselton was left in the care of Mr. Big last week saw. Yeah, it is doubtful he is still alive.

* Starting with the first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lmhBYB11U teaser]], the audience is introduced to the film with a literal textbook definition of "Anthropomorphic", defined as a "modern ''civilized'' world that is entirely animal". Some found it odd and, dare say, even somewhat condescending considering this isn't Disney's first talking animal film, the word isn't exactly esoteric, and the concept isn't difficult to grasp. Right? But then remember the theme of ''Zootopia'': it's an allegory for biases and prejudices [[spoiler: especially with the third act leaving some to question whether predators really are reverting back to savagery before the climax hits]]. So in some sense, perhaps the audience needs that blatant reminder in the beginning--that animals in Zootopia aren't savage beasts, only how they are perceived by others.

* Starting with the first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lmhBYB11U teaser]], the audience is introduced to the film with a literal textbook definition of "'''Anth'''-'''ro'''-'''po'''-'''morph'''-'''ic'''", defined as a "modern ''civilized'' world that is entirely animal". Some found it odd and, dare say, even somewhat condescending considering this isn't Disney's first talking animal film, the word isn't exactly esoteric, and the concept isn't difficult to grasp. Right? But then remember the theme of ''Zootopia'': it's an allegory for biases and prejudices [[spoiler: especially with the third act leaving some to question whether predators really are reverting back to savagery before the climax hits]]. So in some sense, perhaps the audience needs that blatant reminder in the beginning--that animals in Zootopia aren't savage beasts, only how they are perceived by others.

* Starting with the first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lmhBYB11U teaser]], the audience is introduced to the film with a literal textbook definition of "'''Anth'''-'''ro'''-'''po'''-'''morph'''-'''ic'''", defined as a "modern ''civilized'' world that is entirely animal". Some found it odd and, dare say, even somewhat condescending considering this isn't Disney's first talking animal film, the word isn't exactly esoteric, and the concept isn't difficult to grasp. Right? But then remember the theme of Zootopia: it's an allegory for biases and prejudices [[spoiler: especially with the third act leaving some to question whether predators really are reverting back to savagery before the climax hits]]. So in some sense, perhaps the audience needs that blatant reminder in the beginning- that animals in Zootopia aren't savage beasts, only how they are perceived by others.

** Aside from the obvious "comically slow bureaucrats" joke, it makes a weird sort of sense for the DMV employees to be sloths: an ideal employee in a place like that would be very careful, so as to avoid making clerical errors, and very patient and cool-headed, for dealing with dissatisfied customers. Maybe the sloths are a little ''too'' careful, but there's a kind of logic to it.

* When Nick delivers the oath as a Junior Ranger Scout, he promises to be Brave, Loyal, Helpful and Trustworthy. His harsh rejection and muzzling by the other members of the troop caused him to become cynical and live up to the stereotype of a sly fox. However, during his time with Judy on the Nighthowler case he finally gets to fulfil each part of that oath. He bravely stands up for Judy when Chief Bogo demands her badge and later comes to her defense yelling "Back off" when one of the rams breaks through the subway car window and starts grabbing at her. His loyalty is shown when refuses to leave her behind when she injures her leg at the museum. Many times he is helpful to her on the case especially in saving the evidence as the subway car crashes. And finally, he proves his trustworthiness when he fake attacks Judy's throat as part of their BatmanGambit.

* Like Nick points out (and proves later), the case with the weapon and dose of the Night Howler drug was evidence enough to prove what was happening, so why did Judy risk everything trying to get the entire mobile lab out of the subway tunnel? Sure, she'd want to stop it from being used on anyone else, but why couldn't she wait? Because she'd just heard Doug's next target was a "cheetah" and, like the audience, she must have feared it could have been her friend Clawhauser and become desperate to stop him immediately![[note]]Or not. Clawhauser is fat and slow, which [[spoiler:Bellwhether]], who gave Doug the target would have known, and from the phone call, she expresses concern that the target might be too fast.[[/note]]

** In an early scene, Duke Weaselton steals "moldy onions" from a florist (really, Bogo?). Emmett Otterton was also a florist. It is entirely possible that Otterton's shop was also stolen from, and as a predator [[spoiler: with close ties to organized crime]], he knew what they were really good for.

* Mrs Otterton mentions that she and Emmett have two children. They appear in the photograph she gives Judy, but never on camera - because she didn't want them to see their father in the feral state he was in when the missing mammals were found.

* The scene where Clawhauser is removed from his desk, because he is a predator is meant to be a WhamShot for both Judy and the audience. Many viewers were charmed by his constant grin, friendliness and being a big, fat ball of fluff. It was a harsh reminder that Clawhauser is in fact, a cheetah; a difficult thing to keep in mind when he reminds you more of your adorable, loving pet back at home.

* The Natural History Museum where the climax takes place can be seen in the establishing shot of Savanna Central Plaza toward the end of the movie when Judy's voiceover is saying "When I was a kid...". The Museum is at roughly the 12 o'clock position. In the same shot, you can see that ZPD Headquarters is at the 3 o'clock position. It light of this it's no surprise that the police were able to mobilize and respond so quickly to Mayor Bellwether's call. It's literally right across the plaza.

** Or RuleOfFunny was in effect.

* Doug's gun resembles a paintball marker more than a conventional firearm or even a real-world tranquiliser dart gun. And while this could be FamilyFriendlyFirearms it actually makes sense when you think about it [[spoiler: a dart gun would leave darts at the scene of the crime breaking the charade that the Nighthowler attacks are pred’s going savage, whereas the small fragments of a paintball casing could be easily overlooked by the police or designed to rapidly dissolve after they break.]]
* When Nick delivers the oath as a Junior Ranger Scout, he promises to be Brave, Loyal, Helpful and Trustworthy. His harsh rejection and muzzling by the other members of the troop caused him to become cynical and live up to the stereotype of a sly fox. However, during his time with Judy on the Nighthowler case he finally gets to fulfil each part of that oath. He bravely stands up for Judy when Chief Bogo demands her badge and later comes to her defense yelling "Back Off" when one of the Rams breaks through the subway car window and starts grabbing at her. His loyalty is shown when refuses to leave her behind when she injures her leg at the museum. Many times he is helpful to her on the case especially in saving the evidence as the Subway car crashes. And finally he proves his trustworthiness when he fake attacks Judy's throat as part of their BatmanGambit.
* It seems strange at first that out of the original 14 missing animals, all of them were caught before they could be seen as feral and have the news story spread, especially since Bellwether's plan was for this to be become a widespread media issue. As the assistant mayor, she probably found out right away that the mayor was working to have them detained, and this played right into her hands. It was more beneficial for her to wait for a cop to expose him, and once the mayor is exposed and arrested, the cases of predators going berserk seems to happen much more publicly. That's why every earlier case had been designed to not be public; after all, it would have been very easy for Doug to tag a poor predator in broad daylight and watch him cause havoc. Better for her that all of the missing predators get media attention at the same time as they're discovered, since it makes for a much bigger media story. It was good luck on her part that Judy "solved" the case, but if she hadn't, then Bellwether would have likely had the case to be solved by herself at some point, since it all hinged on her becoming mayor in the first place. All she would have to do is create some evidence against Lionheart and submit it to the police herself. The case getting cracked open by a rabbit (i.e. prey) was just icing on the cake.

* At first it may seem off that an otter like Mr. Otterton reverting to his feral state would be so aggressive at all times, even when there's no one around to attack, or provoke him. While most animals chalk this up to him reverting to his predator instincts, in real life otters have pretty [[PlayfulOtter relaxed and playful dispositions]] (although it should be noted that they are wild animals that attack when they feel threatened or provoked, and do ''not'' make good house pets) and they evolved to mainly forage for slow-moving fish and invertebrates like crabs, mussels, clams, etc. At first it can seem like a glaring case of CriticalResearchFailure, until it's revealed that [[spoiler:the cause of the HatePlague is a poisonous plant that makes ALL animals it comes into contact with turn aggressive, even ''[[BunniesForCuteness bunnies]]''. This also serves to highlight how pervasive Zootopia's FantasticRacism is: otters technically being carnivores gets them classified as "predators," and since they're predators that means they ''must'' have naturally feral, savage, aggressive dispositions. If anyone had said, "Wait, otters were mainly foragers, and were pretty mellow and friendly even in their natural state," they probably would have figured out how artificial the HatePlague was]] a little sooner.

* Disney does a good job of setting up Nick and Judy's final scheme to take down [[spoiler: Bellwether]]. They show you all the pieces- the gun, the serum capsule, and the blueberries. And if you look at Nick carefully, you can tell he's not actually [[spoiler: under the affects of the serum]]. All the Feral animals eyes turn more similar to the real life counterpart's [[spoiler: but Nick's stayed green rather than turned a vulpine brown, nor did his pupils contract to slits]].
** The two characters [[spoiler: faking the whole scene]] is also really well set up during the film as both showed at least once that they enjoy [[spoiler: playing comedy: Judy with her acting role in the first scene (made obvious by her echoing the [[ChewingTheScenery overdramatic death]] of the play) and Nick's scam as a [[GoodParents nice dad]] in the elephants' ice cream shop]].

* Like Nick points out (and proves later), the case with the weapon and dose of the Night Howler drug was evidence enough to prove what was happening, so why did Judy risk everything trying to get the entire mobile lab out of the subway tunnel? Sure, she'd want to stop it from being used on anyone else, but why couldn't she wait? Because she'd just heard Doug's next target was a "cheetah" and, like the audience, she must have feared it could have been her friend Clawhauser and become desperate to stop him immediately!

* A rather interesting advantage both Judy and Nick have over the other ZPD cops. While the large cops have the advantage of muscle and intimidation, most of them are animals that would have trouble in Biomes that are not their native one (I.E. the Elephant and Rhino cops might need special winter gear just to work in Tundra Town). Judy and Nick, however, are both a rabbit and a fox, two animals that can be found in just about every land biome. This means that, while they aren't that strong compared to their fellow officers, they can move through the different biomes of the city easily, without special equipment.
** This can also explain how Judy very quickly went through the obstacle course. It was a combination of her will power, and the fact that rabbits can thrive in just about every biome.

** [[spoiler: The Mayor's special forces consist only of Wolves. Aside from their nose being excellent in tracking, Wolves also work best in close-knit packs of other wolves, which are great for covert-ops missions that require a small group of highly skilled combatants.]]
* Before the movie came out a lot of people were guessing that the HatePlague was something akin to rabies infecting the population. [[spoiler: It's not - it's a plant toxin the animals are specifically being hit with - but the movie makes us think that might be the case at first since we see the character that was attacked and scratched by an animal that had gone feral ended up going feral as well.]]
** This also did a good job of [[spoiler: hiding the fact that there's a villain at all. Until half-way through the movie, you'll probably be thinking the issue is gonna be finding a cure for those going feral. Disney may have played their same-old PlotTwist as in their past few movies, but it's not immediately evident that there's an actual bad guy. Even Lionheart would be questionable as an actual villain, seeing as how he was trying to find a cure (his methods notwithstanding).]]

* At the climax of the film when Nick and Judy are [[spoiler: running away from Bellwether in the Natural History museum. As they were fleeing from Bellwether and her minions, Nick was able to avoid the tusk of the Mammoth exhibit, but Judy trips over it and injures her leg to the point she can't run, despite showing to be the more physical and agile of the two. If you think about it, the teaser shows Nick, a fox, to have good low-light vision, while Judy, a rabbit, doesn't, which is really helpful in the very dark museum.]]
** This is foreshadowed in Mr. Big's car and the Abandoned Hospital, when Judy uses her phone flashlight to look around while Nick doesn't bother, as he can see in the dark unaided.
* The Natural History museum having a mammoth and saber-toothed small rodents as the predecessors to the film's current animals makes a lot of sense as a meta reference to ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'', the first CGI feature film to star mammals. The mammoth even bears a striking resemblance to Manny from ''Ice Age''.
* How does the BigBad keep up with Judy and Nick's progress, taking out Manchas before he can spill any useful info? [[spoiler: It's easy when Zootopia is blanketed by traffic cameras, and she has access to all the feeds from her computer, with the number of her hit man next to the phone.]]

*** It's not prejudice if it's true and Nick read her entire life (and even future) just by looking at her and to a degree, seeing his young self in her.
*** 1.^ You can view the truth with a prejudicial perspective. 2. ^^ He threatened her as a trust test. To prove that she had prejudices towards foxes. After all, why would he hurt her in that situation?
*** It hardly proves her prejudice against foxes specifically, just that she felt threatened. After all, if somebody suddenly snarls at you in the midst of a heated argument, it is natural to get scared. Besides, even if they didn't think going "savage" is something that only predators did, there is still a risk for anyone. If they assumed that to be a spreading disease, Nick (as well as Judy herself) was the most likely candidate to become the next victims of it, since they were interacting with an infected jaguar recently.
** If the above is not true, consider that Nick has also had plenty of time to reflect on what he has seen, chiefly the sharp contrast between the cute little otter florist (whom Nick knew) and [[spoiler: the savage otter that messed up Mr. Manchas' face]], as well as the sudden, rapid transition of [[spoiler: Mr. Manchas from terrified eyewitness to savage jaguar trying to kill them]]. It is entirely possible, not only that Nick completely understood her fears of him attacking her, but that he felt like utter crap after realizing the idea did not scare him too.
*** That would be a valid argument if Judy hadn’t tried to use the fox spray before. At the beginning of the movie, when she first saw Nick, she immediately treated him with suspicion. He wasn’t doing anything wrong (as far as she knew, anyway), but followed him inside the ice cream shop for no other reason than him being a fox. She reached for the fox spray and was going to use it, only stopping when she saw Nick’s “kid”. And Nick noticed it. He says so when he confronts her at the press conference. It wasn’t fear that he was going to attack her that led to her reaching for the spray, it was pure prejudice. If you pay attention to her facial expression, she quickly realizes that herself and is mortified. He later forgave because he saw how genuinely sorry she was. It’s that simple.

** Also, it's possible the nickname 'Night Howler' is an impolite term (re: wolves), so Judy's parents just didn't use it where Gideon's parents did. Regarding the effects of the plant, Judy's mother could have been uncomfortable to share the story where her brother attacked and bit her. So Judy didn't associate Night Howlers with feral insanity because it was a story she had never heard until now.

** Wasn't that Clawhauser who called Judy cute?
*** They both did, but only Clawhauser apologised when Judy objected.
*** When Clawhauser called Judy cute, he genuinely meant it as a compliment, completely unaware of any offensive connotations and immediately apologized when informed. In sharp contrast, the two times Nick calls Judy cute (first during TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and then after she hustled him), his tone is scathingly condescending. Nick wasn't InnocentlyInsensitive like Clawhauser; he was ''Deliberately'' Insensitive.

* Having Desert Square right next to Tundra Town makes sense. The tundra is more than just the plants and animals, it's the climate as well. They have giant refrigeration units to keep the district cold enough to properly replicate the tundra ecosystem. Those units would absorb a tremendous amount of heat, which is promptly radiated over in Desert Square (During Judy's arrival, the train passes through the desert. Look at the large structures built into the walls. They are glowing red in parts as they release the heat.).
* Nick stereotypes all Rabbits as farmers, which makes sense. Rabbits are explosive breeders and without predators to thin their numbers, can quickly devour all of the food within a given area (just ask Australia), so it makes sense that they would be all on a farm; they have more than enough hands to handle all of the manual labor and a farm mass producing food is probably the only place that can reliably sustain them. This could explain why Judy's parents had to "settle hard" instead of pursuing something or someone else.

** Not so much for the main villain, a prey animal. [[spoiler: While Lionheart was cruel and condescending to her, this is hardly enough excuse for Bellwether to turn innocent civilians into rage zombies in hope of starting a civil war! However, this ''does'' fit in with the phenomena of herbivores attacking anything they think will harm them (regardless of whether it's actually a threat, like an innocent human), since Bellwether wants ''all'' predators discriminated, including the harmless ones like Clawhauser and the Ottertons.]]

** Or he could be using his paw pads to count.