History YMMV / Zootopia

* DesignatedHero: The protagonist Judy Hopps. While the audience is expected to root for her because she wants to be the first rabbit officer, the only reason given is that she wants to make the world a better place, as most cops will tell you that they didn't become cops for similar reasons. On top of that, she feels like she should be working on one of the missing mammal cases, despite being a new recruit and realistically it would be months before she'd be working on something as big as the missing mammal cases. After her first day where she handed out 200 parking tickets after being told that she should hand out 100, and on her 2nd day, she tries convincing herself she's a real cop, never realizing that cop work was going to be about doing boring stuff instead of her ideas of taking down bad guys. After she takes down Weaselton, she gets chewed out by Bogo for not sticking to her job of parking duty and when she agrees to help Otterton's wife find her husband without being assigned to it, Bogo calls her actions insubordination and enough to fire her. Then after given 48 hours to find Otterton, she blackmails Nick into helping her with her case, even after he shows her where he last saw Otterton, with him calling her out, saying he did what she asked of him and yet she still makes him help her case. Then when the two find the limo where Otterton was last seen and Nick tells her she can't search the limo without a warrant, she tosses her pen that has Nick's scam recorded over the lot and she uses him grabbing the pen as an excuse to check the limo that last had Otterton as probable cause. With how much Judy steps out of line with police work and her blackmailing Nick, it's really hard to root for her as the movies' protagonist.

** [[SweetSheep Sharla the black sheep]], another student from Judy's Elementary School only shows up during the film's prologue. She's plays an astronaut and later gets bullied by Gideon Grey which motivates Judy to protect her and even risks getting a cut in the process. While she's never seen or mentioned again in the movie, she's gained her own set of fans where she's depicted as a successful female astronaut as an adult. Some fans hope that if a future Zootopia animated series or sequel ever happens, they hope Judy might someday reunite with Sharla and Gareth again as adults.

** This film is especially popular in China, France, Japan, and Korea. In fact, it's so popular in China that not only did it become the highest-grossing animated film ever in China during its release, [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2016/03/31/disneys-zootopia-gets-2-week-extension-of-its-fabulous-china-theatrical-run/#31220a214af6 the Chinese Film Bureau also decided to extend its theatrical run with an additional two weeks, a courtesy rarely given to foreign films]], and it's [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2016/04/03/zootopia-now-chinas-leggiest-movie-ever-closes-in-on-disneys-ultron-record-240-million/#520816071819 proven leggy enough to encroach on Disney's biggest earner in China]] - ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''. It's also the [[UpToEleven highest-grossing animated film ever]] in Russia.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Dawn Bellwether. Fans are split on whether she's one of the [[LoveToHate best]] or [[TheScrappy worst]] of the villains in the Disney Revival, partly due to being the fourth twist villain in a row after WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph, {{WesternAnimation/Frozen2013}}, and WesternAnimation/BigHero6. Some fans find her to be an entertaining villain with interesting motives and one of the most balanced between plausible and surprising among the twist villains, as well as expected for the genre. Others see her as trite and derivative and believe the reveal makes everything we saw of her characterization prior to it worthless.

* UncannyValley: Seeing animals with realistic eyes (like sheep and shrews) alongside those with CartoonyEyes is a little unsettling. [[spoiler: The effect might be intentional with Doug and the other rams, to make them look scarier.]]

** The villain's motivation is very unexplored outside of a single, very brief MotiveRant after TheReveal that amounts to wanting power. The film's moral on prejudice is told through its heroes, who are "prejudiced" in more institutionalized ways, but having a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain whose bigotry is not really elaborated upon or given any meat is seen by some critics as a wasted opportunity to delve into the thought process of an ''actual'' racist. Prejudice is bad, but racists tend to actually believe in their preconceptions and claim that there is some kind of innate inferiority in the cultures and people they despise; the villain makes no attempt to justify or even explain where their hatred of the minority species is rooted, and ultimately just comes off as power-hungry. [[spoiler:Granted, Bellwether's not far from many actual racists' line of thought. People who think by being 'oppressed' it makes it okay for them to be racists.]]

** The film is so popular in Korea that there is a book containing the film's script with a CD teaching Koreans English.[[note]]The popularity of the film in Korea is unusual, taking into account the fact foxes in popular Korean culture are depicted in ''very negative'' light, in contrast to their [[{{Kitsune}} Japanese]] and Chinese equivalents, since the Korean equivalent, the Gumiho, is normally depicted as vicious and vampirical in nature. Though this may count as having ShownTheirWork; the oldest Gumiho stories revolve around the poor, gullible fox-spirits getting tricked by the wily humans.[[/note]]

** Six years later, Idris Elba would once again wind himself up in a wacky adventure involving [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022 cops and foxes]]

* ItsTheSameSoItSucks: As mentioned above, some viewers are beginning to get annoyed [[spoiler:about the HiddenVillain being the PlotTwist]] and feel that the cliche is getting old. Particularly since Disney have used this trope ''[[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph four times]]'' ''[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 in a]]'' ''[[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 row now.]]''

** Six years later, Idris Elba would once again wind himself up in a wacky adventure involving [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022 cops and foxes]]

** Virtually all fanfics that feature Nick's mother give her the name "[[WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973 Marian]]." And while it's not quite as widespread, it's still fairly common to see Nick's father being named "Robin."
* FanonWelding: Due to some of the characters looking identical and both taking place in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, it's not uncommon to have fans interpret ''Zootopia'' as being the present day incarnation of the world from ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', with Nick being depicted as a descendant of Robin Hood and Marian.

** While other movies like Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' have been hugely popular with them, this movie appears to be tailor made for the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom, as evidenced the fact that Disney encouraged [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/alishagrauso/2016/03/07/in-hindsight-how-the-marketing-of-zootopia-won-big-by-getting-weird/?sh=7247db6543b8 actual furry groups like Furlife]] to promote the film on social media in exchange for freebies, which definitely played a role in it becoming a surprise hit.

** Judy has moderately wide hips due to her physical training for the ZPD, along with [[NonMammalMammaries breasts]] which are barely visible in the ZPD cadet training sequence even though she's wearing a skin-tight T-shirt. In fanart, Judy's breasts — besides having a tendency to appear bigger and/or more clearly defined in comparison — are sometimes drawn [[GagBoobs so large for her small frame that she shouldn't be able to stand]], and her already curvy hips are occasionally elevated to HartmanHips levels of width. In addition, fans have a tendency to draw the jeans that she wears as part of her casual outfit as skin-tight Daisy dukes, and due to her police uniform also being noticeably skin-tight in canon (which, coupled with her tank-top like vest, gives the impression of a G-rated example of BareYourMidriff), some may give her a NavelOutline when depicted wearing it. Overall it's pretty common to see Judy in lewd fanart portrayed as either a shortstack or a bottom-heavy bunny.
** Whenever Nick is portrayed as a human in fanart, his goofy fox-version appearance is frequently transformed into a TallDarkAndHandsome LovableRogue.

** Naturally, there are the Judy/Nick shippers. [[spoiler: The ship is supported by their last exchange of dialogue in the film, where Nick tells Judy "You know you love me", to which Judy responds "Do I know that...? Yes. Yes, I do." While [[MaybeEverAfter it's ambiguous whether they mean "love" in a platonic or a romantic sense]], the shippers obviously lean towards the latter.]] This was given a major boost when [[http://www.mtv.com/news/2796657/zootopia-nick-wilde-judy-hopps-canon-deleted-scene-rich-moore/ the director of the movie confirmed there was a deleted scene similar to some shipping fan-art]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: Of ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', [[https://twitter.com/byronphoward/status/687445016982065153 which was co-director Byron Howard's inspiration for doing this movie]].

** Virtually all fanfics that feature Nick's mother give her the name "[[WesternAnimation/RobinHood Marian]]." And while it's not quite as widespread, it's still fairly common to see Nick's father being named "Robin."
* FanonWelding: Due to some of the characters looking identical and both taking place in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals, it's not uncommon to have fans interpret ''Zootopia'' as being the present day incarnation of the world from ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', with Nick being depicted as a descendant of Robin Hood and Marian.

** While other movies like Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' have been hugely popular with them, this movie appears to be tailor made for the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom, as evidenced the fact that Disney encouraged [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/alishagrauso/2016/03/07/in-hindsight-how-the-marketing-of-zootopia-won-big-by-getting-weird/?sh=7247db6543b8 actual furry groups like Furlife]] to promote the film on social media in exchange for freebies, which definitely played a role in it becoming a surprise hit.

** Judy has moderately wide hips due to her physical training for the ZPD, along with [[NonMammalMammaries breasts]] which are barely visible in the ZPD cadet training sequence even though she's wearing a skin-tight T-shirt. In fanart, Judy's breasts — besides having a tendency to appear bigger and/or more clearly defined in comparison — are sometimes drawn [[GagBoobs so large for her small frame that she shouldn't be able to stand]], and her already curvy hips are occasionally elevated to HartmanHips levels of width. In addition, fans have a tendency to draw the jeans that she wears as part of her casual outfit as skin-tight [[WhoWearsShortShorts Daisy dukes]], and due to her police uniform also being noticeably skin-tight in canon (which, coupled with her tank-top like vest, gives the impression of a G-rated example of BareYourMidriff), some may give her a NavelOutline when depicted wearing it. Overall it's pretty common to see Judy in lewd fanart portrayed as either a shortstack or a bottom-heavy bunny.

* EightDeadlyWords: The final movie was the result of this trope being experienced numerous times during the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen early development versions]] that focused on the predators wearing "tame collars"[[note]](essentially a shock collar which triggers when the wearer becomes excited)[[/note]]. The creative team kept getting feedback that it was hard to become invested in the city of Zootopia given that it would force a portion of its citizens to wear "tame collars" and, by extension, that it also was hard to empathize with Judy since, as a ZPD officer, she worked for the organization that enforced the collar rules. A test screening with Creator/{{Pixar}} resulted in the most direct negative feedback but they offered the suggestion asking if the "tame collars" could be replaced by prejudice and stereotyping. This new insight inspired the creative team to rework nearly the entire story shifting Judy into the main protagonist role and making Zootopia into a city that can be admired even as the film explores the realistic problems associated with prejudice.

** Judging by its widespread appearance across multiple fanfics, the idea that "chomper" is a common FantasticSlur against predators seems to be this.[[note]]The term originated in the first draft of the setting, in which teeth were refernced as the distinction between predators and prey. It never appeared in the finished version.[[/note]]

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: The original plot was scrapped and reworked from the ground up just nine months before the intended release date (Nick was the original protagonist). That didn't stop the studio and the dedicated creative team from producing a film with incredible animation or storytelling, though.

%% In accordance with the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment, please refrain using the
%% HarsherInHindsight trope to soapbox especially by including details specific to the George Floyd

** "I know I said I wasn't a furry but..."[[labelnote:explanation]]After the movie came out and was a crazy beloved smash success, it ended up bringing in many people to the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom. This led to them creating Fursonas, writing/drawing (sometimes NSFW) furry fanwork, or EatingTheEyeCandy in regard to some of the characters, and even those who otherwise want nothing to do with the furry fandom grudgingly admitted to finding at least one character -- usually Judy Hopps -- rather attractive by human standards. Those people usually end up prefacing things like that with that line.[[/labelnote]]

** Judging by its widespread appearance across multiple fanfics, the idea that "chomper" is a common FantasticSlur against predators seems to be this.

** "I know I said I wasn't a furry but..."[[labelnote:explanation]]After the movie came out and was a crazy beloved smash success, it ended up bringing in many people to the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom. This led to them creating Fursonas, writing/drawing (sometimes NSFW) furry fanwork, or EatingTheEyeCandy in regard to some of the characters, and even those who otherwise [[FanHater want nothing to do with the furry fandom]] grudgingly admitted to finding at least one character -- usually Judy Hopps -- rather attractive by human standards. Those people usually end up prefacing things like that with that line.[[/labelnote]]

** Jack Savage and Skye Winters, are one of the most popular of these WhatCouldHaveBeen characters, coming from the ''Savage Seas'' version of early Zootopia. A male jackrabbit spy and a female arctic fox mechanic, usually they act as gender-flipped counterparts for the FanPreferredCouple of Judy and Nick, and thus are shipped together quite frequently as a result. Although that doesn't mean either of them aren't exempt from being shipped with Judy and Nick.[[note]]either as Judy x Jack, Nick x Skye or even Judy x Skye and Jack x Nick[[/note]] Some artists go out of their way to go even further and go for an OneTrueThreesome [[note]](It's usually Nick shipped with the aformentioned two dumb bunnies)[[/note]] or Polygamy thing with all four characters.

** Judy Hopps is occasionally referred to as "Judy Hipps" by viewers and the fandom, in reference to her noticeably curvy hips.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Dawn Bellwether. Fans are split on whether she's one of the [[LoveToHate best]] or [[TheScrappy worst]] of the villains in the Disney Revival. Some fans find her to be an entertaining villain with interesting motives. Others see her as yet another twist-villain following the trend set up in WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph, {{WesternAnimation/Frozen2013}}, and WesternAnimation/BigHero6.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Dawn Bellwether. Fans are a little split on wether or not she's one of the [[LoveToHate best]] or [[TheScrappy worst]] Disney villains. Some fans find her to be an entertaining villain with interesting motives and praise her as one of the company's best villains yet while other fans see her as nothing but a [[PlotIrrelevantVillain]] and hate her for being the [[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph fourth Disney villain]] [[WesternAnimation/Frozen in a row]] [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 that turned out to be evil]]. It doesn't help that she's voiced by the ever-so popular Jenny Slate.