Reviews WesternAnimation / Zootopia

The racism message was WAY too unsubtle, in-your-face, and preachy. Literally every 1 minute a character would make a racist remark, or there would be a racism metaphor.

I wouldn\'t say it was so preachy, considering nearly all of it is based on real life stereotyping that happens today. Police profiling, outdated terminology, complimenting people of other races with being \"articulate\"; these are things we\'re seeing today and that I have heard. And I\'m not sure the To Kill a Mockingbird comparison holds up, considering it was 1. written in a different time where segregation was still upheld by law, 2. is the opposite of subtle with racist characters frequently using the n-word and hypocrisy of them being aghast at Hitler.

The constant racism by the main characters made them very unlikeable. Nick constantly calling Judy \"carrots\" for example. This is a deliberate flaw of Nick, and as he moves to sympathizing with her he starts calling her Judy instead.

Lots of filler. We didn\'t need to see Nick put out all those parking tickets: We needed to see Judy putting them to see how unfulfilling her job is and how her over-competence at it proves she deserves to be in a higher field.

or the whole montage of Zootopia: That was one of the most gorgeous parts of the movie, and the first \"Wow!\" part of the film. Are you seriously suggesting the film shouldn\'t have had any display or reveal of its unique world? Especially since it\'s Judy in-universe marveling that she gets to be part of this city.

I\'ll give you that about the racism message. It\'s Anvilicious even for a Disney film. Somewhat justified, though as Zootopia, as a whole, is a kids film that both kids and adults can watch, but in order for kids to fully appreciate An Aesop as sensitive and complex as racism, then yeah, it has no choice but to be unsubtle about it. I\'ll still take it over \'You can\'t marry a man you\'ve just met\' from Frozen, though.

Other things you mentioned, though, are purely nitpicking. Yes, the animal puns are probably overdone, but that doesn\'t detract away the plot of the film. Many people in my theater enjoyed the sloth scene, as well as Try Everything. Some jokes you enjoy, some you don\'t. We all have different tastes. Oh, and wolves DO howl when they hear something that sounds like a howl. They don\'t always howl at the moon.

The racism of the main characters is intentional, Nick calling Judy \'Carrots\' is at first meant to be an insult, true, but after the two have an understanding and got closer, it became an Affectionate Nickname for her. See Insult of Endearment on the main page. And most of Judy\'s racist remarks are because she\'s Innocently Insensitive, and it\'s to show that she\'s Not So Above It All like she thinks she is. Personally, I think the racism displayed are not from main characters but from supporting characters, like Bogo, Lionheart, Bellwether, etc. But then again, it\'s not that different from real life.

Filler scenes are for character developments, and for your information, it was Judy who put out the parking tickets, not Nick, and that\'s to establish how determined she is to prove herself, as well as setting up her confrontation with Nick. Besides, she got her job to be the meter maid, what else would she do? I\'m kinda surprised you didn\'t like the arriving at Zootopia montage, probably the first I\'ve known. I thought it was beautifully presented with all the biomes in the city and Judy marveling at how diverse it is, but hey, to each their own.

The racism message is obvious, and I don\'t think it\'s quite a subtle as some people say it is, but similar to what Willy said, it makes sense for it to be (although I\'ll also point out that the same goes for Elsa\'s advice to Anna).

I personally agree about the sloth scene. When I heard someone behind me laughing loudly and commenting on it, I had to wonder, \"Is it really that funny?\" The parody film names were amusing, but I\'ve seen funnier ones.

I strongly recommend that you edit your review to change Nick\'s name to Judy when referring to the main character who writes parking tickets- he isn\'t the one who\'s a cop until the end of the film. Obvious mistakes like those may make people wonder whether you even saw the movie, and thus ruin your credibility.

As someone who wasn\'t as fond of the movie as many of the critics and reviewers on this site were, it\'s nice to see a somewhat more critical review of Zootopia, but this could have been written better.

Eh. Had to happen sometime. At risk of sounding redundant, I might as well throw in my two cents:

- It's "subtle" in the sense that it's actually an accurate depiction of racism, where it's something buried beneath the surface of what seems to be an ideal world, not something that's constantly shoved in-your-face, such as the original premise that had predators living in slums and wearing shock collars. Perhaps it's not too subtle, but it is certainly one of the best portrayals of racism I've ever seen. And as others have said, if it helps to better get the message across to the ones who need it most, then I would rather it be less subtle about it.

- I wouldn't call the puns "jokes" so much as something that just adds to the charm of the world. The actual jokes, such as most of the banter between Nick and Judy, rely more on dry humor and wit, and are much better for it. Perhaps it's because I didn't see it that often before watching the movie, but I still think the sloth scene is comedic gold. Having now seen the movie several times, that scene consistently gets the most laughs out of anyone in the theater/room, so its success as a joke cannot be questioned, regardless of how you personally felt about it.

- There is not "constant racism" from the main characters. There's some hints of it from Judy here and there, up until the big press conference scene, but it's more of a subconscious thing on her end. On Nick's end, he's intentionally trying to play up his stereotype and belittling Judy is a natural extension of that, where "Carrots" eventually becomes more of an affectionate nickname than an insult.

- I loved "Try Everything" and have several covers of it on my iPod. That's all I can really say about it without going into musical tastes (no thanks), but it's at least a fitting song if nothing else.

- Judy filling out parking tickets is not filler, for reasons already explained, and the opening montage most certainly isn't! Not to mention those are two of the best scenes in the movie at that, especially the latter, which still gets a huge grin out of me every time I see it. Even the sloth scene was an integral part of solving the case, albeit slightly too long for some people.

While it's somewhat refreshing to see at least one negative review in here, your overuse of caps-lock, blatant exaggerations, and misunderstanding of several key points makes it hard to take seriously. I have yet to see a single negative review of this movie that didn't leave me questioning if the reviewer was really paying attention, and unfortunately, this is no exception. So I'm not really upset, just sort of baffled.

You\'re a scumbag I hate this review, if you can even call it that and I hated everything about this review, watching the movie and it seems good but you can\'t please cynicism. Too bad ): Guess not everyone can enjoy something good

That is not an appropriate response to a negative review.

@fairygirl567 Calm down, please! Just because the reviewer disliked something that you love does not mean you should insult them! Rather than calling them a scumbag, why don\'t you explain why you like the movie in question?

Calling your opinion \"controversial\" doesn\'t mean it escapes criticism. It\'s fine to not like the movie but your review isn\'t very well thought out. You don\'t provide major examples and instead, your review just came off as nitpicking. Not liking a joke scene or a song doesn\'t ruin a whole movie. Also, you missed the context of why scenes are supposed to be there (like establishing shots) and \"bland\" is a lazy word for use of criticism. Also, your opinion isn\'t a fact so stop implying that but just calling it \"terrible\". You could have said \"I thought it was terrible\" but no. You didn\'t. Overall, I didn\'t like your review.

The problem with this review -and this isn't a criticism of it, it's an observation of the problem it causes- is that it is, ultimately, all about your opinion. Apart from your observations on the racism, everything you said boiled down to "I hated it because I hated it". And no-one can tell you that you're wrong, you really liked it, because telling someone they've misinterpreted their own opinion is one of the stupidest and most pointless things you can do (and is sadly become more and more popular these days). There are (maybe) people who find the original Star Wars trilogy boring, who didn't even crack a single smile watching Monty Python And The Holy Grail, or who rolled their eyes through the climax of Titanic. You can't tell these people they're wrong for not liking these, no matter how mystifying and inconceivable their opinions may be. That doesn't mean they -or you- are right, but it still doesn't make you "wrong".

Would have to question your dismissal of the racism, though. The movie is, ultimately all about racism. And honestly, if you're going for a "subtle" study of racism, To Kill A Mockingbird is hardly the best comparison (although I'm not questioning that it's a brilliant book and film). How many N-bombs were dropped in that film? And if you think it's "preachy" or "in-your-face", racism is still one of those issues that falls under Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped.

Fun fact: It\'s actually one of the most accurate depictions of racism I\'ve ever seen in an animated film... because it actually acknowledges, unlike a lot of viewers, that racism goes both ways and being \"historically a victim\" doesn\'t excuse someone from being a hateful bigot or a bad guy. Although it seems a lot of people didn\'t get all of the point.

My counterpoints:

1. Racism IS that blatant in real life. Maybe you haven't noticed it if you're one of the majority, but it's just that bad in many parts of the western world. Even worse in other countries.

2. Animal jokes. Uh, yeah. You go into a movie about talking animals and you're not expecting animal jokes? I'm sorry, this is like watching a Marvel film and complaining about superpowers. Know your genre. Moreover, the animal jokes were far more situational than just "look, an animal, laugh." Like Mr Big. Those kinds of jokes work just as easily with a human character (see the same joke happen in Watchmen). Or the sloths. It's not just a joke about sloths, it's a joke about the DMV in real life. The animal-ness of it simply exaggerates the fact.

3. Constant racism: you know, for someone who complained about the movie being too unsubtle, how could you miss this? Their entire world has a fundamental undercurrent of racism while looking pretty on top. That's the entire point of the film. That's what characters have to overcome during, you know, character development.

4. Try Everything. I dunno, the song wasn't that great. I wouldn't call it terrible, but pretty meh as far as disney songs go.

5. Filler: uh... again, you call the movie unsutble, and you miss the purpose of the scene entirely. It demonstrates two things: Judy's desire to prove herself to be the best, even if given a mundane task, and how ultimately unfullfilling it still is and the reason to continue pursuing greater roles in the police force. The sloth joke is long and slow, but that's meta-humour.

So that's my review of your review. You claim the film is far too obvious, yet you manage to miss some obvious themes, meaning, and purpose of certain scenes yourself. Huh.

I admit I was wrong about the racism bit, so I raise my grade, but I still stand by the fact that I didn\'t find the movie funny apart from maybe a joke or two, so I can only give it a 5/10.