Zootopia (2016)

Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore

Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin*, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate

Have I Seen It Before?: Never. But it has been on in the background during a series of facetime calls with my niece (or as she calls it, “FOXES!”), so I figured I needed to get with the times.

Did I like it?: I may be further showing my age by still being of a mind that films produced by Disney animation and not Pixar are somehow less than. It was certainly true back in the 90s and the 00s, but ever since John Lasseter** bridged the divide between the two animation houses, maybe Pixar films have been a little less special (not bad, just less special), and regular Disney pictures have increased in quality by quantum leaps. Wreck It Ralph (2012) immediately comes to mind.

The disparity in quality is just not there anymore, even as Lasseter’s era has come to an end. And so, Zootopia presents all of the visual inventiveness and humor we have come to expect from the mouse house. Far more interestingly, the world is an interesting speculative premise. What if the various animals of the world all evolved into a humanlike society? How would creatures that were once predators and prey come to interact with one another? Would they have nudity taboos? It’s a lot to take in for a kids movie. It leaves even larger questions that I’m not sure could fuel a sequel, but I keep thinking about a day after I watched the movie. Are there humans in this world? Did they not evolve? Do the species intermarry? It sure seems like Judy (Goodwin) and Nick (Bateman) seem to be awfully nice friends at the end of the film, but they can’t possibly have children, right?

Have I gotten to the point where I’m no longer in the right mindset for a bright colorful movie about talking animals? That’s probably the most pressing question of all.

*The role felt tailor made for someone like Amy Poehler, but Inside Out (2015) probably negated that possibility. It was only after looking up the stats on the film in anticipation of this review that I realized Judy was played by the ill-fated first Mrs. Cash. It’s a testament to the performance that it wasn’t immediately recognizable as someone, unlike the performances of either Bateman, Elba, or Slate.

** I know… It’s good for the culture that he is gone now, and it’s even better that he’s only kind of been able to land his golden parachute in the safe havens of Skydance Animation. But its impossible to deny that the man had an impact on the quality of animated movies over the last twenty-five years.

Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018)

Director: Rich Moore, Phil Johnston

Cast: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson

Have I Seen it Before: It definitely represents a trend in animated sequels, but no, I missed it in the theaters.

Did I Like It: Look…

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the sequel to Wreck it Ralph (2012). The humor is on-point, if—at times—a little like grabbing for low-hanging fruit when it comes to the mercurial nature of the internet. The action set pieces and other animation are clever, as are the sequences involving the bevy of Disney Princesses…

And that might be part of the problem. Far be it for me to drag someone for thinking too much and feeling too little in the context of a story, but I think lthe problem here is that the original had such a perfectly constructed emotional through-line for its main character. In the original film, Ralph (Reilly) must come to accept who he is if he is to ever hope to be the person—and have the life—he wants.

That’s powerful stuff for any movie, much less one aimed at children that—when you scratch away enough layers—is ultimately an exercise in advanced brand synergy. Here, the closest we get to an emotional arc is the need for Ralph to be a more supportive friend. It’s along the same lines of what happened in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), where the incisive deconstruction of the nature of creativity is sidelined by a message for kids to be nicer to their siblings. It’s a fine ideal, and I suppose it may be unfair for every movie in a franchise to try to re-wrinkle my brain, but I can’t not remark on the fact that—while not embarrassing and still quite entertaining—things just aren’t the same any more.

However, if the film’s loftier ideas can somehow be incepted into a generation of children through an otherwise entertaining picture, then that might actually have a positive impact on human society, so who am I to really judge? Maybe it’s far better than I’m giving it credit.