ZOOTROPOLIS
Animal Magic
released 25 July 2016 | PG | Blu-ray 3d/Blu-ray/dVd/ download Directors Byron Howard, rich Moore Cast Ginnifer Goodwin, jason Bateman, Idris elba, Nate Torrence
The winning formula of recent Disney animated movies continues with Zootropolis. While it’s essentially a buddy comedy about a rabbit cop (Ginnifer Goodwin’s Judy Hopps) and a con man fox (Jason Bateman’s Nick Wilde), the film has a lot more on its mind.
There are smart subtexts about racism and police behaviour, and how tough it is for people to live together. But everything is delivered with panache and joy, including imaginative designs, clever gags, a story that wends its way through cop drama and noir to slapstick and back again, and jubilant vocal performances that always serve the film.
Hopps and Wilde are an endearing duo, and their world is consistently impressive with its many layers of detail. How many other animated animal adventures do you know that also include a spot-on riff on Breaking Bad?
Extras Significant changes were made quite late in the day: seven not fully-finished deleted scenes (18 minutes, with introductions) shed some light on this, as does a three-minute piece on deleted characters. You also get: a three-part, 20-minute roundtable with production staff; short pieces on research, the story, the score and Easter Eggs (27 minutes); a music video.
Alan Tudyk voices Duke Weaselton. His Frozen character’s name, the Duke of Weselton, was often mispronounced.