Zootopia

"Welcome to the urban jungle."

- Tagline

Zootopia (named Zootropolis in some countries) is a 2016 computer-animated buddy-cop comedy and noir film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is co-directed by Byron Howard (Bolt and Tangled), Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph) and Jared Bush (Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero), and produced by Clark Spencer (Lilo & Stitch, Bolt and Wreck-It Ralph), and it's the 55th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon. It was released on March 4, 2016, and February 10, 2016 in France.

Synopsis
The modern mammal metropolis of Zootopia is a city like no other. Comprised of habitat neighborhoods like ritzy Sahara Square and frigid Tundratown, it’s a melting pot where animals from every environment live together — a place where no matter what you are, from the biggest elephant to the smallest shrew, you can be anything. But when optimistic Officer Judy Hopps arrives, she discovers that being the first bunny on a police force of big, tough animals isn’t so easy. Determined to prove herself, she jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering with a fast-talking, scam-artist fox, Nick Wilde, to solve the mystery.

Plot
Zootopia is a gleaming metropolis populated by anthropomorphic mammals, divided in several districts including Sahara Square, Tundratown, Little Rodentia, and the Rainforest District.

One day, Judy Hopps, a rabbit from rural Bunnyburrow, fulfills her dream of joining the Zootopia Police Department as the first rabbit officer, however she is regularly assigned parking duty by Chief Bogo. During one of her shifts, she is manipulated by Nick Wilde, a con artist fox. Hopps unlawfully arrests Duke Weaselton at Little Rodentia and is reprimanded by Bogo until Mrs. Otterton, an otter, arrives pleading help on locating her missing husband, one of the many recently missing mammals. To Bogo’s dismay, Hopps volunteers and agrees to resign if she cannot solve the case within 48 hours. With Wilde as a key witness of Mr. Otterton’s disappearance, Hopps locates the fox and coerces him to assist her with the investigation lest he be charged with tax evasion, which he openly admitted and Judy recorded with her carrot pen.

After acquiring Mr. Otterton’s license plate number from Mystic Springs Oasis, Hopps and Wilde track the vehicle from the Department of Mammal Vehicles to Mr. Big, an arctic shrew crime boss in Tundratown. Mr. Big spares their lives after learning that Hopps had rescued his daughter earlier, and informs the pair that Mr. Otterton is his florist and had gone savage and attacked his chauffeur Manchas, a black jaguar. Hopps and Wilde locate Manchas at his home in the Rainforest District. Manchas mentions "Night Howlers" were responsible for the attack on him before he goes savage and chases the pair before they apprehend him. When Bogo and his reinforcements arrive, Manchas disappears. Bogo demands Hopps to resign, but Wilde takes a stand, insisting they have 10 more hours to solve the case. As the pair leave the Rainforest District, Hopps learns from Wilde that he was bullied by prey animals as a pup and resolved to live out the fox stereotype as defiance.

Wilde realizes that the city’s traffic camera system may have captured how Manchas disappeared, and the pair consult Assistant Mayor Bellwether. They identify the captors as wolves, hence "Night Howlers". Hopps and Wilde locate Cliffside Asylum detaining the missing, savaged mammals (including Mr. Otterton) and discover Mayor Lionheart consulting with a doctor about their condition. The pair escape with the evidence and the police swarm the area, arresting Lionheart. Having developed a friendship with Wilde throughout the case, Hopps requests that he joins the ZPD and become her partner, which Wilde happily considers. However, during a press conference, a pressured Hopps describes the savaged mammals' condition as them reverting to their natural instincts. This seemingly confirms Hopps's bigotry against foxes to Wilde, who angrily walks out on her offer. When fear and discrimination against predators spreads across Zootopia, a guilt-ridden Hopps resigns. During this time, Gazelle holds a peaceful protest and publicly asks for the harmonious Zootopia she loves and cherish to be restored.

Back in Bunnyburrow, Hopps learns that "Night Howlers" are flowers that have a severe psychotropic effects on mammals, and that her parents use them to protect their crops. Hopps returns to Zootopia and reconciles with Wilde. They locate Weaselton and learn that he has been collecting Night Howlers for a secret laboratory. The pair find the lab and find ram scientists creating a Night Howler serum which have been injected into predators via dart guns. Hopps and Wilde race to the ZPD with the evidence, but the rams pursue them. Just short of the ZPD, the pair encounter Bellwether who insists she takes the evidence. Realizing she is the mastermind of the conspiracy, Hopps and Wilde try to flee, but are knocked into a pit by her ram henchmen. Bellwether shoots a Night Howler dart from the evidence case at Wilde and frames a call for help to the ZPD. Wilde apparently becomes savage and corners Hopps, but it turns out the pair were acting in order to trick Bellwether into openly admitting her species-supremacist scheme to take over Zootopia, and that they replaced the dart gun ammo with blueberries from Hopps’s farm. With Bellwether’s monologue recorded on Judy’s carrot pen, the ZPD arrive and arrest her and her accomplices.

Some months later, Hopps is reinstated into the ZPD. The savaged mammals are cured. Wilde joins the ZPD as the first fox officer and Judy’s new partner. The final scene has all of Zootopia attending Gazelle's concert.

Cast

 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, a rabbit
 * Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde, a red fox
 * Idris Elba as Chief Bogo, a cape buffalo
 * Jenny Slate as Bellwether, a sheep
 * J. K. Simmons as Mayor Lionheart, an African lion
 * Nate Torrence as Clawhauser, a cheetah
 * Shakira as Gazelle, a gazelle
 * Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Hopps, a rabbit
 * Don Lake as Stu Hopps, a rabbit
 * Tommy "Tiny" Lister as Finnick, a fennec fox
 * Alan Tudyk as Duke Weaselton, a weasel
 * Maurice LaMarche as Mr. Big, an arctic shrew
 * Phil Johnston as Gideon Grey, a red fox
 * Raymond S. Persi as Flash, a three-toed sloth
 * Tommy Chong as Yax, a yak
 * Octavia Spencer as Mrs. Otterton, an otter
 * Jesse Corti as Manchas, a black jaguar
 * Katie Lowes as Dr. Madge Honey Badger, a honey badger
 * John DiMaggio as Jerry Jumbeaux Jr., an African elephant
 * Peter Mansbridge as Peter Moosebridge, a moose
 * Mark "Rhino" Smith as Officer McHorn, a rhinoceros
 * Kristen Bell as Priscilla, a three-toed sloth
 * Leah Latham as Fru Fru, an arctic shrew
 * John Lavelle as Mouse Foreman
 * Rich Moore as Doug, a ram
 * Byron Howard as Bucky Oryx-Antlerson, an oryx
 * Jared Bush as Pronk Oryx-Antlerson, an oryx
 * Josh Dallas as Frantic Pig
 * Gita Reddy as Nangi, an elephant
 * as Drill Sergeant, a polar bear
 * as a wolf

Development
According to Howard, Zootopia will be different from other animal anthropomorphic films, where animals either live in the natural world or in the human world. The concept, where animals live in a modern world designed by animals, was well received by John Lasseter, who lifted Howard "in the air like a baby Simba," when he proposed the idea for the film. The story initially revolved around the character of Nick Wilde as the protagonist, but his role was later swapped with Judy Hopps.

While the characters are portrayed as anthropomorphic animals, the filmmakers were urged by Lasster to keep the characteristics that make each animal unique, intact with the animation and movement that would be portrayed on screen. To do so, the film crew was sent to Kenya, Africa, as well as Disney's Animal Kingdom, on a research trip, where they studied various mammal wildlife. Live animals, such as sloths and fennec foxes were also brought into the studio building for further, intimate study.

The primary issue centering the film is prejudice, and preconceived notions based on stereotypes. To further emphasize this, the creatures that inhabit Zootopia were limited down to mammals, to portray a sense of segregation between animals of predator and prey mentality; animals such as birds and marine life were left out as most, if not all, are consumers of other living organisms, making it difficult to narrow them down within the status quo of the story's conflict. The thought process of stereotypes was also integrated when deciding which familiar species would serve as the film's opposing leads, eventually determined as a rabbit and fox partnership.

The city of Zootopia, itself, is comprised of various districts—all of which are tailored to best suit the animals that inhabit the them, both in terms of atmosphere, climate, and scale. To accomplish this, the filmmakers assembled an "Environments team", who were tasked to create the unique spaces the characters roam and inhabit throughout the film. Each area was created to look as if it has a sense of history, adding chaos and minor details to bring the world to life. Furthermore, the studio revived the use of the Hyperion rendering system, which mimics real-world geometric complexity, and was first utilized in the previous animated feature, Big Hero 6. Each district was also modeled after various real-world areas. For example, Tundratown, the district consisting of low temperature mammals such as polar bears, was architecturally influenced by Russia. Sahara Square, an area for high temperature mammals such as camels, was modeled after Las Vegas. The renderings of the snow and wintry feel of Tundra Town was also influenced by the 2013 animated feature Frozen.

In March 2015, Rich Moore, who previously directed Wreck-It Ralph, was revealed to have been working on the film as a director, with Jared Bush as a co-director.

On October 29, 2015, Moore announced that animation on the film was wrapped.

Music
In addition to her voice role of Gazelle, the biggest pop star in Zootopia, Shakira will also contribute to the film an original song, entitled "Try Everything", which will be written by Sia and Stargate.

On November 1, 2015, it was revealed that Michael Giacchino, acclaimed composer best known for his work at Pixar, will be composing the score for Zootopia, marking his first feature entry into the Walt Disney Animation Studios library. The score was completed on November 20.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggest the film will open to $60–70 million from 3,827 theaters in its opening weekend. It will play in 3,100 3D theaters, 365 IMAX theaters and 325 premium large formats screens.

Taking advantage of school holidays in various markets, Zootopia began opening in a very limited number of international markets in the weekend ending February 14, earning $4.5 million from 3 markets. It expanded to 22 markets in its second weekend, which is 36% of its total international markets and added $31.2 million. It added another $33 million in its third weekend with no new markets added.

In its opening weekend – which varies between markets – it grossed $3.1 million in Spain and an additional $1.7 million in Belgium and Denmark. In Belgium, it scored the biggest ever animated opening for a Disney or Pixar movie. It broke opening records for a Disney animated film in France ($8.7 million) and Poland ($1.2 million). Elsewhere, Mexico opened with $4.6 million and Italy opened on a non-holiday weekend to $3.3 million.

Critical response
Zootopia has received universal critical acclaim from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film is Certified Fresh with a rating of 99%, based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The consensus statement reads, "The brilliantly well-rounded Zootopia offers a thoughtful, inclusive message that's as rich and timely as its sumptuously state-of-the-art animation – all while remaining fast and funny enough to keep younger viewers entertained." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Trivia

 * This is only the eighth non-musical animated film in the Disney animated canon, following The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers Down Under, Dinosaur, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Wreck-It Ralph and Big Hero 6.
 * Director Byron Howard wanted to create Zootopia as a homage to Robin Hood with modern CG technology.
 * Producer Clark Spencer was inspired by The Jungle Book to produce Zootopia.
 * Throughout Zootopia, there are numerous animal parodies of real-life companies:
 * Lululemmings - Lululemon
 * Just Zoo It -, Nike's famous slogan
 * Preyda -
 * Bearberry -
 * DNKY -
 * Snarlbucks -
 * Zoogle -
 * Targoat - Target
 * Some smartphones feature a logo that looks like the logo but it is a carrot instead. There are also devices resembling  tablets but with a pawprint logo and the name "iPaw".
 * ZNN -
 * Mousey's -
 * Lucky Chomps -
 * MuzzleTime -
 * Trader Doe's -
 * Hoof Locker -
 * This the third time where, Jason Bateman and J.K. Simmons co-starred in a film together, the first was ' and the second was '.
 * Alan Tudyk, Jenny Slate, Maurice LaMarche and Nate Torrence have co-starred in Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
 * Zootopia is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be composed by Michael Giacchino and also the second film from that production company to be composed by a recurring Pixar composer; the first was 2009's The Princess and the Frog, which was composed by Randy Newman.
 * Along with Moana, this is the first time since 2002 that Disney releases two animated features in the same year.
 * This is Disney's third computer-animated film to be released in IMAX 3D theaters; the first being Tangled and Big Hero 6, though the first to be released in Domestic IMAX theaters.
 * It is also the first time that Disney released an animated film in Domestic IMAX theaters since Treasure Planet.
 * While Zootopia itself is an all-mammal city, it has been hinted that there are other cities for other animals such as birds and reptiles in the world.
 * Zootopia_American_Japan_anchors.png character Peter Moosebridge's portrayal differs based on each region's version of the film. While Moosebridge remains in the American and Canadian versions, he is replaced by a jaguar in the Brazilian version, a tanuki in the Japanese version, a koala in the Australian and New Zealand versions, and a panda in the Chinese version.
 * On Judy's music player, several Disney songs are mentioned or parodied, including "Let It Go" from Frozen, "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King and "Arabian Nights" from Aladdin.
 * In the original early draft of Zootopia while it was in development, Nick was originally set as the main protagonist of the film while Judy was set as the deuteragonist of the film. However, there roles were then later switched during production of the film. Plus, Judy was also planned to be a lieutenant at one point during production, but the idea was soon scrapped.
 * This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film not to be accompanied by a short film since 2010's Tangled.
 * With 108 minutes length, Zootopia is (to date) the longest Disney feature film since Fantasia.

Cameos

 * On the theatrical release poster for Zootopia, standing behind Yax is a zebra. His son appears to be holding a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll.
 * In Tundratown, two little elephant girls are dressed like Elsa and Anna from Frozen.
 * In Little Rodentia, right next to Mousey's, there a building called Lucky Cat Café, a reference to the Hamada's residence in Big Hero 6.
 * In one scene, Duke Weaselton was seen selling bootlegged films to bystanders. The films he was selling were all animal variants of three of Walt Disney Animation Studios' previous films and three of that in-house studio's upcoming films. Those include:
 * Wrangled - Tangled
 * Wreck-It Rhino - Wreck-It Ralph
 * Pig Hero 6 - Big Hero 6
 * Meowana - Moana
 * Giraffic - Gigantic
 * Floatzen 2 - Frozen 2