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      Welcome back, everyone. The review of Frozen I did last night seemed to get a good enough reception, so I'm doing another review, this one on Disney's 2016 animated film, Zootopia. And while, as the title suggests, I have issues with this movie, there are also things I liked about the movie. Anyway, there's a lot of ground to cover, so let's get into it. Starting off, I certainly consider it a point in this movie's favor that it's the first feature-length animated Disney movie to have an all furry cast since they made Robin Hood back in the 1970's. I also really liked how the movie addressed the different environmental requirements in the same city, like with a Sahara Zone, an Arctic Zone, a Jungle Zone, controlled rain clouds etc. I haven't been to Disneyland in many years, so I wouldn't know if they actually DID it, but the train ride to Zootopia could make a decent enough amusement park ride. Another positive is making the main characters a bunny and a fox who have to work together in spite of their differences. It works on several levels, y'know? Foxes and bunnies are both really cute creatures that audiences are likely to associate with heroes, but they're biologically incompatible (Because obviously a real fox would eat a real rabbit when given the chance), and it makes sense for the fox to be considered the bad one because a real fox would loot through garbage cans and raid chicken coops. Then again, a real BUNNY would rob a garden... Anyway, the movie embellished bunny populations by giving Judy the bunny over a hundred siblings as a gag on multiplying bunnies (From what I've read, real bunnies have annual litters, but their populations aren't any bigger than those of raccoons). It isn't a con exactly, but I don't consider it a pro either.
    The upside of bunnies having giant families is a quick (albeit cheap) laugh, but the downside is that it makes Judy that much less relatable as a character. After all, how many people have over a hundred siblings. I'm not even going to go into what helicopter parents Judy's folks were to her, and how the heck they could be helicopter parents to all of those children. Anyway, the movie opens with Judy as a kid putting on a play that showed carnivores like felines used to hunt herbivores like bunnies. In addition to Judy taking the play a little far by implying gore with colored streamers and ketchup, the pragmatism of such a play is a little lost on me personally. I mean, they go on to say that "predators (Carnivores)" have evolved to a civilized point where they no longer need to hunt and kill (What that means exactly is never truly explained. Does it mean that Carnivores are now herbivores, or do they eat birds and fish, neither of which are shown as sentient life forms in the movie), because of which, it might have a "see how far we've come" message, but it seems to me that reminding people of a more savage past could cause unnecessary demonization towards marginalized groups; in this case, the predators. Then again, at the beginning of the movie, the audience might not have been supposed to like carnivores yet, as indicated by the fox, Gideon Grey, and his weasel sidekick, bullying innocent sheep and hurting Judy when she tries to help.
    In fact, at that beginning, Judy as a kid, and her dream of becoming Zootopia's first bunny cop is kinda the movie's focal point. Looking back, that goal makes things a little confusing, since it indicates that she and bunnies are a minority group, and yet she's clearly an herbivore while the movie really sells carnivores as the minorities. Ah, well. I guess it's supposed to represent women in the work force? Although she DID seem to have a female drill instructor- Whatever. Moving on, Judy's parents appear significantly more afraid of carnivores than Judy is, and they want to give her a taser, but she only takes some mace-like spray. It's interesting that nobody ever brings up the lack of guns in Zootopia P.D. Seriously, the police go up against a lot of different kinds of animals with various natural defenses- Let's put that in the "whatever" file too. Anyway, as an adult, Judy leaves her overpopulated home land with some "fox-away" spray to pursue her dream of being a bunny-cop. She undergoes a rigorous training program that helps separate her from characters like Rey of Star Wars. Judy succeeds at the tests and becomes a policewoman, and based on what the beginning of the movie would indicate, that should mean that she's accomplished her dream and the movie's over. Of course, that ISN'T the end, and there's still, like over an hour of content to get through. So HOW is this not just a happy ending for Judy? Well, for one thing, it turns out that being a cop isn't quite what she pictured...
    The fact is, the police chief underestimates Judy and resigns her to giving people parking tickets. Now, you COULD say that the police chief is doing this because Judy is new on the force, but the general consensus is that it's because she's a little bunny. Regardless, it turns out that Judy is actually great at giving parking tickets, but everyone hates her for it. Although, on the upside, Judy's parents are relieved that she's not doing anything more dangerous. Even Judy's housing situation is a pain because of the noisy neighbors in her apartment. Now, before I move on, I want to address kind of a nitpicky thing that the logic part of my brain just won't let go of. The carnivores are supposed to be the marginalized minorities while the herbivores are supposed to be everyone else, right? So, by that logic, the foxes should have voices with foreign accents or whatever, and the chief of police should sound like someone from California or something like that. As it is, the characters often sound like they're from the countries of their species' origin, while Officer Clawhauser (You know, the hilariously overweight cheetah?) totally sounds American. Whatever. I kinda doubt anyone's really thinking about that kind of thing even if this movie DOES represent certain social conflicts. Moving on...
    After another unfulfilling day as a meter maid, Judy notices a fox that she's suspicious of for reasons that aren't totally clear to me. Judy follows the fox to an ice cream parlor, where he's trying to get a gigantic popsicle to a smaller fox who is apparently his son. The elephant proprietor seems to be unreasonably hellbent against giving the foxes the popsicle, even stating that he reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. However, through the magic of sop stories, Judy comes to their rescue, extorting the elephants by citing a health code violation because the one who scooped ice cream did so without a glove on his trunk. The fox even gets Judy to PAY for the huge popsicle, and it all seems like a good deed with a happy ending. That is, until it turns out that the giant popsicle is just a part of a get-rich-quick scheme, where the bigger fox (Nick) turns it into a bunch of SMALLER popsicles, which he sells to rodent businessmen, and then he sells the wooden stick to a bunch of beaver contractors. To top things off, it turns out the smaller fox (Fennec) isn't Nick's son or even a child, but a smaller breed of fox with a big, tough-guy attitude! Judy discovers Nick's scheme, but is unable to bust him for it, and while confronting him, she is treated to the most demoralizing cartoon character speech I've heard up to that point: "Let me guess. Little bunny gets perfect grades at school and decides "I'm going to Zootopia, where everyone gets along and we all sing Kum-by-a". But then she gets there and discovers "(Gasp) We DON'T all get along!" And nobody cares about her OR her dreams, and sooner or later, those dreams die, and she loses her job AND her apartment and ends up huddled under a bridge until she's forced to go back home with that cotton tail between her legs and become- I'm gonna go with a carrot farmer."
      Ugh! Seriously! That may be the kind of kick-in-the-pants speech you give to young adults who are supposed to be facing reality for what it is, but imagine being a KID watching this movie and getting disillusioned by a cartoon fox and bunny! And little kids are extra succeptible to things like that. The main idea of his little speech? "You can't be anything you want to be. You can only be what you are." Ah well, at least it ends on a joke, where Judy says: "I am NOT a dumb bunny!", and Nick replies: "Riiight. And that ISN'T wet cement..." Anyway, things kind of pick up the next day, when Judy busts a thieving weasel and saves civilians in a rodent city. The chief of police is less than impressed, though, since Judy also inadvertently caused considerable property damage, and the thief was only stealing a bunch of plants anyway that resembled onions. Judy gets into an argument with the chief that ALMOST gets her fired, but before he can fire Judy, the mayor's assistant peer pressures him into putting her on a high-profile missing-persons case with Judy's career on the line. To get help on the case, Judy gets assistance from the last person to see the missing person, who happens to be Nick, threatening him with tax fraud if he doesn't cooperate (Fun fact: That's actually how Al Capone was finally caught). The two of them go to the last location, which happens to be a nudist colony (Yeah. Thanks for that, Disney! I mean, I know they're animals, but still, NUDISTS?!), where we're treated to a gag where a ditzy yak remembers more about the guy than an elephant yoga instructor. Through the description of said yak, they get a license plate number that they need checked by the DMV.
  Unfortunately for Judy, the DMV is run by obnoxiously slow sloths, and it's literally night by the time she and Nick leave the DMV! Even so, Judy gets Nick to cooperate in further investigation, where they discover the missing person had connections to the Mafia. And it so happens that Nick is in bad standing with this Mafia after selling them a rug made from a skunk's butt. (Sigh) Okay. Let's pause a second here. The movie seems to be trying to promote foxes as if THAT'S never been done before (Uhhh, Robin Hood? Tails? Officer Flossy of Busy Town), while perpetuating the stereotype that weasels are mentally unstable thieves and social outcasts, and now they're saying that skunks are only good for a stinky butt. For a movie that seems to be about addressing the rights and relationships of different groups of people, it has some older-fashioned, less-than-inclusive views on SOME species... Moving on, it seems like Nick has cooked their goose, but it turns out that Judy saved the daughter of the Mafia leader guy during that whole thing in the rodent's part of the city, and so they're set free and celebrated. Nick and Judy go to another lead with the Mafia leader's limo driver who happens to be a jaguar. Pretty much out of nowhere, that jaguar goes nuts and attacks Nick and Judy, forcing Judy to save Nick's tail for the second time. The police show up, and Nick actually defends Judy against the police chief, citing the fact that they assigned her to solve a case in 24 hours they couldn't solve in several months with next to no equipment.
    Afterward, Nick and Judy have a moment where Nick shares a traumatic childhood experience in which he was bullied just for being a fox (Apparently this justifies growing up to become a con artist just because he thinks that's what everyone expects him to be). Judy and Nick somehow get a lead based on the phrase "Nighthowlers", to go to a facility guarded by wolves and, as it turns out, run by the mayor and his personal scientists. It turns out that all of the missing people are at that facility, so Judy busts the mayor, believing that he just wants to remain in power. Judy achieves fame, and everyone lives happily ever after. Well, not quite. See, it turns out that all of the missing people are carnivores who have recently and inexplicably gone berserk and feral. When pressured for a statement, Judy says that thousands of years ago, carnivores were predatory hunters and meat eaters, and that this recent trend is carnivores regressing toward their most baser nature. This statement royally ticks Nick off, and he instantly turns on Judy, considering her some kind of bigot all of a sudden just for making a logical observation. He even threatens her and scares her into reaching for the mace-like spray her dad gave her, and the entire situation gets played like Judy is the bad guy, conveniently forgetting the fact that she saved Nick's life not once, but twice. I mean, come on! How can he NOT trust her?! (Sigh)
    Anyway, moving on, the fact that some carnivores are suddenly going berserk somehow incites a race war in which anyone with fangs and/or claws is considered a threat by the majority and the ones that HAVE gone feral are kept locked up. (Sigh) Okay, I admit, the police and the general population could have handled the situation better, but I don't think the entire conflict has to do with bigotry. You have to remember here, people are going berserk at random, and the only known correlation was that the ones going nuts had fangs and/or claws. While this indicates that only carnivores can go nuts, in the name of fairness, everyone should have been equally separated, tested and stuff. After all, if it turned out they were wrong on the whole "Only these guys could go berserk" theory, a bull or elephant or rhino that went nuts could be just as bad or worse. That said, these animals of Zootopia demonstrate the worst aspect of humanity by protesting seemingly harmless groups of carnivores. The whole thing about the people who went berserk being locked up is also played to indicate cruelty and bigotry, but to me, THAT part is just common sense. After all, if they WEREN'T locked up, they could hurt themselves or others or scare someone into seriously injuring them. Moving on...
    The mayor wants Judy to be a hero and represent the police force, but Judy is too wracked with guilt over her previous logical observation to the press that she equates with starting the race war. The fact that there IS a conflict isn't really HER fault as much as the fact that nobody really knows what's going on, and the side of law and order needs all the good cops they can get, and the police chief even points all of this out to Judy, but she thinks a better course of action is for her to run away back home to the farm. The end. (Tsh) Sorry. There's still more. Back at the farm, Judy discovers that "Nighthowlers" doesn't mean wolf security force, it means vegetables that make anyone (including herbivores) go berserk. (Convenient, right?) She also discovers Gideon Grey is now a nice guy all these years later. Anyway, Judy goes back to Zootopia and grovels to Nick (I'm not kidding. She friggin' grovels at his feet! She's just that guilt ridden over such a logical and generic-sounding statement to the press! Plus, y'know, does Nick really have the moral highground here? He's been a con artist who literally sabotaged Judy's investigation while Judy was a respectable police officer trying to do her duty AND she still saved his life twice! Honestly, this groveling scene just hurts my head. It's SUCH a pandering apology...) Anyway, Nick accepts Judy's humiliating apology, and joins her in uncovering the one who's shooting people with the Nighthowler plants, who turns out to be a deranged sheep.
  In trying to bring back evidence, Judy and Nick somehow manage to destroy the entire lab, but get away with a suitcase containing a sample of the Nighthowler drug. It's at this point that we FINALLY get to see the real villain of the movie. Seriously, when a twist villain is revealed THAT late in the movie, I just think it degrades their status as villains. Anyway, the villain turns out to be Ms. Bellweather, the mayor's assistant, who somehow became the mayor after that mayor was arrested due to the whole "missing persons" issue. Y'know, it just occurred to me, this movie has an insanely overcomplicated plot for what's supposed to be a family/kid friendly film. Maybe it's the kind of thing you're not supposed to think too hard about. Anyway, Ms. Bellweather goes on an anti-carnivore bigoted speech, coupled with a full confession of her plan to get rid of carnivores and use fear to stay in power. All the while, she tries to get Nick to go berserk and kill Judy, but fortunately Nick and Judy turn the tables by recording Ms. Bellweather's confession and switching the Nighthowlers for blueberries. Ms. Bellweather and her accomplices are arrested, the people who went berserk are cured, and peace apparently returns to Zootopia, even though, in a speech, Judy acknowledges that it's a FRAGILE peace.
    Before I finish here, I want to point out that Emmit Otterton (Yeah, that's the name of the guy that Judy was initially tracking down, and it sounds ridiculously similar to "Emmit Otter", a jug band player in a classic Christmas themed Jim Henson puppet show. BOY the people coming up with names get lazy sometimes!) was a part of a nudist colony AND had a connection to the mob, and he didn't get in trouble with his wife for either... Anyway, it's kind of a happy ending all around as Nick also joins the police force and effectively becomes Judy's partner (Gee. Didn't see THAT coming, right?). The movie concludes by catching someone going extremely fast in a car, and it turns out to ironically be one of the sloths from the DMV. Yeah. Cute little joke to end on, right? (Sigh) In conclusion, the plot of Zootopia was overly complex. Maybe not as complex as Wreck-it-Ralph, but a whole lot more complex than Robin Hood. The main villain of the movie had some of the same problems as Hans did in Frozen, but somehow managed to look more evil and diabolical during that brief climax. The biggest problems, though, are disillusionment and a heavy message about interracial relations that, I actually think could be damaging to young enough viewers. That said, I wouldn't call Zootopia a BAD movie, all things considered. It's just that you should probably go into it knowing what to expect. The humor of the movie is less than laugh-out-loud, and frankly I don't think there was enough of it to counteract the heavy messages in the movie, but there are still some memorable moments (like the sloths at the DMV) that get people talking.
    Anyway, It's not what I call easy-viewing, and I'd be lying if I said it was the best furry movie I've ever seen, but as I said at the beginning, it has it's positive parts too, and I'd recommend it to any fan of Disney Pixar animation. That's all I can think of to say about this movie. Until next time, thanks for clicking!

Description
      Welcome back, everyone. The review of Frozen I did last night seemed to get a good enough reception, so I'm doing another review, this one on Disney's 2016 animated film, Zootopia. And while, as the title suggests, I have issues with this movie, there are also things I liked about the movie. Anyway, there's a lot of ground to cover, so let's get into it. Starting off, I certainly consider it a point in this movie's favor that it's the first feature-length animated Disney movie to have an all furry cast since they made Robin Hood back in the 1970's. I also really liked how the movie addressed the different environmental requirements in the same city, like with a Sahara Zone, an Arctic Zone, a Jungle Zone, controlled rain clouds etc. I haven't been to Disneyland in many years, so I wouldn't know if they actually DID it, but the train ride to Zootopia could make a decent enough amusement park ride. Another positive is making the main characters a bunny and a fox who have to work together in spite of their differences. It works on several levels, y'know? Foxes and bunnies are both really cute creatures that audiences are likely to associate with heroes, but they're biologically incompatible (Because obviously a real fox would eat a real rabbit when given the chance), and it makes sense for the fox to be considered the bad one because a real fox would loot through garbage cans and raid chicken coops. Then again, a real BUNNY would rob a garden... Anyway, the movie embellished bunny populations by giving Judy the bunny over a hundred siblings as a gag on multiplying bunnies (From what I've read, real bunnies have annual litters, but their populations aren't any bigger than those of raccoons). It isn't a con exactly, but I don't consider it a pro either.
    The upside of bunnies having giant families is a quick (albeit cheap) laugh, but the downside is that it makes Judy that much less relatable as a character. After all, how many people have over a hundred siblings. I'm not even going to go into what helicopter parents Judy's folks were to her, and how the heck they could be helicopter parents to all of those children. Anyway, the movie opens with Judy as a kid putting on a play that showed carnivores like felines used to hunt herbivores like bunnies. In addition to Judy taking the play a little far by implying gore with colored streamers and ketchup, the pragmatism of such a play is a little lost on me personally. I mean, they go on to say that "predators (Carnivores)" have evolved to a civilized point where they no longer need to hunt and kill (What that means exactly is never truly explained. Does it mean that Carnivores are now herbivores, or do they eat birds and fish, neither of which are shown as sentient life forms in the movie), because of which, it might have a "see how far we've come" message, but it seems to me that reminding people of a more savage past could cause unnecessary demonization towards marginalized groups; in this case, the predators. Then again, at the beginning of the movie, the audience might not have been supposed to like carnivores yet, as indicated by the fox, Gideon Grey, and his weasel sidekick, bullying innocent sheep and hurting Judy when she tries to help.
    In fact, at that beginning, Judy as a kid, and her dream of becoming Zootopia's first bunny cop is kinda the movie's focal point. Looking back, that goal makes things a little confusing, since it indicates that she and bunnies are a minority group, and yet she's clearly an herbivore while the movie really sells carnivores as the minorities. Ah, well. I guess it's supposed to represent women in the work force? Although she DID seem to have a female drill instructor- Whatever. Moving on, Judy's parents appear significantly more afraid of carnivores than Judy is, and they want to give her a taser, but she only takes some mace-like spray. It's interesting that nobody ever brings up the lack of guns in Zootopia P.D. Seriously, the police go up against a lot of different kinds of animals with various natural defenses- Let's put that in the "whatever" file too. Anyway, as an adult, Judy leaves her overpopulated home land with some "fox-away" spray to pursue her dream of being a bunny-cop. She undergoes a rigorous training program that helps separate her from characters like Rey of Star Wars. Judy succeeds at the tests and becomes a policewoman, and based on what the beginning of the movie would indicate, that should mean that she's accomplished her dream and the movie's over. Of course, that ISN'T the end, and there's still, like over an hour of content to get through. So HOW is this not just a happy ending for Judy? Well, for one thing, it turns out that being a cop isn't quite what she pictured...
    The fact is, the police chief underestimates Judy and resigns her to giving people parking tickets. Now, you COULD say that the police chief is doing this because Judy is new on the force, but the general consensus is that it's because she's a little bunny. Regardless, it turns out that Judy is actually great at giving parking tickets, but everyone hates her for it. Although, on the upside, Judy's parents are relieved that she's not doing anything more dangerous. Even Judy's housing situation is a pain because of the noisy neighbors in her apartment. Now, before I move on, I want to address kind of a nitpicky thing that the logic part of my brain just won't let go of. The carnivores are supposed to be the marginalized minorities while the herbivores are supposed to be everyone else, right? So, by that logic, the foxes should have voices with foreign accents or whatever, and the chief of police should sound like someone from California or something like that. As it is, the characters often sound like they're from the countries of their species' origin, while Officer Clawhauser (You know, the hilariously overweight cheetah?) totally sounds American. Whatever. I kinda doubt anyone's really thinking about that kind of thing even if this movie DOES represent certain social conflicts. Moving on...
    After another unfulfilling day as a meter maid, Judy notices a fox that she's suspicious of for reasons that aren't totally clear to me. Judy follows the fox to an ice cream parlor, where he's trying to get a gigantic popsicle to a smaller fox who is apparently his son. The elephant proprietor seems to be unreasonably hellbent against giving the foxes the popsicle, even stating that he reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. However, through the magic of sop stories, Judy comes to their rescue, extorting the elephants by citing a health code violation because the one who scooped ice cream did so without a glove on his trunk. The fox even gets Judy to PAY for the huge popsicle, and it all seems like a good deed with a happy ending. That is, until it turns out that the giant popsicle is just a part of a get-rich-quick scheme, where the bigger fox (Nick) turns it into a bunch of SMALLER popsicles, which he sells to rodent businessmen, and then he sells the wooden stick to a bunch of beaver contractors. To top things off, it turns out the smaller fox (Fennec) isn't Nick's son or even a child, but a smaller breed of fox with a big, tough-guy attitude! Judy discovers Nick's scheme, but is unable to bust him for it, and while confronting him, she is treated to the most demoralizing cartoon character speech I've heard up to that point: "Let me guess. Little bunny gets perfect grades at school and decides "I'm going to Zootopia, where everyone gets along and we all sing Kum-by-a". But then she gets there and discovers "(Gasp) We DON'T all get along!" And nobody cares about her OR her dreams, and sooner or later, those dreams die, and she loses her job AND her apartment and ends up huddled under a bridge until she's forced to go back home with that cotton tail between her legs and become- I'm gonna go with a carrot farmer."
      Ugh! Seriously! That may be the kind of kick-in-the-pants speech you give to young adults who are supposed to be facing reality for what it is, but imagine being a KID watching this movie and getting disillusioned by a cartoon fox and bunny! And little kids are extra succeptible to things like that. The main idea of his little speech? "You can't be anything you want to be. You can only be what you are." Ah well, at least it ends on a joke, where Judy says: "I am NOT a dumb bunny!", and Nick replies: "Riiight. And that ISN'T wet cement..." Anyway, things kind of pick up the next day, when Judy busts a thieving weasel and saves civilians in a rodent city. The chief of police is less than impressed, though, since Judy also inadvertently caused considerable property damage, and the thief was only stealing a bunch of plants anyway that resembled onions. Judy gets into an argument with the chief that ALMOST gets her fired, but before he can fire Judy, the mayor's assistant peer pressures him into putting her on a high-profile missing-persons case with Judy's career on the line. To get help on the case, Judy gets assistance from the last person to see the missing person, who happens to be Nick, threatening him with tax fraud if he doesn't cooperate (Fun fact: That's actually how Al Capone was finally caught). The two of them go to the last location, which happens to be a nudist colony (Yeah. Thanks for that, Disney! I mean, I know they're animals, but still, NUDISTS?!), where we're treated to a gag where a ditzy yak remembers more about the guy than an elephant yoga instructor. Through the description of said yak, they get a license plate number that they need checked by the DMV.
  Unfortunately for Judy, the DMV is run by obnoxiously slow sloths, and it's literally night by the time she and Nick leave the DMV! Even so, Judy gets Nick to cooperate in further investigation, where they discover the missing person had connections to the Mafia. And it so happens that Nick is in bad standing with this Mafia after selling them a rug made from a skunk's butt. (Sigh) Okay. Let's pause a second here. The movie seems to be trying to promote foxes as if THAT'S never been done before (Uhhh, Robin Hood? Tails? Officer Flossy of Busy Town), while perpetuating the stereotype that weasels are mentally unstable thieves and social outcasts, and now they're saying that skunks are only good for a stinky butt. For a movie that seems to be about addressing the rights and relationships of different groups of people, it has some older-fashioned, less-than-inclusive views on SOME species... Moving on, it seems like Nick has cooked their goose, but it turns out that Judy saved the daughter of the Mafia leader guy during that whole thing in the rodent's part of the city, and so they're set free and celebrated. Nick and Judy go to another lead with the Mafia leader's limo driver who happens to be a jaguar. Pretty much out of nowhere, that jaguar goes nuts and attacks Nick and Judy, forcing Judy to save Nick's tail for the second time. The police show up, and Nick actually defends Judy against the police chief, citing the fact that they assigned her to solve a case in 24 hours they couldn't solve in several months with next to no equipment.
    Afterward, Nick and Judy have a moment where Nick shares a traumatic childhood experience in which he was bullied just for being a fox (Apparently this justifies growing up to become a con artist just because he thinks that's what everyone expects him to be). Judy and Nick somehow get a lead based on the phrase "Nighthowlers", to go to a facility guarded by wolves and, as it turns out, run by the mayor and his personal scientists. It turns out that all of the missing people are at that facility, so Judy busts the mayor, believing that he just wants to remain in power. Judy achieves fame, and everyone lives happily ever after. Well, not quite. See, it turns out that all of the missing people are carnivores who have recently and inexplicably gone berserk and feral. When pressured for a statement, Judy says that thousands of years ago, carnivores were predatory hunters and meat eaters, and that this recent trend is carnivores regressing toward their most baser nature. This statement royally ticks Nick off, and he instantly turns on Judy, considering her some kind of bigot all of a sudden just for making a logical observation. He even threatens her and scares her into reaching for the mace-like spray her dad gave her, and the entire situation gets played like Judy is the bad guy, conveniently forgetting the fact that she saved Nick's life not once, but twice. I mean, come on! How can he NOT trust her?! (Sigh)
    Anyway, moving on, the fact that some carnivores are suddenly going berserk somehow incites a race war in which anyone with fangs and/or claws is considered a threat by the majority and the ones that HAVE gone feral are kept locked up. (Sigh) Okay, I admit, the police and the general population could have handled the situation better, but I don't think the entire conflict has to do with bigotry. You have to remember here, people are going berserk at random, and the only known correlation was that the ones going nuts had fangs and/or claws. While this indicates that only carnivores can go nuts, in the name of fairness, everyone should have been equally separated, tested and stuff. After all, if it turned out they were wrong on the whole "Only these guys could go berserk" theory, a bull or elephant or rhino that went nuts could be just as bad or worse. That said, these animals of Zootopia demonstrate the worst aspect of humanity by protesting seemingly harmless groups of carnivores. The whole thing about the people who went berserk being locked up is also played to indicate cruelty and bigotry, but to me, THAT part is just common sense. After all, if they WEREN'T locked up, they could hurt themselves or others or scare someone into seriously injuring them. Moving on...
    The mayor wants Judy to be a hero and represent the police force, but Judy is too wracked with guilt over her previous logical observation to the press that she equates with starting the race war. The fact that there IS a conflict isn't really HER fault as much as the fact that nobody really knows what's going on, and the side of law and order needs all the good cops they can get, and the police chief even points all of this out to Judy, but she thinks a better course of action is for her to run away back home to the farm. The end. (Tsh) Sorry. There's still more. Back at the farm, Judy discovers that "Nighthowlers" doesn't mean wolf security force, it means vegetables that make anyone (including herbivores) go berserk. (Convenient, right?) She also discovers Gideon Grey is now a nice guy all these years later. Anyway, Judy goes back to Zootopia and grovels to Nick (I'm not kidding. She friggin' grovels at his feet! She's just that guilt ridden over such a logical and generic-sounding statement to the press! Plus, y'know, does Nick really have the moral highground here? He's been a con artist who literally sabotaged Judy's investigation while Judy was a respectable police officer trying to do her duty AND she still saved his life twice! Honestly, this groveling scene just hurts my head. It's SUCH a pandering apology...) Anyway, Nick accepts Judy's humiliating apology, and joins her in uncovering the one who's shooting people with the Nighthowler plants, who turns out to be a deranged sheep.
  In trying to bring back evidence, Judy and Nick somehow manage to destroy the entire lab, but get away with a suitcase containing a sample of the Nighthowler drug. It's at this point that we FINALLY get to see the real villain of the movie. Seriously, when a twist villain is revealed THAT late in the movie, I just think it degrades their status as villains. Anyway, the villain turns out to be Ms. Bellweather, the mayor's assistant, who somehow became the mayor after that mayor was arrested due to the whole "missing persons" issue. Y'know, it just occurred to me, this movie has an insanely overcomplicated plot for what's supposed to be a family/kid friendly film. Maybe it's the kind of thing you're not supposed to think too hard about. Anyway, Ms. Bellweather goes on an anti-carnivore bigoted speech, coupled with a full confession of her plan to get rid of carnivores and use fear to stay in power. All the while, she tries to get Nick to go berserk and kill Judy, but fortunately Nick and Judy turn the tables by recording Ms. Bellweather's confession and switching the Nighthowlers for blueberries. Ms. Bellweather and her accomplices are arrested, the people who went berserk are cured, and peace apparently returns to Zootopia, even though, in a speech, Judy acknowledges that it's a FRAGILE peace.
    Before I finish here, I want to point out that Emmit Otterton (Yeah, that's the name of the guy that Judy was initially tracking down, and it sounds ridiculously similar to "Emmit Otter", a jug band player in a classic Christmas themed Jim Henson puppet show. BOY the people coming up with names get lazy sometimes!) was a part of a nudist colony AND had a connection to the mob, and he didn't get in trouble with his wife for either... Anyway, it's kind of a happy ending all around as Nick also joins the police force and effectively becomes Judy's partner (Gee. Didn't see THAT coming, right?). The movie concludes by catching someone going extremely fast in a car, and it turns out to ironically be one of the sloths from the DMV. Yeah. Cute little joke to end on, right? (Sigh) In conclusion, the plot of Zootopia was overly complex. Maybe not as complex as Wreck-it-Ralph, but a whole lot more complex than Robin Hood. The main villain of the movie had some of the same problems as Hans did in Frozen, but somehow managed to look more evil and diabolical during that brief climax. The biggest problems, though, are disillusionment and a heavy message about interracial relations that, I actually think could be damaging to young enough viewers. That said, I wouldn't call Zootopia a BAD movie, all things considered. It's just that you should probably go into it knowing what to expect. The humor of the movie is less than laugh-out-loud, and frankly I don't think there was enough of it to counteract the heavy messages in the movie, but there are still some memorable moments (like the sloths at the DMV) that get people talking.
    Anyway, It's not what I call easy-viewing, and I'd be lying if I said it was the best furry movie I've ever seen, but as I said at the beginning, it has it's positive parts too, and I'd recommend it to any fan of Disney Pixar animation. That's all I can think of to say about this movie. Until next time, thanks for clicking!