A rabbit and a fox can't work together, can they?
Disney held an advanced “sneak-peak” screening of their feature film Zootopia this week. The event was also used to drum up more publicity for the new additions for Disney Infinity 3.0 as well. It feels like you’ve been hearing things about Zootopia since the middle of last year as well as seeing ads for it in magazines. We had our soda and popcorn in hand and it was time for the movie to start.
Zootopia tells the tale of Judy Hopps, a rabbit from a small farming community who wants to be a police officer in Zootopia. There has never been a rabbit police officer so she feels she can be the first!
Judy becomes a meter maid of all things (that’s a real police officer, right?) but doesn’t feel that she’s making a difference in Zootopia. While on “patrol” she runs into a sly, cunning fox named Nick and a partnership for the ages is born.
Without giving too much of the plot away, 14 mammals go missing in Zootopia and its up to the Zootopia Police Department to hunt them down. One of them is Emmitt Otterton(fans of Emmitt Otter’s Jug band Christmas will get this) and his wife comes to the ZPD looking for answers. Judy tells her that she’ll find her husband and the Chief Bogo declares that Officer Hopps has two days to find Mr. Otterton or she’s fired!
Judy finds a clue that involves Nick and the partners are back in action. There’s something deeper going on with the animal disappearances but you’ll just have to see the movie and find that out for yourself! Rabbits and foxes can’t get along to solve a police investigation, can they?
The writing in Zootopia was great as there were jokes for all ages. There were jokes that only mom and dad would understand and then there were jokes for the kids. There were pop culture references to Breaking Bad and like I mentioned before Emmitt Otter’s Jug Band Christmas (only a few people in the theater got the Emmitt Otter reference. Glad to say I was one of them.) Some things just write themselves like having the slowest animals, sloths, work at the most annoying place, the DMV.
Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin played off of each other very well. They had a great rapport, like good police partners do. They acted like brother and sister and could joke with each other, something good police partners do too. It was very believable that Nick could be an on the street con man and then go straight. Bateman was a good choice for that because he has played roles in the past similar to this, just not in the fox capacity.
Goodwin did a great job as Officer Judy Hopps. You were really pulling for her as a small town girl to make it as a police officer in Zootopia. Judy was an wide-eyed optimist with dreams of making it in the big city. Goodwin was a perfect fit for Officer Hopps.
This week Disney also unveiled their new plans for Disney Infinity. No, it wasn’t Infinity 4.0 but that would have been a good guess. The developers at Disney have been hard at work crafting their next batch of Infinity figures and the two of the headliners come from Zootopia. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde take cues from the movie and put them to good use; like Judy has her strong kicking ability and Nick can attack with his giant ice pop.
Disney Infinity is getting more than just the Zootopia add-ons, the fans have been asking for four player, multiplayer battles and the developers have answered the call with Marvel Battlegrounds. As new films in the Disney/Marvel universe come into being, the Disney Infinity universe continues to grow. Ant-Man, Black Panther and other super heroes are getting the added to the roster and joining the fight!
Long story short, Loki and Ulton are behind a nefarious plot and its up to you to stop them. It would appear that not one character is going to have a play style advantage in Marvel Battlegrounds. What I mean by that is a heavy character isn’t going to “feel” different compared to a smaller character such as the Hulk and Spider Man. Having all the Marvel characters in your arsenal is fun for the fans. Fans can finally answer the age-old questions of who would win in a fight!
To continue on the theme of animals, Baloo from the Jungle Book is getting added to Disney Infinity with a tie in with the upcoming live-action Jungle Book movie as well as the classic cartoon movie based on his look.
It looks like Disney has a real winner on its hands with Zootopia as well as the new features of Disney Infinity. I would like to thank Disney for inviting me to the sneak peak screening.
I’m giving Zootopia a 9.5/10
Score: 9.5 / 10
