Zootopia

[Elton John]

Only a few scenes i'd consider to be furry pandering. The nudist scene. It has a Panther licking its legs in a suggestive pose. Among other things.

Gazelle and her buff near nude tiger men who wear outfits that leave little to the imagination.

The rest of it was innocent stuff.

[Carl]

[quote="Azdgari"]So I missed the bus on discussing this, but I really, really enjoyed Zootopia. I think it was The Lion Prince who mentioned the world building and art direction---wow. When people say that animated movies are 'lesser' in terms of artistic vision, I challenge that wholeheartedly. The sheer creativity and artistic vision to build a world on that scale with detail that practically (re: literally) comes down to individual bricks is daunting.

I thought the voice acting was superb, and the dialogue was quick and biting. The characters are usually the most important part of movies for me, and I love Judy and Nick. Their development is enjoyably sweet without being saccharine, and their interplay and chemistry is fun. Love that there's no romantic subplot too, although don't tell the fandom that or they'll freak out. It's also legitimately funny at several parts. Nick's face when Judy calls him out for 'felony tax evasion'... and then Finnick's voice, 'HAVE FUN... WORKIN WITH THE FUZZ!' cracks me up every single time I see it.

It's an interesting point on the biology bit, and I do think the script gets a bit confused. But I don't think its irreconcilable. Predators evolved from their violent instincts to live in modern society. And this is more @TLP, but does it have to be a 'subgroup'? After all, they do delineate that in the beginning that prey were also limited by biology to being meek and living in fear. To me, it just felt like a statement that as society grew civilized, different groups put aside archaic roles and behaviors and learned to live productively in harmony. That was my interpretation. And yeah, it was occasionally heavy handed, but man, it hits close to home in this day and age, especially with the crises of identity and civility going on in our country, regardless of where you fall on the political/ideological spectrum.

This summer, I wrote the only multi-part fanfiction I've ever finished for the Zootopia fandom, which is small but has some tremendous authors (LIKE OUR OWN YFWE <3) and talented artists. If you're into it, check out the subreddit or look around on DA, there's some cool stuff![/quote]
I have been reading that fic (I think I'm at Chapter 7?) and have been enjoying it so far even though I don't ship them. It's really enjoyable and most everyone seems in-character pretty much all the time, which I know can be pretty hard to pull off. You've even got a few good chuckles from me, which tbh I never laugh out loud at fanfiction, but you did have some great lines in there.

[quote="Flip_FTW"]I still need to watch this. I have the film on Blu Ray and just haven't got around to actually watching it yet.[/quote]
That was so me with The Force Awakens for like, legit 4 or 5 months lol

[Azdgari]

[quote="Carl"]
I have been reading that fic (I think I'm at Chapter 7?) and have been enjoying it so far even though I don't ship them. It's really enjoyable and most everyone seems in-character pretty much all the time, which I know can be pretty hard to pull off. You've even got a few good chuckles from me, which tbh I never laugh out loud at fanfiction, but you did have some great lines in there.[/quote]
Ahh, thanks so much! Always great to hear someone's enjoying your work. I didn't ship them either at the outset--the original premise of the fic was a meta sort of deal, poking fun at how everybody puts them together except the characters themselves. But as it turns out, the fandom is 95% centered around shipping them, and being exposed almost exclusively to adorable art and stories about them together wore me down eventually.

I'm weak, Carl. I can't even look at myself in the mirror in the morning.

[PridelandsPhantom]

[quote="The Lionvengers"]Only a few scenes i'd consider to be furry pandering. The nudist scene. It has a Panther licking its legs in a suggestive pose. Among other things.

Gazelle and her buff near nude tiger men who wear outfits that leave little to the imagination.

The rest of it was innocent stuff.[/quote]

I'm going to say not all furries are into the perverted stuff, fyi

[Gemini]

^ That, and even if it is 'furry pandering', is it even that big of a deal? Does the idea of nude anthros bother people that much, even when they're in non-sexual situations? o__o

Even if Disney did throw the fandom a bone, honestly I think that's great.

Maybe I'm biased because I actually am into that kind of thing but the whole idea that this was a "furry" movie didn't bother me at all. If anything, it made me more excited about it. I don't get what it is about people being into anthro animals that strikes such a reaction in people, lol.

[LeonKFox]

This thread...now this is where it's at for me.

Going to be up front and say that this post will contain spoilers for the film, it's been over a year since its release so I think it's safe to assume that everyone who would ever bother to check this thread that wants to see it will have done so already.

For starters, I had my fursona comissioned as a Zootopian back in March, a piece of art I still use as my avatar even now.



What's funny about Zootopia is it actually has a fairly similar production story to that of the Lion King. Both films struggled throughout development, weren't seen as being as marketable as a more traditional Disney film/property (for Lion King it was Pocahontas and for Zootopia it was Moana) were seen as being on the B list and weren't expected by the higher ups to be succesful, with both films stealing the commercial and critical thunder from the film on the A List. I guess it's true when they say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I absolutley adore this film, in the year and several months since its release it's become my favourite film. I love it to such a degree that I think I've occasionally annoyed a few friends of mine with how intense my fandom is for it. But what can you do?

I didn't follow this film much or even at all during its development. All my hopes and dreams were riding on the Ratchet and Clank film being the first truly great video game to film adaptation (and we all know how that turned out... ) and it was only in the weeks leading up to its release that a friend of mine who'd been hyped about it for a long time as well as YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann uploaded a glowing yet extremely surprised in tone review that got my curiosity piqued pick time.

We had to wait several weeks for the film here in the UK (where it's known as "Zootropolis". Yeah, I just call it Zootopia xD) but I went to an advance screening with some friends. If only I'd known what I was getting myself into that day, since that ended up being the first of many times I ventured to the cinema to see it =P I ended up knowing it more or less word for word before it was out on blu ray even in the United States.

To go over the films I love about this film, I'll start with the relationship and chemistry the two main leads share. They have such natural chemistry that them ending up as an item by the end wouldn't have felt contrived, as it does in some other films where the leads up together. But the story let them become best friends first, and even that progression was gradual and well written.

A lot of films would have had them become best buddies after Nick opens up to Judy and tells her about his past during the gondola ride...but not Zootopia. After spending most of his life shielding how he feels from people with a "smug shield" things like that don't just erase themselves after one candid conversation and Zootopia displays that perfectly, they don't become best friends until the bridge scene later on.

Also the way they do a lot of their communication through humour. A shared sense of humour is an important aspect to any relationship and Nick and Judy have this in spades. So many of their exchanges are extremely quoteable and delivered masterfully by Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin. The fact the stars aligned and they were able to record face to face clearly paid off in this regard.

Then there's the useage of animals to talk about social issues. The thing I adore about this aspect of the film is that no group (be it Predators, Prey or any of the specific species in either category) are made out to be the good or bad guys. All are more or less equally capable of partaking in or being on the recieving end of bias. Naturally some individual characters such as Bellwether are clearly antagonistic but are treated as bad apples rather than (please don't hurt me for this D:) the hyenas in The Lion King which are all inheriently evil.

Judy is clearly a victim of bias when she first joins the ZPD for being a bunny. Too small, too dumb, should just stick to being a farmer, she gets stuck with meter maid duty simply for being a bunny and has to risk getting fired whilst standing up to Bogo in order to get the chance she so dearly needs. Of course Bogo's reaction is understandable, he's only ever known the ZPD (Or at least Precinct One, at the very least) has a department ran by buffalo, lions, rhinos, hippos and other such large mammals. These sort of outlooks don't just change overnight and not to mention, Judy is merely an exceptional bunny and doesn't cause an influx of smaller mammals to join the acadamy "just because" a touch which I really appreciated.

But then, when Judy conducts the press conference and says in summary that predators are biologically prone to being savages, theorising extremely dangerous and false information on the biggest stage of her career it becomes clear that she's not above certain biases herself. We know she has a "thing" about foxes because of Gideon shoving and scratching her when she was a kit, but nonetheless she's sub conciously scared of Nick even after everything they've gone through, so while not done purposefully she is every bit as "speciesist" (I really hate when people say this film is just about race and not bias in general) as those who've pre judged her. A fact she comes clean about in the bridge scene.

Then there's the world building. The Art Book, Handbook and Imagining Zootopia documentary (plus the assorted bonus features on the blu ray) really highlight just how much thought went into building this city. It really feels like it truly was designed by animals, from the artifical weather systems to touches like the three differently sized stores on the Zootopia Express and presumably other means of public transportation, to little tubes for rodents to safely traverse the streets when outside the walls of Little Rodentia...it goes on and on.

Though the premise and feel of the city are contemporary, the actual logistics behind it are very science fiction esque (right down to the mammals evolving to walk on two legs and becoming sentient without any human intervention) and while I know it will never happen, I would pay good money to watch or read a detailed prequel that spilled all the juicy little details on how this all came to be.

I'm eagerly awaiting confirmation of a sequel (hoping it's the unnanounced 2021 Disney Animation film) or some other kind of follow up. The characters and world are too rich to not be revisited some years down the line.

I think I'll stop now as I've typed a full blown essay of a post But if not in this thread, then where else? =P

[Squeely]

I daresay Zootopia didn't steal Moana's thunder. Moana was really successful and loved. Zootopia is easily the more loved and praised film, but still. I don't think anyone who saw Zootopia disliked Moana.

[LeonKFox]

I more mean in the sense that it's clear which film Disney expected if not outright wanted to succeed. This piece on ZNN by a friend of mine talks about it rather concisely.

http://www.zootopianewsnetwork.com/2017 ... a.html?m=1

[Squeely]

^Ah, I see what you're saying now

Wow, that's a depressingly small amount of merch I had no idea Zootopia hardly got anything. I agree that TLK was practically the same in terms of production - boatloads of restructuring, tons of cut characters, expected to not do well... But even TLK had more than that at time of release. Sheesh.

[LeonKFox]

It isn't aa big as some people's but I've still amassed a much loved collection of merch myself

(Sadly two of the shirts don't fit :c)