It’s remarkable how in a fairly short period of time, merely a few years, Disney’s 2016 hit Zootopia has gone on to be regarded as one of the studio’s new classics. The story balancing humor with heart, sharp character designs with endearing animation and the design of the town itself didn’t hurt, but much of the praise for it tends to focus on the emotional aspects, or its social satire and how relatable to the real world many of the situations are.
And in fact, when I first reviewed it I stated I felt it was the more serious parts of the movie that made it distinct. But these new shorts based on the movie for the Disney+ service are a good reminder that those comedic factors were just as much a part of why it was so successful. No cap, the DMV sequence with Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) losing her mind as Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) trolls her with Flash’s “speedy” service got some of the loudest laughs I’ve ever heard in a theater.
Flash (Raymond S. Persi) is a focus in one of six mini-adventures revolving around some of the side characters in the film that didn’t get as much development because of the whodunit aspect of the story. He’s on a dinner date with his sloth girlfriend Priscilla (Kristen Bell), to the irritation of otter waiter Sam (Charlotte Nicdao) who wants to clock out quick in the hopes of making it to Gazelle’s concert. The same comedic beats from the DMV scene are still at play here, turning from Sam’s race against the clock into something sweeter.
Others include Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) and Clawhauser (Nate Torrence) auditioning as dancers for a concert, a reality show with Mr. Big’s (Maurice LaMarche) daughter Fru Fru (Leah Latham) through nightmare wedding prep, and Duke Weaselton (Alan Tudyk) in his own musical short singing about what his life would have been like had he chosen a different life path instead of becoming a small time crook. The details in these shorts are sharp, like how Duke flinches as he watches news footage of an angry Judy stuffing a donut sign onto him.
Now this is a spin-off based on a Disney movie with one song, Shakira’s “Try Everything”, sung by a supporting character and then it’s on with the story. I don’t believe in the slightest that Zootopia would have been effective as a full blown musical, it would have come off super awkward and cornball given the subject matter the plot was tackling. For a more light hearted short though, Michael Giacchino’s “Big Time” number Duke performs makes for a jolly time.
Of course, since this a “mid-quel” with events taking place between the affairs of the movie, spoiler alert: this soul searching on Duke’s part is finite. (I’m all for restorative justice, but something ain’t working here- methinks the ZPD might want to get a little tougher on the mammal crime problem).
One cute highlight is “Hopp On Board”, a mini- action movie chronicling Stu (Don Lake) and Helen Hopps’ (Bonnie Hunt) misadventure trying to rescue their daughter Molly when she stows aboard Judy’s train on her way to become Zootopia’s first bunny cop.
I’ve seen Stu get some grief in some circles over how dim witted he came off in the 2016 feature, the whole “have the conviction to give up” thing. Nope, we’re going to absolve Stu today, because he’s still a far more capable father than some other Disney dads I can think of (looking at you, Buck from Chicken Little), braving elements like Tundratown’s climate and a rainforest as he struggles to hang on to the top of the train (he thinks that he’s Tom Cruise).
Shorts like “Godfather Of The Bride”, which shows Mr. Big’s past building his empire when he first arrives to the city reflect how apt Zootopia is at social metaphors without being hyper-specific about them. The animals are’t ever tied to a particular nationality, race, gender identity or orientation. That’s a distinctly different approach to something like, say, American Tail, which wears its real world cultural influences on its sleeve. Fievel Mousekewitz is a Jewish immigrant mouse and that plays into his narrative, whereas like how Nick and Judy’s ethnicities/identities are basically “fox” and “bunny”, Mr. Big is a shrew that happens to be an immigrant.
Not to knock either tactic or automatically dclare one better than the other, but I’d argue the Zootopia world’s more broad approach to biases and discrimination, along with a lack of specific coding, allowed for a wide-ranging audience to be able to relate to the characters more (and was another reason why it went on to gross so much cash).
Just based on the high quality of these shorts, I can easily give Zootopia+ a strong recommendation, but the one critique if any I could give it is that it may leave fans wanting more. Well, that’s what the writers get for making their world-building that deep. The storyline potential is remarkably rich, and I’m of the opinion it’s time for this series to have its next big case, as it was always the crime drama aspect of the original film that made me love it so much to begin with.
Because on top of finally answering if Nick and Judy just love, or if they straight up love each other, there’s one pressing question left about this town: if they have “Hoof Locker” stores, how come everyone goes around shoeless and bare-pawed? If I was a talking hyena or something, I couldn’t do it. I’d be the weirdo walking into the club with special animal Jordans. (Haters gonna hate).
But what did you think about it? If you’ve streamed these shorts, let us know your opinion as always on FAN’s social media spots!