I can't believe you like Frozen better than Tangled. Just can't.
I like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, and we all remember what kind of a mess that movie was.
The music is a big part of it, as well as a few key creative choices. Sometimes you're just drawn to certain styles, like how I'll always lament Hunchback of the Notre Dame for having a great atmosphere but being a weak story overall. But it's definitely an interesting observation given how similar the two movies are. If it helps any, I'd still put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White).
EDIT: I guess there's still Moana, but we're now beyond the Point of No Return --- I know nothing about Disney movies post-Frozen.
Last Edit: Feb 18, 2022 16:00:47 GMT by That Duckfan
The music is a big part of it, as well as a few key creative choices. Sometimes you're just drawn to certain styles, like how I'll always lament Hunchback of the Notre Dame for having a great atmosphere but being a weak story overall. But it's definitely an interesting observation given how similar the two movies are.
If it helps any, I'd still put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White).
But you put Frozen above Tangled... so that means you think Frozen (and Tangled) is a better movie than Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc?
(Also, you said you like Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, so does that mean you OBJECTIVELY put Tangled above Princess and the Frog?... I'm confused.)
Okay, Frozen has a few songs and some creative choices that you like, but there are still A TON of weak points. A story with so many toneshifts, logical flaws and out-of-nowhere twists that you know they were still rewriting it deep into production. A villain with no buildup who also feels like an obvious last-minute rewrite. Olaf and his WAY too large screentime. Kristoff and his reindeer being a poor man's version of Flynn and Maximus. The relationship between Anna and Kristoff evolving as they're on the road, like Rapunzel and Flynn's did, but not as believably or interestingly. So many elements are just ripped off from the success of Tangled, but put into a weaker context and story. Tangled is a more sincere and better-put-together film in pretty much any way I can think of.
But you put Frozen above Tangled... so that means you think Frozen (and Tangled) is a better movie than Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc?
I'm trying my hardest to judge a movie by the standards it was made in... but I wasn't born in 1927, I'm going to apply the standards of my time. I'm also looking for the kind of stories that I attach value and that I want to tell... so I'm going to be discriminatory. And moviemaking has changed a lot over the decades, so of course more modern movies get a little boost. But I do genuinely believe that the level of organisational and artistic quality Disney produced before the war was not rivaled until the late '90s. All those movies you mention have issues of their own.
(Also, you said you like Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, so does that mean you OBJECTIVELY put Tangled above Princess and the Frog?... I'm confused.)
There's no such thing as objective reviewing, though I do think audience results are a better indicator than most critics give them credit for. Walt knew this: the audience is right.* I do take some care to weigh the pros and cons... and come to the conclusion that my feelings on Tangled haven't changed in the ten years since I first saw it. The consistency is frightening. But that's not an objective process.
Look... there's more to movies than the tightness of its story structure. By that mark Beauty and the Beast would be the best Disney movie of all time, and I should hope not. You gotta take the rough with the smooth. Aladdin is very smooth, but it's limited in other ways. The Princess and the Frog gets a high rating on the basis of its music and setting, which are things that I value highly. (I'm a sucker for good setting/worldbuilding.) "Down in New Orleans" alone kicked it up a few notches. I watch these movies on an impressionist basis, not a rational one.
I like Tangled fine, don't get me wrong. It gets a solid 8/10 from me. But there's plenty about it that leave me cold. Rapunzel is a basic-as white girl and her design is uncanny valley for me. The music is stock Alan Menken. A lot of the comedy seems more befitting of a Disney parody instead. Maximus the horse is OP. They cut off the magic hair. Mother Gothel isn't a fun villain. I'm not trying to start an argument here, you can go back and read the review I posted, it's all in there. At least, that's the idea.
Is it superficial? Maybe. I am trying to be entertained. The straight line may be the most direct route, but it is by no means the most interesting one.
*The audience is right, yes, but that does not mean that Marvelistic test-approved audience pleasers are the way to go forward. It is my solemn belief that a decent story does not give the audience what it wants, but what it needs. Assert yourself as a storyteller.
Okay, Frozen has a few songs and some creative choices that you like, but there are still A TON of weak points. A story with so many toneshifts, logical flaws and out-of-nowhere twists that you know they were still rewriting it deep into production. A villain with no buildup who also feels like an obvious last-minute rewrite. Olaf and his WAY too large screentime. Kristoff and his reindeer being a poor man's version of Flynn and Maximus. The relationship between Anna and Kristoff evolving as they're on the road, like Rapunzel and Flynn's did, but not as believably or interestingly. So many elements are just ripped off from the success of Tangled, but put into a weaker context and story. Tangled is a more sincere and better-put-together film in pretty much any way I can think of.
You hit on another important part here, and it's why I'm so fidgety about spoilers. I don't watch these movies in a bubble. And knowing the discourse around a movie has a major impact on my experience of it. I'm not a contrarian, but if everybody's already talking about the Hans in the room, then that informs my expectations going in. (It's why movies I'm more familiar with tend to do better, at least I think so. There's not a single movie in the top 10 than I hadn't already seen before, but my top 20 is filled with them.)
But also, what I write is a response to the prevailing opinion. Of course I'm going to try and redeem some of the unpopular ones, and pick holes in the universally popular ones. That's half the fun of it. That's also not contrarianism, because there never was a right or wrong answer. Our cultural tastes continually evolve. Nothing stays forever. (Unless it's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!)
Last Edit: Feb 19, 2022 0:15:53 GMT by That Duckfan
I can't believe you like Frozen better than Tangled. Just can't.
I like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, and we all remember what kind of a mess that movie was.
The music is a big part of it, as well as a few key creative choices. Sometimes you're just drawn to certain styles, like how I'll always lament Hunchback of the Notre Dame for having a great atmosphere but being a weak story overall. But it's definitely an interesting observation given how similar the two movies are. If it helps any, I'd still put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White).
EDIT: I guess there's still Moana, but we're now beyond the Point of No Return --- I know nothing about Disney movies post-Frozen.
To put in a word of support for Mesterius' confusion: I have no problem with your general theory of reviewing, nor with your liking Frozen considerably more than I do. But you do say in the above both that you like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, *and* that you would put Tangled above any other Princess movie. (Does that mean "any other Princess movie, period [apart from Snow White]" or "any other, other than Frozen [and Snow White]"? Although Frozen is not officially a "Princess" movie....) But Frog is officially a "Princess" movie...hence my (and possibly also Mesterius') confusion.
I like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, and we all remember what kind of a mess that movie was.
The music is a big part of it, as well as a few key creative choices. Sometimes you're just drawn to certain styles, like how I'll always lament Hunchback of the Notre Dame for having a great atmosphere but being a weak story overall. But it's definitely an interesting observation given how similar the two movies are. If it helps any, I'd still put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White).
EDIT: I guess there's still Moana, but we're now beyond the Point of No Return --- I know nothing about Disney movies post-Frozen.
To put in a word of support for Mesterius' confusion: I have no problem with your general theory of reviewing, nor with your liking Frozen considerably more than I do. But you do say in the above both that you like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, *and* that you would put Tangled above any other Princess movie. (Does that mean "any other Princess movie, period [apart from Snow White]" or "any other, other than Frozen [and Snow White]"? Although Frozen is not officially a "Princess" movie....) But Frog is officially a "Princess" movie...hence my (and possibly also Mesterius') confusion.
Yes, this is what I meant. I'm not sure if That Duckfan understood my question about it, since as far as I can see, he didn't answer it.
I like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, and we all remember what kind of a mess that movie was.
The music is a big part of it, as well as a few key creative choices. Sometimes you're just drawn to certain styles, like how I'll always lament Hunchback of the Notre Dame for having a great atmosphere but being a weak story overall. But it's definitely an interesting observation given how similar the two movies are. If it helps any, I'd still put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White).
EDIT: I guess there's still Moana, but we're now beyond the Point of No Return --- I know nothing about Disney movies post-Frozen.
To put in a word of support for Mesterius' confusion: I have no problem with your general theory of reviewing, nor with your liking Frozen considerably more than I do. But you do say in the above both that you like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, *and* that you would put Tangled above any other Princess movie. (Does that mean "any other Princess movie, period [apart from Snow White]" or "any other, other than Frozen [and Snow White]"? Although Frozen is not officially a "Princess" movie....) But Frog is officially a "Princess" movie...hence my (and possibly also Mesterius') confusion.
Ah... I see the confusion now. I do think of Frozen as a Princess movie, even though it's not in the official franchise. They can brand all they like, at this point the idea of the Disney Princess isn't going anywhere.
That sentence should be interpreted with the previous information in mind: I put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White) than the ones I mentioned previously (being Frozen and The Princess and the Frog).
Sorry, Mesterius, I thought that was a typo on your part!
Last Edit: Feb 19, 2022 22:01:20 GMT by That Duckfan
To put in a word of support for Mesterius' confusion: I have no problem with your general theory of reviewing, nor with your liking Frozen considerably more than I do. But you do say in the above both that you like The Princess and the Frog better than Tangled, *and* that you would put Tangled above any other Princess movie. (Does that mean "any other Princess movie, period [apart from Snow White]" or "any other, other than Frozen [and Snow White]"? Although Frozen is not officially a "Princess" movie....) But Frog is officially a "Princess" movie...hence my (and possibly also Mesterius') confusion.
Ah... I see the confusion now. I do think of Frozen as a Princess movie, even though it's not in the official franchise. They can brand all they like, at this point the idea of the Disney Princess isn't going anywhere.
That sentence should be interpreted with the previous information in mind: I put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White) than the ones I mentioned previously (being Frozen and The Princess and the Frog).
Sorry, Mesterius, I thought that was a typo on your part!
It's okay. Maybe I could have been clearer when asking. Apparently my inserting "OBJECTIVELY" into that sentence led your attention away from the real question.
For the record, I definitely regard the Frozen films as princess movies myself. I was surprised yesterday to read that Elsa and Anna aren't in the official line. Apparently that's in part because Frozen merchandise sells so insanely well on its own.
But right, then, so your personal list of top Disney princess movies is... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Frozen, The Princess and the Frog and Tangled?
The key point here is that Frozen may not be bad overall but it is an example of Disney making a movie that follows trends for how much it tries to be subversive. It tries to say that there's more than one way to have "true love" but Anna gets a forced pairing with Kristoff that transparently was trying to cash in on Rapunzel and Flynn (especially when Kristoff didn't actually have an arc or anything to overcome unless you count his briefly talked about/sung song about distrust of other humans). It has a plot where the threat isn't really a single "villain" but has to shoehorn another character as the villain (something that Zootopia also did).
Hans didn't even need to be a "villain" for the moral to be the same (he can just be trying to marry his way into Arendelle and lead an attack on Elsa to perhaps to redeem himself). Them forcing him in anyway reflects how sloppy the design process for the film.
Ah... I see the confusion now. I do think of Frozen as a Princess movie, even though it's not in the official franchise. They can brand all they like, at this point the idea of the Disney Princess isn't going anywhere.
That sentence should be interpreted with the previous information in mind: I put Tangled above any other Princess movie (apart from Snow White) than the ones I mentioned previously (being Frozen and The Princess and the Frog).
Sorry, Mesterius, I thought that was a typo on your part!
It's okay. Maybe I could have been clearer when asking. Apparently my inserting "OBJECTIVELY" into that sentence led your attention away from the real question.
For the record, I definitely regard the Frozen films as princess movies myself. I was surprised yesterday to read that Elsa and Anna aren't in the official line. Apparently that's in part because Frozen merchandise sells so insanely well on its own.
But right, then, so your personal list of top Disney princess movies is... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Frozen, The Princess and the Frog and Tangled?
You got that right. The remaining seven Princess movies are Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, and Sleeping Beauty, in that order. I can see Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty do better after rewatch. But I will present a general ranking shortly after the last movie review.
Feast (2014) Director Patrick Osborne Head of Story Jim Reardon Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film - Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed - WON
This is a classic short, portraying the ups and downs of a man's relationship through the eyes of his dog Winston, and the leftovers he receives at every meal. We follow their diet through a budding romance, break-up, wedding, and the children that follow. This short is all atmosphere and editing, and it's great. I greatly recommend checking it out.
Directed by Don Hall & Chris Williams Screenplay by Jordan Roberts, Robert L. Baird & Daniel Gerson Heads of Story Joe Mateo, Paul Briggs
Starring Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., and Genesis Rodriguez as the Big Hero 6 Featuring Daniel Henney, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, Maya Rudolph, Abraham Benrubi, Katie Lowes With Billy Bush, Daniel Gerson, Paul Briggs, Charlotte Gulezian, David Shaughnessy And Stan Lee as Fred's Dad
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature - Don Hall, Chris Williams, and Roy Conli - WON We've covered reviewed a great many movies in this series, and not all of them in a positive light. In fact, I have a private joke where I refer to this series as "Complaining About Movies: The Series". We've had been movies that were vicious (Dumbo), banal (Fun and Fancy Free), vacuous (Peter Pan), insipid (Robin Hood), patronizing (Pocahontas), trite (Brother Bear), and vulgar (Home on the Range). Our latest entry portrays a different kind of vice: it's superficial.
Big Hero 6 tells the story of Hiro Hamada, a 14-year old robotics prodigy living in the city of San Fransokyo. Hiro likes to participate in bot fighting, but his brother Tadashi convinces him to apply to university by making a big splash at the annual science fair. But a fire breaks out at the fair, destroying Hiro's invention and killing Tadashi and his mentor, Professor Callaghan. A few months later, Hiro discovers a mysterious man in a Kabuki mask who has stolen his invention. Together with four of Tadashi's lab mates, and an inflatable robot nurse named Baymax, Hiro sets out to bring the Kabuki man to justice as a way of resolving his grief.
So there's a lot to unpack here. We have a scientific genius and a sudden death of one of the characters. These are tough subjects, and we've explored them before, notably in Meet the Robinsons and The Lion King. It's got a lot on its plate and a high bar to clear, then. However, this is a Marvel movie. As it turns out, not just in that it adapts a Marvel comic series, but that it does so by applying Disney's patented Marvel Movie formula and destroying any hopes of dramatic tension.
Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, the highest-grossing movie franchise twice over, was a staple of pop culture in the 2010s. Even I've seen two dozen of the dang things, and I'm no superhero buff. Just to show their sheer ubiquity. Your typical Marvel blockbuster features a middle-aged man who is uniquely gifted in some capacity, usually something with gratuitous amounts of technology, but is a flawed human being. There is also a villain, who has the same character flaw as the hero, but is evil. There's a trail leading the hero to the villain, there are a number of intricately crafted action set pieces, a bucket of quips, and the hero will prevail with some infinitesimal character growth. It is meticulously calculated to be as inoffensive and appealing to the lowest common denominator. Oh, and there's also some apologia for the military-industrial complex.
I have no disdain for Marvel movies as such, other than their soul-crushing banality. They're big dumb blockbuster with a certain niche. However, Disney animated movies occupy a different niche, and a decent Marvel movie is probably a lousy Disney movie. Like this one is. There are many moments where it offers up the possibility of going down an interesting route, and doesn't. I was foolishly hoping for a university satire, where Professor Callaghan's obsessed ambition in academia brings him to the dark side. Or that Hiro's desire for vengeance would bring him to the dark side. Or that the crimes of the morally questionable businessman Alistair Krei might extend further than negligence of safety procedures. Or that Hiro would encounter some actual real people, who sometimes let you down when times are tough. Or that Hiro's genius might get in the way of his social relations. Or that the obvious red herring is anything other than an obvious red herring. Anything mildly realistic or surprising would do.
The reason I make such a big deal out of this is partly because of a personal disillusionment. I know Disney movies are big on showing an idealized version of the world, but this particular one strains my credibility. Everybody in this movie, except for our hero and our villain, know how to act in case of loss or grief. They know this because of magic fairy dust. Sorry, no. I can categorically state that university students are the last people who know how to handle matters of life and death. They're young and inexperienced, self-absorbed, they had a lucky start in life and a full diary for the next couple months. There is a big difference between how adults handle grief and how students/teenagers handle grief. I know this, I've seen similar scenarios play out in my day. Not to mention my own brush with death. The broader problem at play here is that everybody acts like an adult. The audience has to be informed that Hiro is 14 years old, cause he sure doesn't act like one!
They do try to bring more of Disney's character-based storytelling into the movie, framing Baymax and his friendship with Hiro as the real heart of the story. Baymax is also made out to be a surrogate for the late Tadashi, but this comes down to Baymax being a Teletubby for one scene. He's a machine, programmed to be a servant/slave to Hiro, not a person with their own needs and desires. When Hiro violates Baymax's programming, there are no long-term consequences. And there is no space to develop a normal relationship between Hiro and Baymax, when everything in the plot is subservient to the catching the man in the Kabuki mask.
In the end, Big Hero 6 is just another superhero origin story. It succeeds, within the narrow confines of its own logic, but from Walt Disney Animation Studios I expect more than that. Another thing about Big Hero 6 is that it never seems to justify why it is animated. Contemporary blockbusters rely heavily on the use of CGI in order to portray things that would be much too risky or expensive with practical effects. This is a challenge for animation, which used to operate alone in the domain of the plausible impossible. Usually, a Disney movie has a clear reason for being animated, but I don't see anything in Big Hero 6 that you couldn't do in live-action. It's comparable to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which came out the same year.
The Further Adventures of Thunderbolt (2015) Story Direction Floyd Norman Story inspired by Bill Peet Writer Floyd Norman Voice Talent by Sandra Abbott, Cate Bauer, Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, Mickey Maga, Clarence "Ducky" Nash, Dave Wittenberg
A cute DVD extra for One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
Frozen Fever (2015) Directed by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee Story by Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Marc E. Smith Music and Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Voice Talent Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Chris Williams, Paul Briggs
Elsa has prepared a "birthday date" for Anna, but everything threatens to go wrong when she develops a cold. Again, the tropes invoked in this short make them look more like a couple than like sisters, especially since Kristoff isn't there with them throughout the day. Frozen Fever features a special new song, "Making Today A Perfect Day", but it's a bit too ham-fisted to really get off the ground.
Directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore Co-Directed by Jared Bush Story by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush, Jim Reardon, Jodie Trinidad, Phil Johnston, and Jennifer Lee Screenplay by Jared Bush, Phil Johnston | Heads of Story Josie Trinidad, Jim Reardon
Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J. K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer Featuring Alan Tudyk, Raymond S. Persi, Della Saba, Maurice LaMarche, Phil Johnston, Fuschia!, John DiMaggio, Katie Lowes, Gita Reddy, Jesse Corti, Tiny Lister With Josh Dallas, Leah Latham, Rich Moore, Kath Soucie, Peter Mansbridge, Byron Howard, Jared Bush, Mark Rhino Smith, Josie Trinidad, John Lavelle, Kristen Bell And Shakira as Gazelle
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature - Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Clark Spencer - WON Recent Disney trailers seem to move away from the story as such, and focus on the upbeat and comedic elements in the movie. This has an interesting effect: the viewer doesn't get spoilered half to death, but doesn't get a good sense of the movie's tone either. The trailers and main conceit of Disney's Zootopia could just as easily have come from Illumination Entertainment. Meanwhile on Disney+, the movie is categorized as a cop movie. I don't care for cop movies. But then, Zootopia is not exactly a police procedural or a wacky cop comedy. It's a coming-of-age detective story, whose protagonist happens to be a police officer.
Meet Judy Hopps, a small-town bunny who's setting out to break barriers and become the first rabbit policewoman ever in the Zootopia metropolis. Already the political contours of our little fable are forming: facilitating minorities to achieve a job traditionally held by people of a certain profile is a staple of liberal politics. It's reminiscent of the goal-oriented heroines of the Disney Renaissance, but it differs in key ways. First of all, the goal is a less symbolic 'breaking free' and a more concrete 'I want this job'. And secondly, the world of Zootopia is analogous to real-life political discourse in a way the Renaissance musicals never came close to. In fact, I struggle to name even one animation that tackles a political issue this closely.
Along with the shock of the big city, Judy has to deal with speciesism. All the other police officers are big, burly animals, and the police station is fit to match. As is the institutional culture: Chief Bogo is clearly not amused by her appearance, and puts her on parking duty. Here, Judy meets Nick Wilde, a fox who makes his living as a con artist. When Judy talks Chief Bogo into taking one of the myriad missing mammal cases currently ongoing, her first clue leads her back to Judy. She agrees not to arrest him for tax evasion if he helps her, and together they visit the DMV (Department of Mammal Vehicles), the notorious crime boss Mr. Big (a shrew), and a jaguar named Emmitt. When Emmitt goes feral, Judy and Nick call in the police, where she gets a firm dressing down.
One of the key social dynamics in Zootopia is the distinction between predator and prey. We've seen this play out before, in another fox movie: The Fox and the Hound. In Zootopia, it doesn't exactly map onto racial stereotypes in real life, but it affects people all the same. As a child, Judy's friends were bullied by a fox kid named Gideon Grey, while little Nick was bullied as a Junior Scout because foxes were seen as inherently untrustworthy. This common experience is the heart of the movie. Sometimes the stereotypes get confirmed, which puts me more in mind of national stereotypes than racial ones, but as we see sometimes this is a case of people conforming to the dominant ideology, and that's not unheard of in real life either.
This theme develops further when Judy and Nick find the missing mammals, locked up in a power facility at a waterfall and all completely feral. They also find and arrest Mayor Lionheart (no guesses to his background), who pleads innocence. As it turns out, all the missing mammals were predators, a fact reiterated at the press conference, where Judy suggests a link to their ancestral DNA. This sets off a wave of mass panic over the place of predators in society, and alienates Nick. Dejected, Judy goes back to her parents' farm. Here, she meets a grown-up Gideon Grey, who is now baker of some repute and who apologizes for his behavior as a child.
This marks one of the movie's high moments for me: the depiction of a former bully as repentant and a functioning member of society. When was the last time you heard of this, in a movie even? Bullying and other abusive behaviors are generally treated simplistically and moralistically, focusing on the heat of the moment rather than the complex social relations that underpin it, leading to a paradigm of sociopaths and victims. The danger with such a trauma at such an early age is that it takes a hold on the way victims of bullying view the world, fueling a deep resentment that becomes fundamental to their identity. I've seen this happen to people and it is not healthy. Alternatively, I also know people who used their (former) victimhood to justify their own abuse. It ain't pretty.
But Gideon Grey returns from the imaginary Gideon Grey movie across the plains, and restores my faith in humanity. Another penny drops for Judy and she and Nick go to small-time crook Duke Weaselton (*slow clap*) to find a drug lab in an abandoned subway station. This marks the third time Judy has blackmailed or befriended a criminal for the purposes of her investigation, a questionable moral if there ever was one. Anyway, they find the evidence and the villain, who as it turns out is Deputy Mayor Bellwether. Bellwether made use of psy ops in order to create a panic among the prey, which would allow her to wield unlimited political power. I'm not a fan of these massively overcomplicated political schemes, because they make people in power look far more competent than they are, and that plays into the hands of conspiracy theorists. There's a lot more involved than skill.
Zootopia's worldview, while not perfect, is a great deal better than its earlier drafts and a great deal deeper than most animated movies offer. It feels weird to see a movie about institutionalized bigotry where the protagonist is a police officer, given the cultural clash centered on that particular profession. We can see some of that reflected in Judy's coworkers. But again, Zootopia is more of a detective than a cop movie. And they sure did a better job than the last time we had one of those. The depiction of the small-town youngster who moves to the big city may be clichéd, but every moment of it rings true. Zootopia does a bang-up job of mixing animal stereotypes with the real social dynamics of people and places. It does everything right that Chicken Little did wrong there, which was pretty much everything. I empathize with Judy at some many points of her journey, and I think she's one of the better protagonists we've had in recent years.