Zootopia Opens This Weekend, The Must See Movie of The Season! @Fandango #FandangoFamily

Zootopia Opens This Weekend!

We previewed Zooptopia earlier this week. It was hugely entertaining, and had great comedy from start to finish.

Judy Hopps is a bunny who knows from an early age that she wants to be a police officer. The only problem is, in the land of Zootopia where predator and prey all get along, bunnies are not police officers, they are far too small! Judy’s parents are not happy about her decision either, they want their baby to be safe!

Judy refuses to let her size stop her from accomplishing her goal, and she figures out alternative ways to get through her police training, she uses her brains while the bigger animals use their brute strength. Judy graduates at the head of her class and heads to the city of Zootopia, a huge city with many different aspects: “Comprised of neighborhoods that celebrate different cultures, Zootopia is a city like no other. There’s ritzy Sahara Square for desert animals, Tundratown for the polar bears and moose, the hot and humid Rain Forest District, Little Rodentia for the tiniest mammals, and Bunnyburrow for the millions and millions of bunnies. The downtown area, Savanna Central, is a melting pot where a wide array of mammals from every environment come together..”

The animation is fantastic, the scenery is beautiful, and the picture is gorgeous! Having been on several Disney movie trips, I know that a vast amount of research goes into these animated full length movies. “The team spent 18 months just researching animals,” says producer Clark Spencer. “We met with animal experts from all over the world, including Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. We traveled 9,000 miles to Kenya, Africa, for a two-week deep dive into animal personality and behavior. We wanted each species of animal to be real, to feel authentic and to be based on their real-world behavior.” The research that goes into a Disney animated movie is beyond what anyone would expect, and the audience gets to see the most authentic product possible:

And the collection of characters in this land are wonderful:

The police chief is a huge bull who towers over Judy and learns that regardless of her size, she is a great police office. The Mayor is the King of the Beasts, his assistant is a meek little lamb, the Yoga guy looks just like his human counterpart, Finnick is a tiny tough guy, and lastly Officer Clawhauser is just a big chubby donut eating pussycat of a police officer, he is one of my favorites:

All characters we know we have in our own real world, beautifully represented in Zootopia. Except the sloths. Beware of their slow moving antics!

“At its core, ‘Zootopia’ is a buddy movie,” says director Rich Moore. “Judy and Nick—a rabbit and a fox—are natural enemies by definition. So these characters don’t exactly get along at first. They come to the relationship with ideas about each other—beliefs that aren’t informed or accurate.” Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman were terrific as Judy and Nick. I could only hope this was the first in a series of buddy movies they do together!

The movie is filled with positive themes for our kids. Nick Wilde is a “sly fox,” a stereotype if you will. As the film goes along we see how he learns to use this ability to help Judy, and he learns that the goals he put on the shelf as a young fox, are things he can accomplish as an adult when he learns to believe in himself after seeing that Judy believes in him. We also learn that no matter how big a species is, they can learn to get along with the much smaller animals, an illustrated version of an anti-bullying message. And we see how two very different animals, who represent all of us, can learn to get along, and become great friends. This is great information for the younger generation to see!

I give this movie one out of five on the scare factor scale. For children under five years old, there is a dark scene that might be a little frightening at first for the kids when the two main characters stumble upon the wolf headquarters. The level of violence is quite low, although some of the animals that become “wild” may be a little frightening for those same young kids, but those scenes are not very long.

This is also one of those animated movies with a tremendous amount of comedy for adults. I laughed the whole way through, the movie was hilarious with a huge homage to the Godfather series. My favorite “kids” movies are the ones where the young children can be entertained, as well as all of the adults, and this movie accomplishes that easily!

There is no sex or bad words, so this movie is suitable for the youngest of children. I think a lot of the jokes will go over their heads, but they will be highly entertained just by seeing all the great animal species represented here.

I give this movie a 5 out of 5. I had a feeling about this movie from the first trailer, and not only did it not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations. This movie is great entertainment for the entire family, a movie that I cannot wait to see again, and to own on DVD!

Lastly, there is Shakira:

Her music owned the airwaves in Zootopia, and there were some extra funny moments with Zootopia’s version of fun phone apps!

Buy your tickets and look for reviews at Fandango.com, and parents reviews (including mine) suggesting specific age appropriate viewing!  Also, here is the Fandango Mom’s Movie Minute episode!
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Disclosure: I am a compensated Fandango Family Ambassador. Also, I received my ticket courtesy of Disney Pictures: all opinions expressed are 100% our own and honest.

And I met Judy Hopps!