In a world without humans, animals have evolved to take our place in the modern civilization. They wear clothes, walk on two feet, and use technology just like us. This crazy, and proven to be downright hilarious, movie is the world of “Zootopia,” Disney’s new animated film.

Zootopia follows the two main characters, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), an oddly matched team, as they work together to solve a crime that could forever affect the city of Zootopia. As a child, Judy wanted to be so much more than carrot farmers like her parents. Everything she hoped to achieve in life was the exact opposite of her parents’ wishes. But fast forward 18 years and Judy has worked hard to make it through the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD) training camp, despite her parents’ resistance, to become the first bunny cop in Zootopia history.

On her first real case, Judy must work together with Nick Wilde, a cunning fox who’s a rabbit’s mortal enemy, to solve one of many linked missing person’s cases. The pair are soon led to the Cliffside Asylum by Manchas, a leopard who drove around an animal that went missing, which despite it being a somewhat tense scene, also has a comedic touch to it. All the little jokes weaved into the script were in my opinion, the best part of the movie. The story isn’t just a simple kid’s movie, but one people of all ages can enjoy. Some of the best scenes were ones I was constantly laughing about even after the movie ended. From the hilarious slowness of sloths, to stupid jokes like “he’s the opposite of friendly, he’s unfriendly”, each scene always had a sprinkle of laugh-worthy lines.   

Earlier in the story, Judy and Nick discover during an encounter with Manchas that animals have been going back to their natural state as “savage.” Now you may be thinking, this seems odd to see such a harsh term being used in such a playful movie like this. But this idea is a perfect addition to the movie that displays the heavily thought out characters of each animal. By each animal turning savage, they have gone back to their typical characteristics, like if they were in the wild. But contrasting to that, the writers didn’t always trap themselves by only developing the characters by their typical characteristics, only when it seemed fit. This created a whole world full of animals with their own individual personalities (which made everything even more funny), like for example a cheetah being too slow to catch up to an otter, simply because he eats too many donuts.

After the team called in the ZPD to arrest Mayor Lionheart, who they found in the Cliffside Asylum keeping all the savage animals hostage, the story seems to end. But little does the audience know that the plot is much deeper than anyone could’ve expected.

The main twist in the story is another plot point that Disney uses to subtly tie in the subject of stereotyping. Disney cleverly touches on how the stereotyping of any one race or “species” can be catastrophic on a major scale, which is demonstrated at the end of the movie with the reveal of the villian. We constantly see stereotyping mistakes people can make every day in phrases like “calling a bunny cute is only okay if one bunny says it to another.” This seemingly adorable line perfectly mirrors the human world and I applaud Disney on creating a great movie with substance.

Even if you’re not looking for a movie with a deep meaning, Zootopia is sure to wow anyone with it’s beyond-adorable characters and constant laughs. Make sure to head to the theater to check out this new Disney animated film.  (4 out of 5 paws)