Zootopia: The City That Disney Built
It is worth starting a conversation about a new full-length cartoon Walt Disney Animation Studios not by mentioning their creations (it’s scary to imagine that since its foundation the company has released more than fifty animated projects in full meter!), But from their not so much a competitor, how many sparring partners - studio Pixar (now it also belongs to the conglomerate Disney ).It was Pixar who drew the image of a modern cartoon: high-tech computer graphics and original worlds for the whole family. The peculiarity of the Pixar studio is constant experimentation. Their creative freedom has allowed them to create masterpieces like Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., WALL-E and last year's best animated film, Puzzle. Their work has become a model for animation of the early 21st century thanks to bold ideas and universes that are fabulous only at first glance. The directors of " Zootopia " - Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush - are clearly playing in the same field. The world of " Zootopia " was created by evolved animals: the primitive savagery and cruelty of natural selection remained in the past. Now the animals go to work on two legs and wear human clothes, and the cub-leopard declares from the stage of the children's theater that he does not need to learn to hunt - he wants to work as a notary. Although Zootopia has no place for people, it is more than human.  Zootopia itself is a typical large, even capital city. Animals from the provinces and rural areas believe that their "animal dream" can come true there. This "animal New York" is divided into several climatic zones. Polar bears live in Tundrotown, tropical beasts live in the jungle, and those whose natural habitat is heat and sand are registered in the desert area. The city center, in which the main part of the action will take place, is most similar to the real world. The only difference is that there are neighborhoods for those who are smaller and for those who are larger: rodents live in houses that are knee-deep for ordinary animals, and in the elephant's district they sell ice pops weighing a couple of kilograms.  The main character of the cartoon, a young rabbit Judy Hopps , is drawn to Zootopia. She does not want to live her whole life on her parents' carrot farm, but longs to join the police to protect law and order for the benefit of the animal society. They are trying to stop her with typical arguments, they say, a rabbit has no place in a huge city. But, having graduated with honors from the Police Academy, she is eager to meet her dream. Once in Zootopia, Judy will not only understand that this wondrous animal world is full of vices of modern society, for example, racial (or, rather, species) prejudice, but will also be at the center of classic police history. Her partner was the fox-rogue Nicholas Wilde , very much like the old Disney Robin Hood).  Strictly speaking, the plot here is a collection of cliches of detective films. The disappearance of people (that is, animals), the skeptical police chief Captain Buffolson , 48 hours to investigate a crime, surrender of a badge in case of failure, a double plot twist, dirty politicians - the standard set for such a story. But either because the right pace has been chosen, and the cartoon will not be drawn out even for a minute, or because all this work is done by animals, the cliches are not at all annoying. The intrigue with the main villain is correctly maintained until the last minutes. However, it is not the plot twists that attract in " Zootopia ", although seeing an almost neo-noir story with references to "The Godfather" and "Breaking Bad" ( Breaking Bad ) in the performance of the animals is very pleasant. It is much more interesting to observe how acute problems familiar to us are reflected in the distorted mirror of Zootopia. The allegorical form (as in the fables of Krylov ) allows the authors to calmly raise the themes of racism, intolerance and prejudice. Politicians here lie all the time in order to stay in power, and the media are steadily stirring up hysteria. Finding themselves in a difficult situation, the bestial society easily finds enemies among its fellow citizens and recalls seemingly forgotten conflicts like “herbivores versus predators”.  This is the essence of the cartoon's family character: very young viewers, looking at the adventures of the animals, can easily read the subtext “what is good and what is bad,” and adults will understand that old sins and grievances are always hidden behind the gloss of a civilized society. And there will always be those who will play them for their own purposes. In the original, the cartoon is called Zootopia , but even with a distorted title by domestic distributors, it is easy to understand the authors' statement about the utopian nature of modern society, where they talk about civilization at every corner. Yes, we have the quality of the story, allegories, insanely beautiful visual performance and many small funny details, for example, the table with the rabbit population on the farm is constantly updated, and on the local analogue of the iPhone, Judy has a gnawed carrot. But it's worth noting that " Zootopia " did not come out as something amazing. Although he is undeniably very, very good. Perhaps the reason is that the Pixar field is very difficult to play. Or maybe because the issues of equality of rights and opportunities are sometimes poked in the face of the audience too rudely. But in any case, " Zootopia " is an important stage in the work of Walt Disney Animation Studios , which can become a new vector of development.  In general, this is a funny, cute and kind cartoon that raises topics that are important for modern society. Of course, the inhabitants of " Zootopia " will always find a common language, forgive offenses, catch criminals and will live together. After all, this is Zutopia. The Topic of Article: Zootopia: The City That Disney Built. |
