Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Zootopia (2016) - Disney's ambitious, edifying, family-minded 3D animation

9/18/2017

Zootopia (2016) - Disney's ambitious, edifying, family-minded 3D animation

♥♥♥♥♥

Many of the colorful central characters of Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush's Zootopia are gathered on this poster for the film

Our hero is a young female rabbit, the first rabbit police recruit ever, who arrives in the major animal city with a head full of dreams, which is put to the test by reality as it is, along with a complex missing animals case that she takes upon herself, partnering with her a scheming fox.

Zootopia is another irresistible hit from Disney. This one is written by co-writer-co-director Jared Bush (Moana (2016)) and Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids (2011)), with Jennifer Lee (Frozen (2013)), Josie Trinidad (How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007), short) and Jim Reardon (WALL-E (2008)) contributing story elements, and directed by Bush, Byron Howard (Tangled (2010)) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph (2012)). Perhaps due to the many good heads involved, Zootopia is rife with creative energy, thoughtful decisions and a wide array of funny and exciting ideas.
The animation is astoundingly handsome and detailed, and Ginnifer Goodwin (Robot Chicken (2005-14)), Jason Bateman (The Family Fang (2015)), Idris Elba (The Losers (2010)), Jenny Slate (Gifted (2017)) and Nate Torrence (Weird Loners (2015), TV-series) give outstanding voice performances. Zootopia, in quite the scoop, also has Shakira voicing and singing the Gazelle pop star of the film, and Shakira's world-famous, positive image and her song here (Try Everything) fit like a glove with the film's idealistic morals: Embracing a modern, multi-cultural society, tolerance, diversity seen as a strength and peaceful co-existence, and against racism, fear-mongering - and drugs, which this ambitious, political family adventure also manages to warn against.
Zootopia is a special, very socially oriented animated crime drama, which also works through artfully executed single scenes, just the right amount of chase-and-escape action scenes, and a host of fun and terrific characters.

Related posts:

Byron Howard: Bolt (2008) - Hollywood dog road adventure fun for the whole family!
Rich Moore: Wreck-It Ralph (2012) - Original story gets lost in benign but overly flashy animation

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office:1,023.7 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Zootopia premiered 11 February (Denmark) and runs 108 minutes. Research was done in two US animal parks as well as in Kenya for the many animals of the film, their movement and looks, and new ground was broken in terms of details in the rendition of fur in the animation. The production took place in a makeshift warehouse in North Hollywood, as Disney Animation's Burbank HQ was under renovation. The film opened #1 in 2D, 3D and IMAX to a great 75 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for 3 consecutive weeks and stayed in the top 5 for an incredible 8 weeks and grossed 341.2 mil. $ (33.3 % of the total gross). It was Disney Animation's biggest opening in North America to date, the biggest March animation opening to date and the 7th highest-grossing film in the market of the year. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 235.5 mil. $ (23 %), - where it became the highest-grossing animation of all time, the first animation to break 200 mil. $ and the second highest-grossing film of the year (behind The Mermaid), - and Japan with 70.1 mil. $ (6.8 %). Worldwide, the film was the 4th highest-grossing of the year (behind Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One and Finding Dory) and the 2nd highest-grossing animation (behind Finding Dory). It also ranks as the second highest-grossing original film of all time (behind Avatar (2009)) and the 5th highest-grossing animation of all time. The film's net profit has been estimated to be 294.9 mil. $ by Deadline.com. The film won the Best Animation Oscar (beating Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, My Life as a Zucchini and The Red Turtle). It also won a Golden Globe, was nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy and won an AFI award, among many other honors. A sequel is in talks. Zootopia was the year's second-highest ranking title at Rotten Tomatoes (after Moonlight); it is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8/10 critical average.]

What do you think of Zootopia?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

9/18/2017

Zootopia (2016) - Disney's ambitious, edifying, family-minded 3D animation

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