Disney have been on a real hot streak recently, their last few films; Tangled, Wreck-It-Ralph, Frozen, and Big Hero Six have all been fantastic. Their newest film Zootopia (or as its known in the UK Zootropolis) absolutely continues that run.

Set in a world where anthropomorphic animals seemingly all live in harmony a young rabbit, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) becomes the first ever rabbit police officer. She eventually teams up with con artist fox named Nick (Jason Bateman) to try and find a missing Weasel. As in the elaborate history of cop movies this ends up being a far bigger case than it originally appears.

However it is not just the case that is bigger than it originally appears, this is a movie that tackle far deeper films than we see here. The ‘predator/prey’ dynamic is really used highlight the issue of prejudice and stereotyping in society. And whilst this is slightly on the nose, you have to forgive it that as the main target audience is children. The film proves to be particularly relevant given some of the events that have happened in the world in recent times. And I feel that Zootopia does a beautiful job of highlighting the problems with how our society has reacted, rather than showing acceptance that this film eventually finds.

Don’t worry though the film still has plenty of great humour, both for kids and adults. Kids will certainly love the animal world that Disney have created and find the characters fun and entertaining. Goodwin and Bateman have wonderful chemistry as the two central characters. For older people Zootopia plays the cop film tropes very well, Idris Elba’s police captain can be seen in the same vein as many classics. There are so other great pop culture references, the Godfather bit being my personal favourite, having me in stitches. Whilst Tommy Chong’s appearance as the hippie Yak owner of a naturalist club is hilarious.

Overall Zootopia is a beautiful and fun film with an extremely powerful and timely message. It can be enjoyed by kids and older people (it works doubly well if you are a man child like myself) and hopefully will be remembered amongst the Disney greats, even if I am slightly more partial to their musical efforts.

8/10