Warning: Lots of spoilers!
I may or may not have watched this movie five times over the span of two days.
Before you laugh out loud or read this thinking it’s a joke, Zootopia is actually a really inspiring movie about a little bunny named Judy who can’t seem to avoid other animals (including and especially her bunny parents) not supporting her dreams of becoming a police officer and changing the world. There are a lot of stereotypes and put downs in the movie that I think we can definitely learn from and apply to real life. And there are lots of reasons to go watch this movie right now.
To start off, it’s a really good and funny animated movie with adorable talking animals that is age appropriate for anyone and everyone! Parents and their kids can watch it (and even 21-year-olds) without any judgment!
Judy's empowering drama rendition at the beginning of the movie of the history of predator and prey relations was so good! Because she killed it! Or was killed? You know, it’s all in how you really look at it. Not only was this a scene where she stood up for her dreams, she also stood up for the rights of other animals to be anything that they want to be and if that’s not inspiring I don’t know what is.
When her parents try and tell her to not follow her dreams and she’s just like nope! Not having any of it. She didn’t even let her parents talk her out of it. She knew what she wanted and who she wanted to be. There was no stopping this bunny.
The next scene where Gideon Grey, the fox, harasses her school friends and she doesn’t let him take their tickets even though he is way bigger than her and tells her that she will never be more than just a little bunny. What she says at the end of that, well let’s just say eat it Mr. Bully Gideon. You can make a difference in the world.
Judy’s police training montage scene where she keeps getting put down and remembers the things that people said as she trains and fights to prove all of them wrong. Because she doesn’t know when to quit. It’s not a word in her vocabulary.
The moment when she graduates the academy as valedictorian and gets pinned as the first bunny to ever become a police officer. Yeah I ugly cried.
When she says, “The only thing to fear is fear itself,” when her parents are trying to scare her into believing all foxes are horrible based on her one experience with Gideon when she was young. Yeah, she shuts that down real quick. And we should do that too.
Her train ride to Zootopia while Shakira is singing that motivational song about how birds fall down and still get up. Yeah… nuff’ said.
When she elegantly corrects Officer Clawhauser about not calling her cute. Yeah that’s right. Don’t stereotype a woman bunny. She is a force to be reckoned with. Get it girl.
One hundred parking tickets by the end of the day? Laughable. Two hundred by noon. Because she is determined to prove that she is capable of so much more by surpassing the expectation of the man. Goals are important to have people. Destroying sexism anywhere is always and forever one of them.
She is always standing up for the little guy. This fierce bunny named Judy is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in at any given time and that is inspiring. Take a seat segregating elephant man. Take a seat.
Now I know they were scheming her, but when she gives that pep talk to Nick’s son about how he can be anything he wants to be, and if he wants to be an elephant well then he has every animal right to become one despite the fact that he is a fox. Let’s just say AMEN!
When she tells the little mouse father, Mr. B, who she really is. No lies. She isn’t afraid of him. She worked and earned the title of police officer. No one is going to hide that Nick. Say it loud and proud,always!
I don’t give Nick enough credit in this movie. He is definitely a star player and great friend to the end. And when does he finally prove that? When he stands up for Judy and puts her commanding chief in his place. Another reminder to not remain quiet when injustice is taking place regardless of who you are!
Then there was Nick’s side of the story that reveals the incident where he realized two things that would forever change his life. Water works people. Water works. Also a good example of the negative effect of stereotyping and bullying.
Judy’s interview scene with the press after her and Nick solved the case was everything. Stereotyping out the wazoo! And I quote, “You’re not like them.” Excuse me, honey. Thanks Nick, for reminding her what “them” really meant and how offensive that actually was.
Now one thing I haven’t talked about that is very important in all of this is the role that Judy has a police officer. Mostly because I wanted to save it for this specific scene from the movie. Judy is offered everything she has ever wanted. They try to tell her that she did change the world for better. But instead of taking the deal, she stands up yet again for what she believes in is right. She never stopped doing so as a police officer. Her goal was to forever remain true to her goal of making a positive difference and keeping people safe!
The next scene where she meets her childhood bully Gideon again after so many years is monumental. Not only does it demonstrate that people can change, but when her parents tell her that she helped changed their perception of the way that they viewed foxes is pretty big. This is also a moment when she realizes that she can make a difference and fix her mistake instead of avoiding it and backing down. Serious life lesson right here folks.
When she goes back to Zootopia and apologizes to Nick under the bridge, she proves that she is not above the law. She is only human and she makes mistakes. Most importantly though, she proves that you can make things right.
I love Judy’s ending speech about remaining true to who you are and being whoever it is you want to be and how that goal makes us more similar than different. This is important. She emphasizes that this is a concept that she believed the world would be perfectly accepting to, but realizes that the world is more flawed than she thought it would be. that shouldn’t stop us from believing that things can change. That we can all work to change the world together. Each and every one of us can make a difference. But it starts with you.
20. Nick and Judy’s scene together fighting crime. Stopping stereotypes in their tracks and proving just how big of an impact someone can make in someone else’s life. If there is anything that this movie aimed to demonstrate to its audience it’s that the road of life isn’t easy. In fact it is very hard and full of people who will try and tear you down and tell you that you can’t do it. However, if you keep fighting for what you believe to be right, then anything is possible. And the difference in our world begins with you.
So hopefully this inspires you to take a moment and think about what it is you want in life and how you want to get there. And maybe it even makes you want to grab a friend and watch this movie together because I highly recommend it! Most of all though, I hope this goes to show you that you shouldn’t ever stop fighting to follow your dreams and that anyone can make a positive difference in the world.
