Zootopia (2016)
A Disney original story.
In a world populated by anthropomorphic mammals where predator and prey live in harmony, Judy Hopps, a rabbit from a rural town called Bunnyburrow, dreams of becoming the first rabbit police officer in the urban city of Zootopia but is bullied by Gideon Grey, a fox. 15 years later, Judy attends the Zootopia Police Academy and graduates as the academy valedictorian. Judy is assigned to the heart of Zootopia at Precinct 1: City Center and moves to Zootopia (“Try Everything”). On her first day on the job, Judy meets police dispatcher Benjamin Clawhauser and Chief Bogo who reveals that Zootopia has 14 missing mammal cases which is priority one, however despite giving Judy one of these cases, she is assigned parking duty.
On her first day on parking duty Judy is hustled by a con artist fox duo, Nick Wilde and Finnick. The next day, a small-time crook and bootleg film seller named Duke Weaselton steals a bag of crocus bulbs known as Midnicampum holicithias, a Class-C botanical. Judy abandons her post to arrest Weaselton, and is reprimanded by Bogo. Mrs. Otterton unexpectedly barges into Bogo's office, pleading for someone to find her husband Emmitt, one of the fourteen missing mammals. Judy volunteers and the city's assistant mayor, a sheep named Dawn Bellwether, praises the assignment. Bogo has no choice but to agree, but secretly orders Judy to resign if she fails after forty-eight hours.
Receiving Emmitt’s case file with only a last known location, Judy ascertains that Nick was the last to see Emmitt as Emmitt was seen eating a popsicle that Nick sells. Judy forces him into helping her by covertly recording his confession to tax evasion on her carrot pen. Nick leads Judy to a naturalist club where Emmitt frequented for yoga class where they learn that Emmitt stepped into a limousine. They run the plates at the local DMV which is run by sloths to find that the limousine Is owned by a limo service in a part of Zootopia called Tundratown. The two discover that the limo service is owned by crime boss Mr. Big, an arctic shrew whom Nick has a history with. His men capture Judy and Nick and bring them to Mr. Big where Judy reveals she’s a cop. Mr. Big prepares to “ice them” until her daughter reveals that Judy saved her earlier that day during the capture of Duke Weaselton. Mr. Big repays Judy’s kindness and spares them. He reveals that Emmitt was the family florist who suddenly went "savage" and attacked Mr. Big's chauffeur Manchas, a black jaguar who lives in the Rainforest District.
Upon interrogation, Manchas explains that prior to attacking him, Emmitt yelled about "Night Howlers", before then turning savage himself and chasing the pair. Judy traps Manchas and calls the ZPD for help, but Manchas vanishes before they arrive. Bogo demands Judy's resignation, but Nick reminds Bogo that she still has ten hours remaining. While leaving the scene, Nick reveals to Judy that he became a con artist because, as a child, he tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts, but was bullied and rejected simply for being a fox.
At City Hall, Bellwether offers Judy and Nick access to Zootopia's traffic cameras. They discover Manchas was taken by timberwolves, whom Judy surmises are the "Night Howlers". Following the wolves, the duo locates Emmitt, Manchas, and the other missing animals, who are now all "savage" predators, imprisoned at a local asylum. Zootopia's mayor, Leodore Lionheart, ordered their capture and is trying to ascertain the cause of their feral behavior. Lionheart and the asylum staff are soon arrested for false imprisonment, and Bellwether becomes the new mayor. Judy, praised for solving the case, asks Nick to join the ZPD as her partner. However, he angrily rejects her offer and abandons her after Judy claims that predatory biology is behind the mysterious "savageness" epidemic. Judy's comments, broadcast on television, incite fear and discrimination against predators throughout Zootopia.
Wracked with guilt, Judy quits her job and returns to Bunnyburrow to manage her parent's vegetable stand. There, she reconciles briefly with Gideon Grey but also learns that "Night Howlers" are actually Midnicampum holicithias—flowers with severe, lasting psychotropic effects that cause mammals to go into a feral state. Realizing they are the reason predators are becoming savages, Judy returns to Zootopia and reconciles with Nick. Aided by Mr. Big, the pair interrogate Weaselton, who admits he was hired by a ram named Doug to steal the Night Howler bulbs. They find Doug in a laboratory hidden in the city subway, where he manufactures a Night Howler serum to be shot at predators via a dart pistol. Judy and Nick obtain a serum gun as evidence, but before they can reach the ZPD, Bellwether confronts them in the Natural History Museum, revealing herself to have masterminded a prey-supremacist conspiracy. The duo become trapped in an exhibit and Bellwether attempts to infect Nick by shooting him with the pistol before summoning the ZPD, but shockingly discovers that Nick had replaced the ammunition with blueberries. Judy reveals she recorded Bellwether's confession with the carrot pen, after which the ZPD arrives.
Bellwether and her accomplices are arrested. The still-imprisoned Lionheart publicly denies knowledge of her plot and claims that imprisoning the infected predators was a "wrong thing for the right reason". With the cause of the epidemic identified, the predators are cured and Judy is reinstated into the ZPD. Months later, Nick graduates from the police academy, becoming her partner and the first fox police officer. Their first assignment is to catch a street racer who is revealed to be Flash, the sloth from the DMV.
The end credits feature a concert performance by Gazelle, a famous pop star (“Try Everything”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
Research for the film took place in Disney's Animal Kingdom, as well as in Kenya and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, where animators spent eight months studying various animals' walk cycles as well as fur color. Eight hundred thousand forms of mammals were created for and featured in the film. To make the characters' fur even more realistic, they also went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to closely observe the appearance of fur with a microscope under a variety of lighting.
The filmmakers drew inspiration for Zootopia's urban design from major cities including New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Brasília. To develop a city that could actually be inhabited by talking mammals ranging in size from two inches (5.1 cm) to 27 feet (8.2 m) and from drastically different climates, the filmmakers consulted Americans with Disabilities Act specialists and HVAC system designers. For assistance with designing motor vehicles appropriate for so many different types and sizes of mammals, the filmmakers consulted with J Mays, former chief creative officer of the Ford Motor Company.
The city of Zootopia, itself, is comprised of various districts—all of which are tailored to best suit the animals living there, both in terms of atmosphere, climate, and scale. To accomplish this, the filmmakers assembled an "Environments team", who were tasked to create the unique spaces the characters roam and inhabit throughout the film. Each area was created to look as if it has a sense of history, adding chaos and minor details to bring the world to life.
Each district was also modeled after various real-world areas.
Tundratown, the district consisting of low-temperature mammals such as polar bears, was architecturally influenced by Russia. The renderings of the snow and wintry feel of Tundratown was also influenced by the 2013 animated feature Frozen.
Sahara Square, an area for high-temperature mammals such as camels, was modeled after Las Vegas.
Other districts developed for Zootopia were Outback Island, the Meadowlands, the Nocturnal District, the Burrows, the Canals, and Happytown.
Technology
A fur-controlling software called iGroom was developed for the movie which gave character designers precise control over the brushing, shaping, and shading of fur and made it possible to create a variety of eccentric character styles for each animal.
Zootopia was the second time Disney used the Hyperion renderer, which they had first used on Big Hero 6. The Hyperion Renderer mimics real-world geometric complexity.
A new fur paradigm was added to the renderer to facilitate the creation of realistic images of the animals' dense fur.
Nitro, a real-time display application developed since the making of Wreck-It Ralph, was used to make the fur more consistent, intact and subtle much more quickly, as opposed to the previous practice of having to predict how the fur would work while making and looking at silhouettes or poses for the character.
The tree-and-plant generator Bonsai, first used in Frozen, was used to make numerous variations of trees with very detailed foliage.
Easter Egg(s)
Duke Weaselton sells bootleg copies of popular Disney movies but with anthropomorphic animals—Pig Hero 6 (Big Hero 6), Wrangled (Tangled), Wreck-It Rhino (Wreck-It Ralph), Meowana (Moana), Giraffic (Gigantic), Floatzen 2 (Frozen 2).