Zootopia

Can a female bunny (excuse me, rabbit) make it as a cop in the big city?  What if she has to pair up with a wily fox to solve the big mystery?  Can this be anything other than a Disney Studios production?  Reviewers have said that both children and adults will find much to like in this animated feature, and any similarity between Judy Hopps (the rabbit voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Judy Hoffs in the 1987 movie 21 Jump Street is simply an “hilarious…coincidence.”  Yes, they’re both female cops, yes, they both face discrimination, and yes, they share remarkably similar names, but writer Byron Howard, co-writer/director of Zootopia says no.  (He’s the one who made the hilarious coincidence comment.) 

Set in a large city with a very diverse animal population, Zootopia is a classic whodunit in which the utopian world where all animals live together in peace and harmony is found to have a very sinister underbelly.  Peter Debruge, writing in Variety, says that in some respects the movie is a corrective to Disney’s 1947 Song of the South.  This time Sis Rabbit and Brer Fox work together instead of being enemies.  He also suggests that Zootopia can be compared to another Disney movie, the 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit—but without Bob Hoskins.  There are no actual humans in this movie, although the animals all have very human characteristics, including opposable thumbs. 

Missoula’s J.K. Simmons provides the voice for Mayor Lionheart and Idris Elba lends his voice to Chief Bogo (a Musk Ox), head of the city’s police.  Jason Bateman’s voice comes to life as Nick Wilde, the fox with whom Judy Hopps partners.  Shakira sings the role of Gazelle, whom Debruge describes as “the veld’s sveltest pop idol.”   The movie was written by the aforementioned Byron Howard along with eight other writers, and directed by Howard and two associates.  Howard's previous writing credits include the short film Tangled Ever After, and director credits include Bolt, Tangled, Tangled Ever After, and the short Let it Begin.

The feature opened in Europe before opening in the U.S. on March 4, 2016.  Opening weekend box office in the U.S. totaled over $75 million, and total receipts as of March 21^st come to $204,654,233, easily paying back the estimated cost of $150 million.  The movie will play here in Plains for two weekends, so you have plenty of time to see it twice, or more if you so wish.  There will be no matinee on Easter Sunday, but there will be a 3 p.m. showing the following Sunday as well as the regular 8:00 p.m. showings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday both weeks.

Upcoming Films (Subject to Change):

ZOOTOPIA PG
March 25 - 27 no matinee Easter Sunday
April 1 - 3 matinee 3 p.m. Sunday

Tentative schedule for April:

LONDON HAS FALLEN R
April 8 - 10
BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE PG-13
April 15 - 17
MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN PG
April 22 - 24
THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT PG-13
April 29 - May 1

In the interest of full disclosure:  I have no connection to the Llano Theatre.  I just appreciate the fact that a small town, Plains, Montana, has a movie house that shows great movies at a reasonable price usually within a month of their first on-screen appearance in the big cities, and I want to make sure that those of us who live in the area continue to enjoy this luxury for a long, long time.