Trailer Talk: ‘Zootopia’

Movie trailers are like free samples at Costco: the good ones excite you and leave you wanting more, while the bad ones make you cringe. Each week, A&E columnist Matthew Fernandez will dissect one movie trailer and analyze the Hollywood fare to come.

Disney has a penchant for zany characters and a magic power to make the world fall in love with every single one of them. It’s given us an ice princess with an infuriatingly catchy song, a ham-handed building wrecker who jumps through video games and a pillowy healthcare robot that fights crime and gives fist bumps (“bah-la-la-la”), which begs the question: What will it think up next?

How about a rabbit traffic cop? Alright, I’ll take it.

Disney released the second U.S. trailer for its new movie “Zootopia” on New Year’s Eve, which revealed more about the upcoming film’s plot. The film takes place in a world of anthropomorphic animals that is suddenly plagued by an outbreak of rabid, mindless behavior from its citizens. Enter Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, the first rabbit police officer, eager but undervalued due to her small size and unimposing species in comparison to the tigers, rhinos and elephants on the force. In order to prove that she is a capable officer, Hopps decides to solve the case on her own.

The idea behind “Zootopia,” a city where carnivores and herbivores coexist peacefully, lends itself to interesting possibilities. In no way is it a new concept – “Dinotopia” and “Kung Fu Panda” are only two of many examples – but the potential for it to be a great movie lies in Disney’s characteristic imagination.

I’d like to see how Disney addresses some of the issues that the citizens of Zootopia would have, like what animals eat and how carnivores survive without becoming murderers. The trailer shows food like donuts and ice cream, but is that ice cream vegan or are they eating something that could have come out of a neighbor?

Like most of Disney’s recent movies, “Zootopia” seeks to cater to older audiences as well as children. Much like the movie’s first trailer, the New Year’s Eve trailer reuses a painfully accurate and clever joke in which the Department of Motor Vehicles is run by sloths. Most people, myself included, know the agonizing pit of despair that is the DMV, where the minutes crawl by with bureaucratic slowness.

Even though the gag was already shown in the first trailer, it’s like a Twinkie – it never gets old. I’ve seen both trailers multiple times and giggled like a 5-year-old every time.

There is also a quick jab at nudist colonies and the naturalist movement, but the best joke comes at the end of a trailer with a reference to “The Godfather,” complete with Marlon Brando drawl, tuxedo rose and daughter’s wedding.

As a cinephile and lover of pop culture, I replayed this part at least three times – “The Godfather” Easter egg was the trailer’s biggest treat for me. The attention to detail, loving treatment of an iconic character and witty unexpectedness of the reference hints at more great nuggets to come. This kind of pop culture awareness that caters to adults yet remains family-friendly is very promising, maybe even signaling a shift away from the more subtle, dirty jokes that are often hidden in other Disney films.

The trailer signals that the film has the most to offer in its visual gags. In a world of animals of all shapes and sizes, there is limitless comedic potential, and if the trailer is a good indication of the film to come, then this comedic gold mine has not escaped the eyes of the filmmakers. The considerations are demonstrated practically in the city’s infrastructure like different-sized doors on the train and in the film’s overall silliness – for example, a mouse’s car gets blown away by the wind, and the tiny shrew version of Don Corleone is named Mr. Big.

Based on what the audiences have been shown, the film seems to be standard Disney. There are cutesy characters, high-quality visuals and the big moral underpinning that aims to teach kids how to be good people. It looks to be a solid film, but with many big animal-centric animated films to be released this year, like “Kung Fu Panda 3” and “Finding Dory,” will “Zootopia” be able to stand out in the crowd? When stacked up against the competition, I think “Zootopia” has a good chance to rival the success of “Kung Fu Panda,” but might not be strong enough to contend with Pixar’s might.

What are your thoughts on the “Zootopia” trailer? Email Fernandez at [email protected].