I recently attended the press preview for Zootopia with my two side critics — my 5 and 3-year-olds. Zootopia opens TODAY. Should you take the kids to see it? Read my thoughts below!
ABOUT ZOOTOPIA
The modern mammal metropolis of Zootopia is a city like no other. Comprised of habitat neighborhoods like ritzy Sahara Square and frigid Tundratown, it’s a melting pot where animals from every environment live together—a place where no matter what you are, from the biggest elephant to the smallest shrew, you can be anything. But when rookie Officer Judy Hopps {voice of Ginnifer Goodwin} arrives, she discovers that being the first bunny on a police force of big, tough animals isn’t so easy. Determined to prove herself, she jumps at the opportunity to crack a case, even if it means partnering with a fast-talking, scam-artist fox, Nick Wilde {voice of Jason Bateman}, to solve the mystery. Rated PG.
MY THOUGHTS
Guys, this is a tough one to write. Please consider I am writing this as a mom to preschoolers, not a film critic. Please also consider I’m pretty open-minded, and am the type of parent that speaks straight to my kids.
The critics are going wild with rave reviews, which is great, but let’s not forget these films are supposed to be for KIDS. And this one is just not that great for kids, despite the happy-go-lucky commercials.
Let’s start with the bad: For one — how scary it is…if it’s any indication, my 3-year-old was nearly crying at a few parts, and I had to hold both my daughter’s hands during quite a few scenes with action and bullying. The look on their face said it all — they were scared. {If you’ve seen The Good Dinosaur, know that this was much more intense}. Now I truly know the difference between the G and PG ratings, and apparently we aren’t ready for PG quite yet.
Thankfully, so much went over their head, but the larger messages Disney is trying to portray fell flat. Maybe I’m too analytical, but it’s really hard to not see the similarities to America in the film, including a pop star sex symbol {played by Shakira}, drug use, politics, and racism — which, typically I’m all for discussing — but wasn’t prepared to be thinking critically about. To me, it was unsettling for a film I thought was intended for younger kids. I almost wish this was marketed as a Marvel film — at least then I would have known what we had gotten ourselves into.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of good, too. The animation is stunning. The landscape of the land of Zootopia is breathtaking, and the initial scenes got me excited. There are some hysterical parts {the DMV scene from the previews was even better on the big screen}, and it was full of adult humor, which was awesome. Also, the characters were adorable! You can’t help but fall in love with some, and the voices matched wonderfully.
Positive lessons taken from the film include ones of courage, tolerance, teamwork and empathy. There’s also some messages of girl power in there, which made me a happy mom with my girls in tow. There are plenty of teachable moments from the film. It was these moments that reminded me I was watching a Disney film.
With all that said, my young kids just didn’t get the bigger picture. If you’re curious about this film, go, just know the messages may fall on deaf ears. Also – if your children don’t sit still the greatest, this may not be a film to try. There were a lot of restless kids during this one; it simply didn’t always hold their attention.
I really wanted to love this movie, but it fell short of my high expectations. I put Disney on a pedestal {rightfully deserved}, but this was not well thought-out at all from a kid perspective. Because of this, I would recommend it for ages 6 and up, and even then, to be aware if you have a highly sensitive kid.
Give me the sugary sweet songs and positive messages from Frozen or The Lion King any day. At least I don’t have to worry about my kids having nightmares. The critics can have this one, as a mom to young ones, I wasn’t a fan.
Do you plan to see Zootopia?
Good review. I did notice some of the kids in the audience being scared during some of the scenes (there was one scene where I jumped too, lol!).
As an adult, I loved this movie, but I do agree with your ages 6+ assessment. 🙂
Thanks for the honest review! I honestly feel like a LOT of Disney movies are more geared for older kids and not the younger ones – there is a lot of dark / scary stuff in the majority of them. Think of all the movies where a parent or another character dies in it – The Lion King, Dumbo, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, etc. I think to be successful at the box office they need to capture a broader audience, and not just young kids, so that’s why there are a lot of other stuff put in there. My boys (almost 6 and 11) loved The Good Dinosaur and Inside Out, but would I think those are fun movies for the under 5 crowd? Not at all.
That is a perfect point, Alea! I do think older kids will enjoy this one for sure. I think I just assumed this would be a flick for the younger set based on the previews I saw, but I was wrong. I’m hopeful Finding Dory will make up for it and satisfy young and old 😉
Finding Dory should be a great movie for all ages! I’m super excited for it!
I feel like a harsh critic…Especially since it’s Disney! It just didn’t do it for me. Seems like I may need to update what Disney is *now* and get out of my 90’s mindset 😉
I couldn’t agree more with this review! It was a hard one for me to write, too. I feel like parents deserve to know how scary this movie is!
It’s weird when people take their 3 year olds to movies that are clearly marked for an older audience and expect them to understand what’s going on. They are basically vegetables, dumber than dogs when they are this young, of course they need a different sort of movies to stay in their seats. I like giving kids credit where it’s due, but preschoolers aren’t meant to see this.
Anyway, you say that the movie’s messages fell flat because they aren’t for younger kids. Erm, yes, they aren’t. They are for you, an adult one, stop seeing the world through the eyes of your kids. It’s clear from what you wrote that you don’t want to think about complex stuff and need sugary songs and stuff and while I can understand that, it’s no reason to disregard complex and well-handled themes.
What does “as a mom as a mom to young ones, I wasn’t a fan” even means? Your kids might not be fans, because for them it’s just a series of flashy pictures and loud noises, what does that have to do with you? I’d understand if you said “I can’t recommend taking your kids to this movie. It’s my mistake for disregarding parental guides. See it by yourself or something and you might enjoy it”, but your reasoning is terrible.
I find funny how think you Zootopia is too scary for young kids but then you claim The Lion King would be perfectly acceptable. The TLK is far darker and features the death of a major character. It has ar better odds of giving a child nightmares than Zootopia ever could.
Do you have a 3 and 5 year old? Because if you do, I can understand your opinion. If not, I will just say my kids love TLK — and while they find the death part sad, they are able to get over it since it’s fairly lighthearted in most parts. Zootopia didn’t have as much of that — it was much more action packed, which is great for *some* audiences. It just wasn’t for *my* kids — and I was charged with writing about my experience with my kids — period. The first impressions both my kids said afterward was “It was scary.” Can’t argue with the thoughts of a child.
What about “PG” do you fail to understand? They TOLD you this movie has material unsuitable for young children.
Just another self-entitled mombie thinking the world revolves around her and her spawn.
There’s no need to be so demeaning. Be nice. The reviewer wasn’t being unfair at all so chill.
Dude. It was my mistake to disregard the PG rating. Now I know. I said right in the review I’m not a professional movie critic — just a mom to little ones — who actually enjoyed this movie, but were very frightened throughout. Just expressing my honest opinion — yours may differ.
Regardless, thanks for chiming in. I had a feeling this review wouldn’t make me popular, and that’s OK.
Your review is good for people with young kids but you made a critical mistake: Assuming the movie is “for kids.” It was never marketed that way, aside from some of the much more simple golden books. Walt Disney’s philosophy was to make stuff for everyone. This is literally a quote from Walt Disney himself:
“Adults are interested if you don’t play down to the little 2 or 3 year olds or talk down. I don’t believe in talking down to children. I don’t believe in talking down to any certain segment. I like to kind of just talk in a general way to the audience. Children are always reaching.”
The sloth trailer even has a blatantly dirty joke in it. If you need a hint, most camels only have one hump. That’s the kind of humor that will go right over a kid’s head but certainly isn’t meant for them to fully understand. The movie is targeted at everyone, not just kids. You acknowledge you know what the PG rating means. I’m not seeing why you thought this was a movie “for kids” despite noticing the PG rating. It’s good for you to point out to people who may make that mistake. That isn’t the movie’s fault though, even if it’s a fact it may fall flat for preschoolers.
They started making this movie by designing a world made by anthropomorphic animals for anthropomorphic animals. They built it up from there and naturally ran into the nuances and complexities seen in the movie. Naturally, it may be too much for very young children to understand or enjoy.
Long story short this is great for people with very young children to read, but not once did Disney say they made this movie specifically for children. It is a family movie, which is a much larger target audience.
In the first 15-20 mins of the movie Judy’s parents literally say they’ve given up on their dreams and were pretty much suggesting Judy do the same. It was in a at least slightly comedic way and I seemed to be the only one who chuckled at it. Right there at that point, anyone should of realized Zootopia is not exclusively for kids let alone essentially toddlers.
Spot on. There was a kid behind me who had to be around ten who spent the film either explaining concepts to his younger sister (and doing an admirable job of it I might add) or calming her down. I think it has a great message I just think they were attempting to cater to an older audience with this one.
Hence why it was rated PG
Great points, guys. Appreciate you chiming in. I definitely learned a lesson, and will pay more attention to how it’s marketed. At the same time though, it’s hard to ignore when my kids see the preview before YouTube videos for preschoolers and spot the toys in stores and say they want to see it…To me, that screams that it’s safe for kids of all ages. I won’t make these assumptions moving forward.
Hello Wber. I’m totally agree with you. In the film, there are many excellent tips for kids to make them better․ Don’t you think that the movie contains harmful materials for children? I have not noticed any․ Thanks for sharing.