Zootopia+: Season 1 Review
In the brand new Disney+ short series Zootopia+ this menagerie takes its own spotlight with six brand new stories featuring audience favourites such as Mr. Big (Maurice LaMarche) and his daughter Fru Fru (Leah Latham), Flash the sloth (Raymond S. Persi) and the passionate Clawhauser (Nate Torrence). Each story is an enjoyable way to add to the legends and stories of the world and is among the top of Disney+ original spin-off shorts projects.
The six stories were co-directed with animator Trent Correy (Zootopia) and story creator Josie Trinidad (Ralph Breaks the Internet) They both are rising stars within Walt Disney Studios Animation. They also devised the stories that comprise the main episodes, which are set within the same time period which was explored in Zootopia. There's an adventure with Judy's parents Bonnie (Bonnie Hunt) and Stu Hopps (Don Lake) at the time they greet her on the station to begin her big city schooling by singing "Hopp on Board." We also get to get to see Fru Fru's story from the epic doughnut disaster from the film, in which Judy is able to save her life. Also, there's a major musical scene that centers around fraudster Duke Weaselton (Alan Tudyk) who is ranting about his misdeeds and singing the Broadway kind of "I want" song that Tudyk clearly has lots of enjoyment with.
The most memorable of them all is the Godfather parody presented by the man who wrote it. Big on Fru Fru's wedding day in "The Godfather of the Bride," made in Coppola-like sepia-toned flashbacks, and narrated by the famous LaMarche performing his best and mumbly Brando. It's an imaginative parody based on animals of everything Godfather by using rodents as a basis to tell some hilarious jokes, and as an intricately crafted emotional story about a person who is an entire story all in its own. The best of the two comes from "Dinner Rush," which is a comedy about Sam the waitress from the otter (Charlotte Nicdao) desperate for a way to make her sloth clients served in order to get to her Gazelle (Shakira) performance the next evening. The film takes the slow-moving comical comedy of the film up to the level of disruption.
In terms of visuals, Zootopia+ looks as impressive as the film. The quality of their stage characters into their shorts, making it a great film for fans of animation as well as people who simply loved the film and want to explore even more worlds with no financial compromises in terms of visual. The most innovative boarding in the episodes is "The Godfather of the Bride" and "Duke the Musical," which are both aimed at most creative actors in terms of telling their distinct tales. The latter, particularly utilizes a large portion footage to include astonishing details, visual jokes and allusions to cinema classics that it demands multiple watch.
Verdict
Zootopia+ offers a great journey back to the world of the support characters that were introduced within the 2015 Walt Disney Studios Animation movie. Similar to many short story projects that are available through Disney+, the end result is a mix of episodes that vary from the hilarious ("The Godfather of The Bride") as well as adorable ("So You Think You Can Dance"). Every one of them is worth watching and will remind you how rich is the land of Zootopia is for even more story telling.
