Disney is a cinematic powerhouse known for producing some of the greatest movies ever made, but 10 years ago today, it released its very best. The film grossed over a billion dollars at the global box office, took home an Oscar, and featured a squadron of celebrities who brought their characters to refreshing and hilarious life. It is, by all accounts, a perfect Disney film, which the studio sorely needed amidst its attempt to produce satisfying back-to-back live-action remakes.
The fact that Disney could produce such a hit in 2016 is a testament to the company’s endurance as a storytelling machine. It was largely believed that the House of Mouse would never be able to recapture the magic of its own renaissance, which saw films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King become critical and commercial hits while simultaneously redefining what was possible in the world of animation. Disney has upped the ante, however, with recent hits like Frozen, Moana, and Encanto, which have all contributed to a notable resurgence in both quality and popularity. And in 2016, the studio truly outdid itself with a film that can only be described as a cinematic masterpiece.
‘Zootopia’ Is Disney’s Cleverest and Most Thought-Provoking Film of the Century
Zootopia is, hands down, the shining star in Disney’s already legendary filmography. This is not meant to discount any of the studio’s prior productions; on the contrary, without them, Disney would not have been able to produce a film that so expertly balances its ingenious roster of characters and its thought-provoking plot. The film centers around Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a rabbit from Bunnyburrow who has always dreamed of becoming a police officer despite society’s insistence that it will never happen. With her parents praying she’ll become a carrot farmer instead – “It’s great to have dreams, just as long as you don’t believe in them too much,” they tell her – Judy defies the odds and becomes the first bunny cop in the Zootopia Police Department.
As she begins her new life in Zootopia – a metropolis inhabited by anthropomorphic animals – she meets her match in Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a smooth-talking fox and con artist who has perfected the art of the hustle. As the unlikely duo bumps heads over their endless differences, they ultimately come together to uncover a conspiracy involving kidnapped predators who have somehow reverted to their most primal natures. Their journey sees them grapple with their opposing genders, worldviews, and biological classes, which elevates Zootopia well above its status as “another Disney animated film.”
Before we get to Zootopia’s starkly relevant themes, we must address its cleverness. Not a single frame of its 108-minute runtime is wasted, with the film treating viewers to a nonstop world-building feast. From the lifelike hair present on each individual animal to the ingenious jokes Disney thought up (the DMV is run by sloths!), Zootopia is both a whole new world for viewers and one that pokes brilliant fun at our own. Every area of Zootopia is explored over the course of the film, from Sahara Square and Little Rodentia to Tundratown and the Rainforest District, and populating these areas are 64 different animal species, comprised of 155 unique characters and over 700 variants. Disney literally ensured that you could watch the film countless times and notice something new every time. When you pair that with Zootopia’s laugh-out-loud humor and pitch-perfect cast, it’s easy to see why the film utterly roars.
‘Zootopia’ Demonstrates How Far Disney Has Come – And How Far Society Still Has To Go
Zootopia also serves up one of the most thought-provoking plots the studio has ever produced. Though it was originally going to center around Nick’s character, Disney chose to put Judy front and center, highlighting the difficulties she faces as a tiny animal (aka prey) as well as a woman. Not only are the odds stacked against her from the get-go (because god forbid a female want to work in a male-dominated industry), but she experiences sexism and harassment on her first day of work when a new coworker refers to her as a “cute bunny.” This theme continues when Nick and other male animals tell Judy at regular intervals that she “throws like a bunny” and should “shut her tiny mouth.” Needless to say, this wretched behavior gives Judy quite a few hurdles to overcome, providing an important female-driven perspective that Disney has only recently begun to lean into.
The brightest feather in Zootopia’s cap is the way in which it explores its bombshell themes. While kids see a story about an underdog bunny trying to realize her dream, adults laugh and nod their way through a tale that echoes the world they live in – one where men condescend to women and entire groups are marginalized, stereotyped, and prejudiced against because of their biology. As the kids laugh and gasp at the high-stakes scenarios Nick and Judy get themselves into, adults are treated to eye-popping examples of racism, misogyny, sexism, sexual harassment, violence, political corruption, and the dangers of their own animalistic natures. These are horrifying implications for the film’s characters to be facing, made worse only by the realization that Zootopia is simply holding up a mirror to our own society.
The title city is home to not only animals, but predators and prey living in harmony, or at least trying to. This, too, feels uncomfortably familiar, especially when you factor in the racism, homophobia, misogyny, and classism still running rampant in today’s world. Zootopia 2’s 2025 entry into the Disney canon further begs the question: how far have we come since Zootopia’s 2016 release? Are we working together to peacefully coexist, as the film suggests, or are we still dividing ourselves into opposing factions like men vs. women, Democrats vs. Republicans, predators vs. prey? The fact that Zootopia is still posing these vital questions 10 years later speaks to the film’s enduring nature, not to mention the greatest marker to date in Disney’s storytelling evolution.
The Terrifying Point ‘Zootopia’ Might Have Been Making All Along
A 2026 viewing of Zootopia confirms that society hasn’t just made little progress since the film was originally released; in many ways, it’s gone backwards. You can argue that an animated film and actual reality are as diametrically opposed as a rabbit and a fox, but that’s Zootopia’s whole point: with a little bit of empathy, and some time spent in each other’s shoes (or fur), we can gain valuable insights on groups of people we might otherwise never understand. Judy, for example, was attacked by a fox as a child, which is why she fears foxes as an adult. Nick was once viciously bullied by a group of his peers, deepening his belief that his predatory nature makes him untrustworthy and therefore destined to be a loner. By the film’s end, both characters have learned to overcome their deeply ingrained biases and are even able to become – get this – friends.
10 years later, Zootopia still wonders: are humans capable of such a phenomenon? Or is that kind of growth reserved for cartoon animals? Being a Disney production, the film takes a positive stance, but even still, the questions it poses are more important than its own conclusion. Most Disney films lean on the timeless theme that “if you believe in yourself, then anything is possible,” but Zootopia does not, nor does its sequel. Instead, it boldly imagines a world whose inhabitants learn from each other enough to actually create a society that inches toward utopia. Are we, as humans, capable of the same?
As the arctic shrew mob boss Mr. Big tells Judy and Nick at one point, “We may be evolved, but deep down, we are still animals.” So perhaps Disney is just enjoying the fantasy of a utopian society while underlining the only thing ours will ever be: an untamable zoo.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
