Movies - Animals Speak!

In the last weeks, Disney has given us two blockbusters in which animals have almost all the speaking parts. (The exception is Mowgli, the human boy in “The Jungle Book”.) Both “Zootopia” and “The Jungle Book” are major hits, and each teach lessons of tolerance. This is needed very much today, I think. It may be too late for most adults to appreciate these films as anything but entertainment, but children are much less prejudiced, and I believe will get the deeper meaning, having little racial bias compared to previous generations. And, as entertainment, both films do succeed admirably.

“Zootopia” is 3D animation, and takes place in a civilized community where all the animals get along. An adorable police bunny is paired with a wily fox in search of a missing character. There’s a macho bull of a police chief, a lion as mayor and a lamb as the assistant mayor. Eventually, the carnivorous predators fall under suspicion, and the seeds of distrust are sown.  For comic relief, there’s a particularly hilarious episode at the town’s DMV, where the sloth who’s the clerk moves at a glacial pace.

“The Jungle Book”, directed by “Iron Man”’s Jon Favreau, is an Avatar-like, CGI/motion-capture world. It’s stunning to look at, and much more dramatic and serious. Based on the earlier Disney animated version of Rudyard Kipling’s book, it tells of a young boy raised by wolves in the jungle. His nemesis is the ferocious tiger (Idris Elba) who killed his father when he was an infant. Looking after him are a black panther (Ben Kingsley) and a bear, unmistakably voiced by Bill Murray. The bear’s eyes are very expressive and clearly based on facial capture techniques that have advanced considerably since Andy Serkis’ original Gollum character in “Lord of the Rings”. My favorite is a scary giant ape (Christopher Walken), who breaks into song before unleashing hell. Scarlett Johanssen is a boa constrictor, in perhaps the only role in which you wouldn’t want her to squeeze you. (OK, not in "Under the Skin", either.) She also sings an end credits song, quite charmingly. 

​It seems that Disney, also having acquired Marvel and Lucasfilm (“Star Wars”), is on an incredible roll. The child in me applauds!