While we’ve met some of the lead characters in Zootopia in teasers already, we have yet to learn very much about how they fit together. The first real trailer that actually shows some of the movie itself has now hit and it finally begins to reveal some details. Check out the first trailer below. It’s actually a fairly long clip, but it needs to be when one of your primary characters is a sloth.
While those attending the D23 Expo a few months back got to see a bit more of the film’s story, this is the first the public has seen of the plot. The story will focus on Ginnifer Goodwin’s Officer Judy Hopps, who is following the trail of a missing person, er, missing mammal, and only has 48 hours to solve the case. In the trailer, she comes across a license plate which leads her to the DMV to get it traced. Unfortunately for the world of Zootopia, their DMV is as slow as our own. They have an excuse, though, as it’s entirely run by sloths. This leads us to a two and a half minute sloths-are-slow joke. This of course does not sit well with our overly-bubbly police bunny who wants things done fast. We assume the trailer cut out the "standing in an endless line" part of the clip.
The trailer may or may not work for you depending on your particular taste in humor. Honestly, I love the fact that it never gives up on selling the joke, even when you think it should. For some, the bit might go on too long, but just when you think they must be wrapping it up, it keeps going, which makes it even funnier. It’s a bit you’d expect to see more on an episode of Family Guy than a Disney movie. What’s more, the trailer does appear to actually cut the bit short. It looks like the film will actually keep it going even longer. There will be children squirming in their seats by the end of this scene. Now that’s a commitment to comedy. Actually, it’s the "You Want it When?" coffee mug on the sloth’s counter that turns the thing into art.
The reason for the plot’s 48-hour timetable is not clear but the fact that our characters spend what appears to be most of a day at the DMV will not help things. We know that Officer Hopps fox partner, Nick Wilde, voiced by Jason Bateman, is actually a con man with a connection to the case, and now we have to wonder if he’s trying to intentionally slow her down.
Zootopia boasts an impressive voice cast including J.K. Simmons, Alan Tudyk, and Idris Elba in addition to Bateman and Goodwin. The film is currently set for a March 4, 2016 release.
