Disney’s Zootopia made a major impact when it was released in March. And, as any good movie from a company with a lot of history behind it nowadays, there were a lot of references to another classic character in the film; I mean, everyone loves a good easter egg, right? Now there’s a video that shows off some of the hidden Mickey Mouse art in the movie. Take a look.
This fun little video was posted on the Disney Movies Anywhere YouTube page in anticipation of Zootopia’s Blu-Ray and DVD release. After a brief intro that carefully reminds us how cute the movie was, we’re taken into what is almost surely a special feature on the Blu-Ray, a top secret ZPD forensic file called "Hidden Mickeys." The video then goes on to spotlight a few of the Mickey Mouse easter eggs that I doubt most people came anywhere near noticing while they were first watching the animated blockbuster.
It turns out that the Hidden Mickeys were truly hidden. I mean, really, Disney was not playing when they orchestrated these easter eggs. Most of these are so covert that you really do need a pause button to see them. The first one in the feature is a Mickey Mouse shaped spot on Officer Benjamin Clawhauser’s chubby cheeks. We then get to zoom in on a tiny Mickey image in all black on a hippopotamus officer’s badge, while there was an actual Mickey Mouse toy in a stroller that passed by Nick and his non-child friend Finnick on the street. There’s another, really sneaky one, in a dark scene on a dark piece of wood, and another Clawhauser Mickey as he spoons the shape from a bowl of sugary cereal.
That’s only five Hidden Mickeys in Zootopia, and I can’t imagine that those are the only ones used throughout the film. Mickey Mouse has been around since 1928; if I were a bigwig at Disney I’d make sure that the main character that represents my company was peppered into every scene of every movie we did. I’d make sure we just drove the point home repeatedly: We’re Disney, bitches! Deal with it! Subliminal messages really are the best messages when it comes to marketing, you know?
Well, you can relive all the wonder that was Zootopia when the Blu-Ray is released on June 7. Be sure to have that pause button at the ready so you can find all the Hidden Mickeys for yourself.
