Last Friday, I attended Rose House’s showing of the movie Zootopia. This has been one of my favorite movies for awhile, and I was excited to be able to watch it again among friends. I’ve mentioned it before in my blog posts for Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and Lynn Tomlinson’s The Elephant Song, but I always find myself falling in love with animated movies because of their unique charm, and Zootopia is no exception.

This movie is especially interesting in that it tackles serious themes in a way that’s nuanced yet still accessible for people of all ages. And therein lies this film’s biggest strength (aside form the adorable animation, of course). I genuinely believe that this film sets the bar for all media meant to be consumed by children. My mother runs an at-home day care, so I spent the first eighteen years of my life being exposed to a lot more TV/films directed at children than I would have liked. More often than not, it feels like these media properties take advantage of the fact that their audience is younger and put significantly less time an energy into making whatever it is they are making. To me, films like Zootopia prove what is possible, and shows what all similar films should strive for.