The Bad Guys vs. Zootopia

I think Imma lean more toward Zootopia. Maybe that's because I'm a sucker for buddy comedies :P, but even then, I had better feelings about this afterwards than after The Bad Guys.

I just feel that The Bad Guys tries too hard with its messaging to the point where it becomes more about "Geeeeeet it, this is groundreaking animation!!!" than it is about making a genuine, heartfelt story. Granted, it's nowhere NEAR as obnoxious as the way other DreamWorks come to screeching halts to brag about how oh so (un)clever they are, because there are some good moments between the Bad Guys and between Mr. Wolf and Diane (Marc Maron and Zazie Beetz really shined, too. I wouldn't mind seeing them in more stuff), but it does just keep on and keep on nudging you with its elbow on what it's doing that it ends up just feeling a little too forced, and that in turns leaves characters seem like thesis statements and representations of [xyz point] rather than real, believable, fleshed out people in their own right. Certain story/dialogue beats crafted to service the animation & not the other way around, the latter being the more natural and organic way to do it, at least for me. Because when you do it in the former, you're just kind of asking me to hold it under more scrutiny, which really is kind of confusing as to WHAT exactly they're trying to say or who is even meant to represent who with your allegories. The YouTuber Lindsay Ellis made a pretty good video about the movie Bright going into that point, which aligned with my "ehhhhh..." feelings with all the Innovative Stylized Animation stuff people were praising it for.

Zootopia has that kind of messaging in it too, but they don't call as much attention to it as other people proclaim. It's brought up in a few scenes, and that's pretty much it. That's not what the ENTIRETY of the movie is about. They take their time to really let you get to know the world you're entering and the people that inhabit it (it's a bit longer than most Disney films like this are because of its 1st act), and you really get to know Judy and the important people in her life and all of their motivations for feeling the way they do. Maybe not as in depth as some of my other Disney favs, but well enough to get me invested in her journey. As the movie went along, I actually believed the character progressions she was going through since they actually showed it through various adventures she went through and interactions she had with people.

And the ending is one I can always appreciate. The one where they take an unconventional route other than just defeating the bad guy or, like in The Bad Guys, end with a bunch of WhoDunIt reveals (which quite frankly, the reveals in that movie are pretty freaking lame). Not to say those kind of endings are inherently bad, not at all, but if we're comparing Zootopia to The Bad Guys, I think Zootopia had more heart to it AND was more surprising. I didn't think that character was going to come back around, so I liked the way they full-circled it all together.

Overall, I don't mind conventional stories just as long as you tell it genuinely. Tweak and play with the formula, and give me the heart. Bragging about how you're doing something different won't get to me if I don't care (and quite frankly you probably aren't as original as you think you are), so before ANYTHING, get me to care. Don't TELL me that you're different, just be a good storyteller and the uniqueness of your film will shine on its own.