Disney has been down this road before with “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” although this time, there’s not a single human character to be found, while the adult-skewing jokes (mostly references to other movies) aren’t nearly so inappropriate for kids.
Not content to simply establish a staggeringly creative, lushly animated universe, the film also reveals itself to be a compelling, unexpectedly intense detective noir much more akin to Who Framed Roger Rabbit than Frozen – albeit with plenty of side-splitting sequences (it’s a shame that the sloths at the DMV bit was spoiled ahead of time by trailers, but the version up on screen is somehow even more howlingly funny) and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sight gags (the transportation system of choice is Zuber, according to one billboard).
It’s a lot like another Disney project, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in that way, though Zootopia offers enough inventive merit and different thematic material of its own to avoid coming across like a case of repeating old tricks.
Slowly, "Zootopia" slides into a neo-noiry mystery, something out of Toon Town from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" with a genetic science-fiction component that would be ridiculous in any movie not featuring talking animals.