Zootopia is a brilliant Disney film that covers serious issues such as racism and sexism in the modern world. Starring Ginnifer Goodwin (Judy Hopps) and Jason Bateman (Nick Wilde), the two use their excellent voice acting skills to portray characters from totally different backgrounds who must come together to solve Judy’s first case as a police officer.

  • Zootopia just returned to Disney+ in November 2022 with the spin-off series, Zootopia+. Much like the Marvel shows about Groot and Baymax, these are short cartoons at under 10 minutes each. Each of the cartoons is based on characters from the world of Zootopia, from Judy’s mom and dad to the DMV sloths. Not only that, but the short cartoons actually tie in with the movie, as action from the movie plays out in the background of the different smaller stories. It is a great way for Disney to reference the jokes from the movie, which were smart and often over the heads of many of Disney’s younger aged fans.

While this Disney flick manages to tackle serious issues, it still is able to offer plenty of laugh-out-loud jokes throughout. Some of these jokes are brilliant, yet hard to place without careful inspection.

We Are Good At Multiplying

Kids might have thought Judy Hopps and her 275 brothers and sisters were cute. However, there is the underlying joke that rabbits have a lot of babies. However, when Judy is talking to Nick later in the movie and shows she can’t be pushed around, she sets him up to take a fall for his crimes.

Judy points out how much Nick has made per year as a popsicle hustler, and that he never paid taxes. She then says bunnies are good at “multiplying,” a sly reference to having lots of babies. It was another funny moment for adults that mostly went over the kids’ heads.

Duke Weaselton Is A Frozen Reference

In Frozen, there was a sketchy character named the Duke of Weselton. He is the toupee-wearing noble that tries to dance with Anna, much to her disgust. Whenever anyone mispronounced his name as Weasel-ton, he would correct them with the correct pronunciation.

That was a joke in Zootopia. In this, the bootlegger of DVDs that Judy arrested early in the movie for theft was Duke Weaselton. Whenever anyone mispronounced his name, he made sure they knew it was pronounced Weasel-ton, the exact opposite of the Frozen character.

All The Bootleg DVDs Add Animals

When Nick and Judy went to Weaselton for help later in the movie, he refused. Much like Nick being a popsicle hustler, Duke was a DVD bootlegger. He even told one prospective customer that he had all the best movies, including some that hadn’t been released yet.

These movies were all Disney movies with animal titles. Tangled became Wrangled. Big Hero 6 became Pig Hero 6. Wreck-It Ralph became Wreck-It Rhino. What was impressive was when Duke said he had movies that hadn’t been released yet. He had Floatzen 2 (Frozen 2). Zooptopia came out three years before Frozen II hit theaters.

Mr. Big And His References To The Godfather

When Judy and Nick ended up dragged in front of Mr. Big, he turned out to be the local powerful mob boss. Nick knew that this little shrew could have anyone killed with just an order. When he ordered Judy and Nick to be “iced,” it would have happened if not for his daughter, who was getting married that day.

This is all a reference to the classic mobster movie, The Godfather. This is a movie most young Disney fans know nothing about. However, the scene and its dialogue are lifted directly from that masterpiece, giving parents something to smile about. They even returned in Zootopia+, with Fru Fru getting an episode where she was on a Bravo-styled reality series.

Breaking Bad Reference

In the scene where Judy and Nick sneak into the lab that creates the serum which is making the animals go “Savage”, they overhear a phone conversation with one of the lab workers, a sheep named Doug, is discussing business matters with his boss.

As he is on the phone, he mentions how “Walter and Jesse are back, so I have to go now.” Doug is also dressed up in a lab outfit that is nearly identical to the ones that Walt and Jesse iconically wear on Breaking Bad. Adults watching the film with their kids must’ve beamed at the reference from one of the most successful TV shows of all time.

Judy’s Disney Music Playlist

When Judy Hopps is on her way to Zootopia to pursue her dream of becoming the first bunny police officer, she decides to pump herself up while on the train by listening to music.

As she scrolls through her music playlist, the songs that appear are all parodies of Disney songs with animal twists including “Let it Goat” from Frozen (Let it Go), “Part of Your Wool”, from The Little Mermaid (Part of Your World) and “Ara-bunny nights” from Aladdin (Arabian Nights). There are countless cute little animal parodies of pop culture references in this movie which most people didn’t catch until doing some closer digging.

Famous Musicians Get Animal Renditions

The Disney Songs on Judy’s music playlist weren’t the only ones to get animal parodies. As Judy scrolls through the musical artists on her phone, she also comes across several famous musicians we all know and love that get their own animal renditions.

These artists on her playlist include Fleetwood Yak (Fleetwood Mac), Fur Fighters (Foo Fighters), Guns N’ Rodents (Guns N’ Roses), Hyena Gomez (Selena Gomez), Kanine West (Kanye West), and Mick Jaguar (Mick Jagger). Zootopia is always finding creative ways to associate our modern world with the animal universe and this is just one of the many examples.

Stores In Zootopia Are Also Animalized

As stated previously, almost every pop culture reference in Zootopia gets its own animal pun to it, and this includes famous stores and advertisements we all know and love. When Judy first goes to Zootopia, she takes everything in and gazes up at all the billboards, shops, and ads, in a location that is strongly reminiscent of Times Square in New York.

These stores and ads include Mousey’s (Macy’s), Targoat (Target), Preyda (Prada) DNKY (DKNY), Just Zoo It (Just Do It), and Lulu Lemmings (Lulu Lemon). Zootopia never fails to impress viewers with its “punny” abilities!

Sloths As DMV Workers

The sloths in Zootopia were perhaps the funniest element of the whole film and their slowness in the midst of urgency was frustratingly hilarious to viewers… because as much as people wanted Judy to solve the case of the missing otter in order to keep her job, they couldn’t help but crack up at the sloths for their impossibly slow nature.

Yet the fact that they are sloths isn’t the only reason they’re slow. What really causes them to be doubly unhurried is that they’re sloths who happen to work at the DMV. The DMV is known for having workers that move at an incredibly slow pace, at least according to stereotypes. Adults watching with their kids most likely got a kick out of the scene if they’ve ever had to suffer through the DMV.

Elephant In The Room

The idiom that suggests that there’s an “elephant in the room” implies a situation where an issue is weighing on people yet no one is willing to address it. In Zootopia’s case, there actually is an elephant in the room, and it’s her birthday!

In the scene toward the beginning when Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) goes over a few things for the team to discuss, he includes the fact that “we need to address the elephant in the room.” He then turns to Francine, an elephant, and wishes her a Happy Birthday. This is just one of the first of many cute little animal puns to kick off the movie.

Frozen Outfits

During a brief moment in the film, you can see two little elephant kids dressed up as Anna and Elsa from Frozen. Disney loves referencing other Disney films in their movies, and here is a clear example of this. During Zootopia, you can also catch a baby in a stroller with a Mickey Mouse plush doll, you can catch the genie’s lamp from Aladdin.

There’s nothing better than a Disney crossover moment, and no one does it better than Zootopia. But believe it or not, this isn’t the only Frozen reference in the film…

Let It Go!

There is a scene in Zootopia where Cheif Bogo references Frozen and Disney fans were quick to pick up on his reference to one of Disney’s most popular songs of all time, Let It Go, sung by Idina Menzel. Perhaps making fun of their own brand, Chief Bogo tells Judy “Life isn’t some musical where your dreams come true, so let it go!”.

It seems as though Disney films are becoming more and more realistic over the years compared to the fairytale element these films had originally thrived off of. Perhaps one of the first Disney films to be considered more practical and realistic was Frozen because of the way it portrays love and relationships. Now Zootopia is following in Frozen’s footsteps (and referencing it quite often).

Articulate

In 2007, Joe Biden referred to Barack Obama as “articulate”, a term that is considered to be racist and condescending in nature when in reference to a minority. In Zootopia, Judy (a bunny) refers to Nick (a fox) as being “a real articulate fella” and Nick hilariously responds to her by pointing out how condescending she sounds.

This is definitely a joke that most younger viewers wouldn’t be able to catch, yet older fans of Zootopia might have been reminded of that cringe-worthy moment involving Biden and Obama, surprised at the very least that something as innocent as a Disney film would take on such a topical and adult reference.

Who Voices The Sloth?

Celebs. They’re just like regular people! They get obsessed with things and geek out over them just like regular fans do. Taylor Swift is known for her obsession with Law and Order. Jason Segel is obsessed with puppets. Kristen Bell is obsessed with… sloths?

That’s right. Kristen Bell finds nothing more adorable than those slow little creatures, and she famously had a meltdown on the Ellen DeGeneres Show when Ellen brought out a sloth for her to meet. This is why her voiceover cameo as one of the sloths from the DMV is so adorably iconic.