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In the futuristic city of San Fransokyo, 14-year-old high school graduate and robotic prodigy Hiro Hamada is competing in underground robot fights for a living, sometimes having to dodge violent threats from his bitter, defeated opponents. In an effort to get Hiro out of his dangerous lifestyle, his older brother Tadashi takes him to his research lab at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Hiro meets Tadashi's friends Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred, as well as his mentor, Professor Callaghan. Tadashi also shows off his creation Baymax—an inflatable healthcare robot. Inspired, Hiro gives up his robot fighting habits and applies at the university, impressing the school's talent showcase with a swarm of tiny microbots that can link together in any configuration using a neural transmitter. Callaghan accepts him into the school, while Hiro concurrently rejects tech giant Alistair Krei's offer to buy the microbots. When I fire erupts moments later, Tadashi rushes inside to save Callaghan, but dies when the building collapses after an explosion resulting from the fire. Two weeks later, Hiro, who has isolated himself from his family and friends, inadvertently activates Baymax, and they follow Hiro's only remaining microbot to an abandoned warehouse. Inside, they discover that someone has been mass-producing the microbots. A man wearing a kabuki mask attacks them with the microbot swarm, but they escape. Hiro suspects that the masked man set the fire to cover his theft of the microbots. Determined to avenge his brother's death, Hiro equips Baymax with armour and a chip programmed with martial arts moves for defence, and they return to find the warehouse empty. At the nearby port, Baymax summons Tadashi's friends, and the group is attacked by the masked man, but they escape after driving into the sea. Once they resurface, the group stops at Fred's mansion, where Hiro upgrades Baymax's armour. He and the others then weaponize their various inventions to form a team to take on the masked man, who they suspect is Krei. They track the masked man to Krei's abandoned island lab. While investigating, the masked man suddenly attacks the group!

Going into this film having avoided all the spoilers, I was surprised to see that it is actually a superhero movie. (It even comes replete with an appearance by Stan Lee!) Due to that, I felt that the tone of the film was a bit uneven. Would more of a focus on Baymax and Hiro's relationship and how it grows into a surrogate for Hiro's brother, and less on the superhero team's genesis and fighting been beneficial? It's hard to say.

Nevertheless, what blew me out of the water is how much "Japanese-ness" they were able to incorporate into the setting. Not only is Baymax's face based off of a Shinto prayer bell, you have such things as the tenji blocks (the raised yellow dots along the sidewalks for the visually impaired), and even minor details like how the shopkeepers put their used beer bottles outside their establishments in Japanese-style crates! The only thing that struck me as odd was that it seemed to perennially be cherry blossom season. Anyone who has lived in Japan knows that if one is lucky, that season lasts 2 weeks—but we usually see trees in full bloom for less than a week before the trees start losing blossoms and the ground gets covered with "pink snow"!

That nitpick aside, the film is a wonderful adventure that underlines the power of friendship. The thing that this film gets right, however, is the scene where Hiro is introduced to Tadashi's university lab. It perfectly captures that sense of wonder and excitement that happens in real life when an engaged youth is introduced to the apparently limitless possibilities in a university department that matches their interests and talents! Big Hero 6 may not be the best Disney computer-animated film, but it is an engaging film with a truly original "superhero" character—Baymax&mdasd;and well worth the time.

At the Dinoco 400, the final race of the Piston Cup racing season starts with a rivalry between three racers: seven time winner Strip "The King" Weathers, constant runner up Chick Hicks, and arrogant rookie Lightning McQueen. The race ends in a three-way tie. The tiebreaker race is set for the following week in Los Angeles, on the other side of the country. Lightning is desperate to win the race—not only to be the first rookie to win the cup, but also to leave his unglamorous Rust-eze sponsorship and take The King's place on the prestigious Dinoco team. However, due to his selfishness, he has fired three crew chiefs, and his pit crew quits after the race. Eager to get to California first, he pushes his transport truck Mack to travel through the night with the empty promise that he'll stay awake to keep Mack company. Long after Lightning has fallen asleep, Mack begins nodding off. When he is startled awake, Lightning falls out of the back of the truck. Lightning awakens, and speeds off the highway in search of Mack. Instead of finding Mack, he ends up in the rundown town of Radiator Springs, where he is chased by the town sheriff and inadvertently rips up the main road. Doc Hudson, the town judge and medical doctor, orders Lightning to leave town immediately. However, local lawyer Sally requests that Lightning be assigned community service and repave the road. Doc acquiesces as it will be for the betterment of the town. Desperate to get to California, Lightning shoddily repaves the road. Being unsatisfied, Doc challenges Lightning to a race: if Lightning wins, he can leave; but if Doc wins, he has to scrape off his shoddy work and properly repave the road!

Cars is a charming story about, well, cars. Seeing the film brought back a flood of pleasant memories of road trips with the family in my youth. The film also captures the highs and lows of driving—with some of the roads in the hinterland around Radiator Springs looking downright fun to drive! However, the heart of the movie is the story of self-discovery that Lightning undergoes. Perhaps ironically, the film also has a strong sense of loss as it delves deeply into the town of Radiator Springs and the stalwart characters who refuse to pack up and abandon the town.

As the movie is about anthropomorphic vehicles, it is no surprise that humans don't show up in it—nevermind how the cars are 'produced' or who makes all the gas, tires, and so on sold in the town's remaining stores. Nevertheless, what surprised me is how much the car motif permeates the film: from a landscape populated with car-like buttes to Volkswagen Beetle inspired 'bugs'! While there is a love interest in it, the film's most charming point is the development of the friendship between Lightning and Mater, the town's rusty tow truck. The highlight, however, is the revelation of Doc Hudson's past, and how it ends up putting Lightning under the microscope. While the film is ultimately light and doesn't delve too deeply into some of the issues it raises, it does have something for everyone; with a healthy dollop of nostalgia, to boot!

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Marlin, a clownfish, lives in an anemone in the Great Barrier Reef. His wife Coral and all but one of their eggs were killed in a barracuda attack. Marlin named the survivor Nemo, who was born with a stunted fin, and is very overprotective of him. On Nemo's first day at school, Marlin embarrasses him in front of the other fish, and the two argue. While Marlin talks with the teacher, Nemo defiantly leaves the relative safety of the reef on a dare to touch the speedboat anchored nearby. Before he is able to return, he is captured by a pair of scuba divers. Marlin pursues the boat in vain as it speeds off. He meets Dory, a blue tang with short-term memory loss, who offers to help. They soon discover the diver's mask that fell off of the speedboat. While it has the owner's address written on it, Marlin and Dory need to find someone who is able to read it—the first beings that they meet are a trio of sharks, who have sworn to abstain from eating fish! Concurrently, Nemo is placed in an aquarium in dentist Philip Sherman's office in Sydney. He meets the 'tank gang', which is led by Gill. Nemo learns that he is to be given to Sherman's niece Darla, who has killed the previous fish she was given. Gill devises a risky escape plan: Nemo is to go inside the tank's filter to jam the pump with a pebble, forcing Sherman to put the fish into plastic bags while he cleans the tank, allowing the fish to roll out the window and into the harbour. Nemo, however, is almost killed when the pebble slips out and the fan reactivates. By this time, Marlin and Dory have not only escaped the sharks, but managed to read the address on the diver's mask. However, the journey ahead of them is not only long, it is also full of dangers ranging from stinging jellyfish to old naval mines!

Finding Nemo is a tour de force portrayal of life under the sea. While Nemo and Dory's journey is book-ended with places full of vibrant life, a lot of their journey is spent traversing the desert-like wide open spaces of the deep ocean, where danger lurks around every corner. Nemo's journey is also as much about him growing up and maturing as he learns to take care of himself while he also makes his many escape attempts. Concurrent to all of this, we have a thought provoking tale on parenting—while Marlin's over-protectiveness is infinitely relatable, it is contrasted with the easy-going let's-see-how-the-kids-do approach of Crush, a sea turtle. There's more to the film's story—and title—than meets the eye!

The film seamlessly traverses a range of undersea environments and life—from the crowded coral reef, to the bottom of an ocean trench, to the open ocean, and finally the murky waters of Sydney harbour. Is the film making a comment on how much man has polluted the ocean during the harbour scenes, or merely showing what naturally happens when sediment-filled river-water washes into an enclosed bay? It's hard to say, but it's a jarring change from the film's depiction of the deep blue sea. The highlight has got to be the film's depiction of seagulls: if you've ever lived near the sea, I'm sure you'll agree that, in many ways, it is spot on!

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Bob Parr is on his way to an important date. On the police scanner, he learns of a chase, and switches out of his secret identity into Mr. Incredible. Not only does he successfully stop the robbers, he also goes on to apprehend a pickpocket, bump into his love interest Elastigirl, and rescue a suicide jumper. Things start to go wrong, however, when Buddy Pine—Mr. Incredible's 'Number 1 Fan'—in desperation to become his sidekick, appears at the wrong time and not only distracts the superhero long enough for a supervillian to escape, but also inadvertently causes critical damage to the city. Public opinion quickly turns against all superheroes. After several lawsuits, the government initiates the Superhero Relocation Program, which requires all superheroes to give up crime fighting, and permanently become their secret identities. Fifteen years later, Bob and Helen (formerly Elastigirl) are married, and have three children: Violet, Dash, and baby Jack-Jack. Aside from the baby, all exhibit superpowers, but are forbidden from using them. Although he loves his family, Bob resents his mundane suburban lifestyle. His only source of happiness is when he goes 'bowling' with his best friend Lucius Best (formerly Frozone), and occasionally moonlights as a vigilante. One day, he loses his job when his supervisor prevents Bob from stopping a mugging, and Bob loses control. However, that same day, he receives an intriguing message from a woman called Mirage, who offers him a paying mission to destroy a robot that her company has made and lost control of on an uninhabited island. With few other options and the chance to relieve the glory days, Bob accepts, but with little regard for the future implications of his new 'assignment'.

The Incredibles is an intriguing look at what happens after many movie end with the heroes falling in love and "living happily ever after". The complication is that Mr. Incredible is forbidden from doing what he does best, and is forced to conform to a lifestyle that frankly doesn't fit who and what he is. This is vividly visualized with the oversized form of Bob constantly being forced into spaces that are far too small for him. We also learn that the hero-calling can't be switched on or off, and despite the restrictions placed on him, Bob can't help but be motivated to help the victims of crime or disasters. We also learn that he can't control his own strength when he loses control of his temper—a helpful attribute when fighting crime, but extremely troublesome when trying to fit into normal society!

This is one of those rare films where it is hard to label a specific thing as a highlight, as everything is pitch-perfect. What I enjoyed the most was the visual design, the villain's vehicles and especially his secret hideout—which completely captures the spirit of the Connery Bond films: not only is it inside a volcano (!) and launches rockets (!!), there is a monorail!!! I also enjoyed the depiction of the children coming into their own: Dash, who constantly riles against restrictions, is finally allowed to run free, and Violet's confidence grows in lockstep to her use of and growing mastery of her powers.

This film is well worth it, as in addition to taking a fresh perspective on the superhero genre, it also delves into the support 'infrastructure' behind them—namely where they get their costumes from and how the government covertly takes care of them. Finally, it provides a definitive answer to whether superhero costumes should have a cape or not!

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In a world inhabited by monsters, the Monsters Inc. factory harnesses the screams of human children for energy to power the city of Monstropolis. This is done by sending skilled monsters employed as "scarers" into the human world to scare children and harvest their screams, through doors that activate portals into the bedroom closets of children. The monsters consider the work to be dangerous, as human children are believed to be toxic and capable of killing a monster through physical contact. However, energy production is declining as children are becoming less easily scared. Top-ranking scarer James "Sulley" Sullivan lives with his friend and assistant Mike Wazowski. Their rival at work, Randall Boggs is determined to outdo them, but every time Randall edges ahead, Sulley scores an even greater amount of scream energy. Mike, on the other hand, has the bad habit of not filing the paperwork after their shift ends. One day, when Mike is departing on a date with Celia—the company receptionist—he asks Sulley to go back for the paperwork. Upon returning to the office, he sees an active door at Randall's workstation. Investigating, Sulley accidentally lets a small human toddler into the factory. Frightened, Sulley tries to return her to her world, but she escapes into Monstropolis. He interrupts Mike's date with Celia at a sushi restaurant, whereupon the girl pops out and chaos erupts when the other monsters see her. Sulley and Mike manage to escape with the girl before the Child Detection Agency (CDA) arrives and quarantines the restaurant. Forced to keep the girl hidden in their apartment for the night, Sulley and Mike slowly begin to realize that the girl is not toxic. However, when they smuggle the girl into the factory the next day to attempt to send her home, they discover that Randall has a more nefarious goal than just attempting to harvest her screams after hours!

Monsters, Inc. is a thought provoking world that imaginatively answers the question "where do the monsters in children's closets come from?" Things get really interesting when they reveal that not only are the closet doors a portal to a different world, but that world is populated by beings that not only rely on screams for energy (talk about a renewable resource!), but are equally fearful of the beings on the other side of those portals! Another twist is that the 'monsters' are really mere employees of a large company, with some being more successful than others, and with plenty of interpersonal rivalry and conflict in the company's workforce.

One of the films highlights is the revelation that such mythical beasts as Big Foot and the Yeti are really beings that have been exiled to Earth from the monster world. The film's tour de force, however, is not only the spectacle of a huge, spacious warehouse full of doors, but seeing the film's protagonists and antagonists leaping through them in a truly virtuoso chase that is as thought-provoking as it is vertiginous!

The missed opportunity of the film is that it doesn't spend much time developing the world of the monsters. Aside from the world's unique power requirements, the CDA, and the "scarer" job, it is largely a carbon-copy of the real world. Which is a shame, as Pixar has displayed the capability of creating new worlds or recontextualizing ours in such films as 1998's A Bug's Life, 2003's Finding Nemo, and so on. Nevertheless, Monsters, Inc. is an engagingly fun film, and one of its greatest wonders is how expressive they made Mike, who is little more than a green eyeball with arms and legs!

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Coming soon!

Six years after the first film, Ralph and Vanellope have remained friends, hanging out together after work in Litwak's arcade. Ralph is content, but Vanellope longs for excitement and how she is bored by the predictability of Sugar Rush—her arcade game. The next day, Ralph sneaks into her game, and makes a secret road for her. When Vanellope fights the arcade game's player's control so she can race the track, however, the steering wheel-shaped controller breaks. As the game is no longer produced, and the cost of the only replacement wheel they find on eBay is too high, Litwak decides to dispose of the game. The game's residents are left homeless when he unplugs it. Remembering eBay, Ralph and Vanellope travel through Litwak's new Wi-Fi router to the Internet. They win the auction on eBay by unintentionally raising to $27,001. As they only have 24 hours to pay, they have to make a lot of real-world money fast. They bump into a clickbait salesman who also brokers items obtained in video games. He offers them the lucrative job of stealing a car from Shank, the lead and most skilled character in the race-centred Slaughter Race game. While briefly stealing her car, Shank stops them before they can leave the game. Being impressed by Vanellope's driving skills, Shank suggests another way to make money: viral videos on BuzzzTube. However, cracks are beginning to form in the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope, with Ralph taking on aspects of an overprotective parent, and Venellope wanting to stay in Slaughter Race because of it's novelty and unpredictability.

Some sequels give you more of the same, and others eclipse the original. Ralph Breaks the Internet is neither: it strikes out in its own direction, and isn't as inspiring. While this film is also endlessly inventive in its portrayal of the internet, users, viruses and so on, it seems to be more interested in the gimmicky side of that, and pays less attention to the characters. This film also quickly dumps Felix and Sergeant Calhoun, who were both good foils to the main characters as well as moderating voices of reason. One wonders how Calhoun would have responded to the hordes of sprites reminiscent of a Cy-bug infestation, or what chaos would ensue when Felix accidentally 'fixes' unbroken things with his magic hammer?

The film introduces us to new characters, such as Shank, Yesss, and J. P. Spamley, but they aren't quite as charming as the sprite-based characters in the first film who were more-or-less defined by the themes and eras that their respective games were produced in. While this film is equally loaded with in-jokes and references, in some ways it's not as fun nor as funny as the first film. Compare the Netscape Navigator wheel abandoned at the bottom of the internet vs Ralph pulling Zangeif's shorts out of the lost and found in Tapper's Bar.

The highlight of the film is when Venellope meets and liberates the Disney Princesses: not so much them appearing, but the deconstruction of the various princes tropes in Disney movies when they interrogate her. It also leads into Venellope bemusing rendition of a love-struck song as she sings about a violent battle-royal racing game. Ultimately, it's a shame that they dropped what made the original so charming and weren't able to replicate it's poignancy, as this film was oh-so-close to greatness.

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In a world where toys come alive when humans aren't present, a group of toys is preparing to move to a new house with their owner Andy Davis, his baby sister Molly, and their single mother. The toys go into a panic when Andy unexpectedly has his birthday party a week early. Cowboy doll Woody, Andy's favourite and the toys' leader calms them, and then sends Sarge and his green army men to spy on the gift-opening with a baby monitor providing two-way communication. The other toys—including Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, dinosaur Rex, piggy bank Hamm, and porcelain doll Bo Peep—are relieved when Andy receives nothing that could replace them. However, when Andy receives a last minute gift from his mother, Rex accidentally knocks the batteries out of the baby monitor when he panics. The toys barely have enough time to get back into position before Andy and his friends race into the room. When they leave, the toys are startled to find Woody under Andy's bed. When Woody climbs onto it to investigate, he finds a Buzz Lightyear action figure in what was Woody's usual spot! When Buzz comes alive, he truly believes that he is an actual space ranger. Over the following days, Woody becomes extremely jealous, as not only has Buzz become Andy's new favourite toy, he has impressed the other toys with his various advanced features. A few days later, Buzz witnesses the sadistic Sid Phillips, Andy's next door neighbour, torturing and then strapping a lit firecracker onto one of his action figures in his back yard. Buzz wants to help the poor toy, but the rest of Andy's toys reluctantly stop him. Two days before the move, Andy's family prepares for a dinner at Pizza Planet, and Woody overhears that Andy is being allowed to bring only one toy with him. To ensure that Andy chooses him and not Buzz, Woody attempts to use the radio-controlled car RC to knock Buzz behind Andy's desk, but accidentally knocks him out of the window instead. The other toys, except for Bo and Slinky, suspect Woody deliberately tried to kill Buzz. However, Andy arrives and takes Woody before they can extract revenge. A furious Buzz stows away on the car, and confronts Woody when the car stops at a gas station on the way to Pizza Planet. The two fight, fall out of the car, and are inadvertently left behind. Not only do they have to get over their differences and work together, they also have to find their way back to Andy. They are truly lost toys!

Toy Story is doubly nostalgic: not only are the majority of Andy's toys from a decade or two before the film's 1995 release date, 25 years on, the film itself—the story, CG capabilities at the time and so on—has also become nostalgic. It has everything that you want in a movie about toys coming to life, and has been the perfect film for parents to slip into the DVD player to get an hour or so of respite. The film is almost surprisingly short at 81 minutes because it packs so much in; the skillful use of montages makes it feel like a lot more time has passed. The surprising twist to the film is not that the toys come alive, but the quiet message about people being not only the protectors of, but also having to forsake some of their dreams for the well-being of their children. This is tragically exemplified in Buzz's story arc, where he comes to realize that he is just a toy.

The computer animation—which was groundbreaking at the time—has held up well. Even though it is no where near as detailed or complex as the visual effects produced in the 2020's, it is more than sufficient to get the job done, and has quite a lot of stunning camerawork that is still visually exciting. The production staff wisely minimized the appearance of real people, and focused on the plastic, cloth and porcelain-made toys, which enhanced the look and feel of the film, as well as give them more leeway with the technological limits of what they could produce in the mid '90's. For me, the highlight of the film is the sequences with the green army men. While all of voice casting is spot on, casting R. Lee Ermey as the army men's leader was a stroke of genius!

Woody and Buzz are now the co-leaders of Andy's toys. Woody is looking forward to going with Andy to summer camp. However, Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm during play, and chooses to leave him behind. Andy's mother puts Woody on the top of a bookshelf, where Woody is despondent at his misfortune. After having a nightmare about being thrown away, he discovers Wheezy, a toy penguin who had been put on the shelf because of a broken squeaker, and subsequently forgotten. When Andy's mother takes Wheezy down to a yard sale the next day, Woody successfully returns him to Andy's room before Wheezy can be sold. However, before Woody can return, he is stolen by an unscrupulous toy collector. Buzz attempts and fails to rescue Woody. With the help of the other toys, he deduces who took Woody: Al McWhiggin, the owner of Al's Toy Barn toy store. At Al's apartment, Woody meets a cowgirl named Jessie, a horse named Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector. They explain to Woody that they are all toys based on the main characters of Woody's Roundup, an old children's TV show. Al has gathered an extensive collection of merchandise for the show, and now that he has completed it by acquiring Woody, he will soon sell it all to a museum in Japan. Although Jessie, Bullseye, and Pete are excited, Woody is horrified at the thought of being separated from Andy. He attempts to escape while Al sleeps, but Al is mysteriously awakened before he succeeds. Meanwhile, Buzz, Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, and Hamm embark on a trek across town to Al's Toy Barn. Pete encourages Woody to make amends with Jessie before he leaves. Jessie shares that she was once owned by Emily, a girl who eventually outgrew and abandoned her. Woody empathizes with Jessie's disillusionment and fears that he, too, will eventually be abandoned by Andy someday. Woody decides to stay with the Roundup Gang and go to Japan. Andy's toys arrive at Al's toy store and search for Woody. Buzz is confronted by another Buzz Lightyear toy who, like Andy's Buzz once did, believes that he is a real space ranger. Buzz is tied up, and the rest of Andy's toys mistake Utility Belt Buzz for Andy's Buzz. As Utility Belt believes that Andy's toys are on a mission to defeat his nemesis Emperor Zurg, he leads them to Al's apartment building by following Al. Andy's Buzz pursues them, but unintentionally releases a toy Zurg, who also believes he is the real thing! The toys arrive at Al's apartment and attempt to persuade Woody to come home. However, Woody doesn't want to go back to Andy's home, and before they can convince him, Al returns, packs up Woody and the Roundup Gang, and takes them to the airport!

Toy Story 2 picks up where the first film lets off. However, it's thematically different, focusing instead on the end of a toy's life as a toy, and what comes after if they are (un)lucky enough to be found by a toy collector. On the one hand, it is refreshingly completely different from the first film, but on the other it is quite melancholic; and though just as meaningful, it isn't quite as much fun and adventurous all the way through. Nevertheless, it is both fascinating and creepy to see the extremes that toy collectors go to when acquiring, repairing, or even buying classic toys!

While Wayne Knight's Al is suitably unhinged in his gleeful enthusiasm at his latest acquisition and impending sale, Kelsey Grammer's Pete is a much more insidious antagonist who is a lot more intelligent and conniving than is initially expected. The film's pièce de résistance is the chaos that ensues when Andy's toys cross a busy street. It is both wicked fun as well as arm-clenchingly suspenseful. However, the highlight of the film is the 'factory setting' Utility Buzz and Emperor Zurg. While the film riffs on a classic Star Wars trope, the interaction of the two with each other as well as the rest of the toys is endlessly creative, and leads to an unexpectedly charmingly amusing payoff. While Toy Story 2 is laced with melancholy, it is both a grander and more well-rounded vision of the Toy Story world!

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Ralph, the villain in the Fix-it Felix, Jr. game, attends a group therapy for video game bad guys. He expresses his frustration at his role, and the mistreatment by his game's NPC's, while the game's hero Felix is celebrated. Ralph doesn't get the absolution that he seeks, and returns to his game as the arcade they are in reopens. That night, when Ralph is excluded from his game's 30th anniversary party, he decides to win a medal to earn the respect of the NPCs in his game. Overhearing that players can earn medals in Hero's Duty, Ralph sneaks into that first-person shooter and steals one, while that game's characters are fighting Cy-Bugs—insect-like enemies that take on the features of what they consume, and replicate exponentially. Panicking after accidentally unleashing a horde of Cy-bugs, Ralph launches himself in an escape pod with a Cy-Bug trapped inside. In the ensuing chaos, he exits Hero's Duty and crash lands inside Sugar Rush, a candy-themed racing game. With Ralph gone, Fix-it Felix is labelled out of order and will be deactivated if Ralph doesn't return. Felix heads out to find Ralph and teams up with Sergeant Calhoun, the heroine of Hero's Duty, as she tracks down the Cy-bug that accompanied Ralph to stop it before it destroys Sugar Rush!

Wreck-it Ralph is a wonderful surprise. I went in looking for a comedy fuelled with nostalgia for 80's and 90's video games, and was given a poignant story about friendship and redemption. While the early parts with Ralph moping about his situation as he travels around various games—such as Pac-Man and the bar from Tapper—is great fun, the movie really takes off when Ralph meets Sugar Rush's protagonist: Vanellope. They are truly an odd couple, both completely opposite from each other, but connected by their shared ostracization and desire to be welcomed and respected by their respective video game characters. John C. Reilly (as Ralph) and Sarah Silverman (as Vanellope) are pitch-perfectly cast, and bring the abrasiveness and vulnerability both characters require in spades.

The highlight of the movie is the endless creativity that the setting provides. Not only do we have the protagonists mixing from three games, we also get a shared space—in the form of a power strip that acts as a kind of Grand Central Station—where characters from a wide range of games interact and befriend each other. Via this location, we get such treats as homeless game characters (as their game was disconnected long ago), as well as a lost-and-found in a bar that is full of nods to a range of games. Not only that, but the Cy-bugs themselves have truly transformative evolutions.

The fictitious games created for the setting of this movie are also so well developed that one wants to track down a copy of them to play! Perhaps the best point the movie makes is that 'bugs' in computer code are not really a problem, and may actually become a 'feature' of a game—a nice metaphor to top off a great movie.

Judy Hopps from rural Bunnyburrow fulfills her dream of becoming a police officer in the big city. Despite being top of her class at the police academy, she is assigned to parking duty by police chief Bogo, who stereotypes her as a meek rabbit and overlooks her talent. On her first day, she is hustled by the con artist duo Nick Wilde and Finnick. Later, Judy abandons parking duty to chased down and arrest Weaselton, who had stolen a bag of onion-like bulbs. While she is being reprimanded by Bogo, Mrs. Otterton barges into Bogo's office, pleading that he find her husband Emmitt—one of fourteen people missing in the city. Judy volunteers, and Dawn Bellwether, the city's assistant mayor, praises the assignment. An angered Bogo has no choice but to agree. However, he secretly orders Judy to resign if she fails to solve the assignment within 48 hours. The problem is, the city's entire police force have not been able to solve it in the preceding 2 weeks! With few options and even fewer resources, she has no choice but to turn to Nick for help.

Zootopia is a charming film about anthropomorphic animals living in a utopia-like paradise where predators—who have given up their carnivorous ways—live peacefully with prey animals. At the core of the story is a rabbit who is challenging prejudices that individuals such as rabbits cannot be police officers, while she herself is challenged with overcoming her personal prejudices against predators, namely foxes. The film also continually challenges expectations with the truth of individuals and situations often being at odds with how they are initially presented or how viewers may initially perceive them. The main plot is a proper investigative drama, with subtle clues, red herrings, and unexpected twists and turns. It is made all the more impressive with the high stakes placed on whether it gets solved in time.

The highlight of the film is the endless creativity from not only the anthropomorphic animals in a human city, but also the diverse environs (desert, arctic, jungle, etc.) in each section of the city, and the unique solutions the inhabitants have come up with to deal with not only the environmental differences, but also the radical size differences between animals. Take, for example, the diminutive Judy being dwarfed by Bogo, but in turn being a comparative giant when she races through Little Rodentia. The film is well structured and has a great pace, with few—if any—scenes that are superfluous and unnecessary. It is also layered with karma where helping actions in earlier seasons payoff later when the protagonists find themselves in inescapable pickles. The only drawback to the film is that it feels like it ends sooner than it should. However, in many ways that makes the film all the better!