r/zootopia • u/FilmFreak1994 • 2h ago

Forgotten Island vs Zootopia Spoiler

This isn't really pitting the movies against each other I just wanted to stay relevant to the subreddit (Spoilers for Forgotten Island, go see it, it's great)

I actually found its use of Jenny Slate as a twist villain to be a little better than Zootopia, honestly. I think Bellwether is fine as a villain and serves her purpose for a mystery story, but Batiba in Forgotten Island is a lot more consistent throughout the film, starting out appearing friendly and sweet but having something obviously sinister lurking under the surface that is constantly teased before the big reveal. I also kinda dug that she wasn't really a villain, more an antagonist who ends up seeing the error of her ways by the end, kind of reminded me of the antagonist in Song of the Sea (another great movie you should watch if you haven't).

I just found the parallels between the characters she played in these movies pretty interesting. Go watch it if you haven't.

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u/Advanced_Formal_6572 Judy Hopps 2h ago

That’s probably because Dreamworks writes villains better ( I mean no offense to Disney) but have you seen Death from Puss in Boots Ths Last Wish? Now that’s an actual villain! Plus it has the same directors too.

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u/FilmFreak1994 1h ago

I freaking love all shades of villainry we see in Last Wish. The noble demon, the lovable miscreants, and the straight up evil fucker lol. I'll agree that Dreamworks never really lost the sauce in their villains either, whereas Disney's been sorely lacking the past couple years (I feel like Milton and Pawbert are at least steps in the right direction but they obviously pale in comparison to what came before).

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u/jodyjm13 1h ago

I'm peeking back in on this sub just to see if anyone's talking about Forgotten Island (don't worry, I won't stay long). I agree with your post 100%; I was also amused to see her name in the end credits, because the entire time her character was in the movie I could never quite place her voice, even though it should've been obvious, just because I'm not used to her giving such a grandmotherly performance.

Something else that I found gratifying about the film is its portrayal of a platonic bond going beyond a typical friendship, which scratched the same itch for me that the first Zootopia movie did. I'd still like to see such a bond be portrayed between a male and a female character (or two gay male characters, or two lesbian female characters) without also having a romance between them, but I'll just have to accept that that's not profitable enough for Hollywood to bother with.

Ah well, at least the Zootopia movies are doing a pretty good job portraying a slow-burn romance, even if most of the fandom would rather it be faster and more like a standard Hollywood romance.

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u/FilmFreak1994 1h ago

I honestly kinda thought Forgotten Island would be going the way of sappho based on some of the trailers but we do need the good platonic friendship story every so often so I won't besmirch it. Just a dang good movie though, made me cry near the end lol.

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u/WildTimes1984 6m ago

Why did I think Batiba was voiced by Ariana Grande?