Zootopia was something of a surprise film for me last year. Sure, it was a Disney animated film, so on some level we knew weâ€™d be getting something worth seeing, but there was no predicting just how heavy the story would be. Not only was Zootopia a great detective flick, but its extra layer of social commentary managed to elevate it from simply a good story to something greater.

However, beneath the glossy, CG layer that is Zootopia is something darker. No, Iâ€™m not referring to the aforementioned social commentary. Iâ€™ve already discussed that aspect to death in various other articles, but Iâ€™m here to talk about something much more sinister â€” something that the film brushes off as nothing, but when you take a moment to think about, the implications are downright irresponsible.

Before we get into the dirt, itâ€™s important to first discuss our lead character, Judy Hopps. For her entire life, Judy has dreamed of becoming a police officer, and after years and years of hard work, she finally managed to make that dream a reality. Whatâ€™s more, she managed to be the very first rabbit to join the force. Ever. Needless to say, this is a big deal, and given that she IS the first rabbit, she has all kinds of obstacles to overcome in terms of gaining credibility with both her boss and peers.

With that in mind, itâ€™s understandable why she was so overzealous — often working outside of her role as a cop to get the job done. At one point in the film, she tosses a recorder pen — which has damning evidence of Nick Wilde’s tax fraud — on the other side of the fence so that Nick would have to climb the fence to reach it. In doing so, she was able to fudge a rule that gave her probable cause to enter the private property. Not her greatest moment, but we understand why she did it, and at the end of the day, the case would never have been solved if they didn’t get into that lot. But none of this really measures up to the biggest offense.