China’s military commentators are increasingly paying attention to what local audiences are watching in cinemas and at home – and, according to one of them, the hit film “Zootopia” is proof that the U.S. is waging an “invisible propaganda” war against Beijing.

The military-backed People's Liberation Army Daily on Wednesday ran a commentary titled, “How can a sheep be turned into a ‘crazy’ scapegoat?” The author, a professor at a PLA-backed academy in the eastern city of Nanjing, questioned the plot of Disney’s animated animal...