زوتوپیا

Come on!

He bared his teeth first!

Excuse me.

Down here.

Hi.

O-M-Goodness!

They really did hire a bunny!

What!

I gotta tell you, you are even cuter than I thought you’d be!

You probably didn’t know, but a bunny can call another bunny “cute”—but when other animals do it – it’s a little —

I am so sorry! Me, Benjamin Clawhauser— the guy everyone thinks is just a flabby, donut-loving cop, stereotyping you.

No, it’s okay. Oh, you’ve actually got—

There’s a —

In your neck. The fold. Where? Oh!

There you went, you little dickens!

I should get to roll call

So, which way do I –?

Oh, Bullpen’s over there to the left.

Great. Thank you!

That poor little bunny’s gonna get eaten alive.

Come on!

He bared his teeth first!

This phrase works as a pun due to its double meaning.

First, to bare your teeth to someone means to show hostility towards that person, displaying a violent or threatening reaction.

The origin of this phrase comes from the attitude of animals such as wolves or dogs

When they are angry and ready to fight.

As a wolf is saying it, it has a literal meaning, instead of the metaphorical one that it usually has and for this reason the phrase ends up being quite humorous.

We will see many double entendres [play on words] in this scene.

Excuse me.

Down here.

Hi.

O-M-Goodness!

OMG is a common abbreviation for “oh my God”.

Natives tends to soften words related to religion such as God or Jesus, and for this reason you might hear this phrase with the word “Goodness” instead of “God”.

As you can see here, this phrase is used when someone is surprised or excited about something.

They really did hire a bunny! What!

To hire means to employ.

Example: I was hired by the first company I applied to.

Which of these the opposite of hire?

I gotta tell you, you are even cuter than I thought you’d be!

Gotta is a common contraction that replaces the sentence HAVE TO.

Let’s listen again to the way that Benyamin says this:

I gotta tell you, you are even cuter than I thought you’d be!

In this sentence we can find a common example of connected speech, this is the way that way that natives link their words together.

Here we have what we call an “American T”, which makes the “T” morph into a soft “D”.

This happens when you have a T sound between two vowel sounds.

For example, you would hear it with instances such as:

Butter – Getting – Better

So instead of saying GOTTA, Benjamin says:

I gotta tell you

You probably didn’t know, but a bunny can call another bunny “cute”—but when other animals do it – it’s a little —

This line is interesting because it is an example of how even though this movie is made for kids, it includes very complex subjects such as discrimination and injustice.

This is a reference to how some words that are discriminatory or sexist are ok for people to say if they belong to a certain group (race, gender, etc.). In fact, they can even be used in a way of empowerment.

But when used by people outside of that group, it is considered offensive.

This is a humorous way to comment on a complex topic, because the word cute is very innocent and harmless. However, Judy points out that for bunnies the word cute is offensive when another animal uses it to describe them.

I am so sorry! Me, Benjamin Clawhauser— the guy everyone thinks is just a flabby, donut-loving cop, stereotyping you.

The adjective flabby refers to a part of someone’s body that is soft and fat.

Exercise helps to flatten a flabby stomach. A stereotype is a preconceived notion, especially about a group of people. It is important to mention that most of them are based on prejudice, so you should be wary [cautious] about them. Notion that here Benjamin used it as a verb.

Rob, come on in.

He called the tip line.

But he’s so— not crazy-looking.

Rosa, have Abdala and I taught you nothing about stereotyping?

I’m beginning to feel like you’re our biggest project, sweetie.

Enough.

We’re gonna find this wicked witch, steal her wand, I’ll get that big pile of gold and you can have a nice pile of bananas, all right?

Bananas.

Oh, I see.

Because I’m a monkey, I must love bananas, right?

That is a vicious stereotype.

You don’t like bananas?

Of course, I love bananas.

I’m a monkey, don’t be ridiculous.

I just don’t like you saying it.

Benjamin’s saying that people only think of him as a fat cop that loves eating donuts.

As he suffers due to other people’s prejudice of him, he should not be doing the same with Judy.

No, it’s okay. Oh, you’ve actually got –

There’s a –

In your neck. The fold. Where? Oh!

If something is folded, it means that a part of it covers the other.

You could fold a newspaper or a napkin, for example.

Judy’s referring to the fold of Benjamin’s neck, where he has somehow forgotten a donut.

There you went, you little dickens!

This phrase might result confusing if you’re not familiar with the expression “you little dickens”.

Dickens is an emphasizer used to show surprise or annoyance.

Benjamin is using it in a playful way, saying it to the donut because he couldn’t find it before.

Let’s look at a more negative example:

You little dickens! Give me back my wallet.

We would probably usually use this expression when talking to or about children.

Note that we can also say little devil, but it would be slightly stronger (similar to the difference between “Oh my goodness” or “Oh my God”).

I should get to roll call

So, which way do I?

Oh, Bullpen’s over there to the left.

Great. Thank you!

When someone reads aloud the names of people on a list to check whether or not they are present, that person is doing a roll call.

Bullpen is actually a funny word to use in Zootopia, because it is literally an enclosure for bulls [male cows], as seen here.

However, when referring to some sort of office, it is a room with an open floor plan, that is, without walls to divide the desks. This is common, for example, in police stations and newsrooms.

Here’s another example from a police series called Brooklyn Nine-Nine:

Bottles.

Boyle.

Bullpen.

What are you?

Buh-buh-buh.

Bottles, Boyle, bullpen.

Bowling.

Behold, Brooklyn buddies, Boyle bullpen bottle bowling.

Beautiful.

Be brave, bro. Be brave.

Bowl!

Bam!

Bull’s-eye!

Booyah!

That poor little bunny’s gonna get eaten alive.

The phrase to be eaten alive is commonly used to say that someone will be completely defeated by someone who is much stronger.

He was afraid that Thomas would be eaten alive by the criminals in jail.

As Benjamin sees Judy as a sweet little bunny, he thinks that she won’t be able to succeed serving in Zootopia’s police office.

Again, the humour in this phrase refers to that in the animal world they could literally be eaten alive, so again there was a pun intended.

Hey, Officer Hopps.

You ready to make the world a better place?

Atten-hut!

All right, all right! Everybody sit. I’ve got three items on the docket.

First—we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

Francine—

Happy birthday.

Number two.

There are some new recruits with us I should introduce – but I’m not going to because I don’t care.

Finally, we have 14 missing mammal cases.

All predators, from a giant polar bear to a teensy little otter. And City Hall is right up my tail to find them.

This is priority number one. Assignments.

Officers Grizzoli – Fangmeyer, Delgato.

Your teams take missing mammals from the Rainforest District.

Officers McHorn, Rhinowitz, Wolfard. Your teams take Sahara Square.

Officers Higgins, Snarlov, Trunkaby. Tundratown.

And finally, our first bunny – Officer Hopps.

Parking Duty. Dismissed.

Parking duty?

Chief! Chief Bogo?

Sir, you said there were 14 missing mammal cases.

So?

So, I can handle one. You probably forgot, but I was top of my class at the Academy.

Didn’t forget. Just don’t care.

Sir, I’m not just some token bunny.

Well, then writing 100 tickets a day should be easy.

100 tickets. I’m not gonna write 100 tickets. I’m gonna write 200 tickets. Before noon.

Hey, Officer Hopps.

Did you notice the main character’s name?

She is a bunny [rabbit] and her name is Judy Hopps.

Now this is funny because the action we associate with bunnies is that they hop.

What do you think is another way to say hop?

That’s right, a hop is a small jump.

You ready to make the world a better place?

When speaking informally, it is very common for natives to remove the auxiliary verb “are” in questions.

Instead of saying:

Are you ready to make the world a better place?

She simply said:

You ready to make the world a better place?

And we also do this with other auxiliary verbs:

Do you think? you think?

Is he coming? He coming?

Have you seen it? You seen it?

Atten-hut!

This is an American military tern that means “attention”.

All right, all right! Everybody sit. I’ve got three items on the docket.

An item is one thing, that’s usually in a group or a list.

A docket is a list of all the things that need to be discussed.

This is a bit of a formal word, but here it is appropriate as it is being used by the police chief.

As we can see here, Chief Bogo is saying that he has three things that he considers important to be mentioned during the roll call.

First—we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

To acknowledge means to accept, admit or recognize something.

I’ve got news for you, Mom – I’m not visiting Dad in jail anymore. No, I’ve had it. I really had it.

You know, I’m down there every single day, I’m trying to do what I can to get this company back on track and he barely even acknowledges me.

That is disgusting, talk to your father!

Once again, we have a funny use of a figurative expression.

When someone says “We need to talk about the elephant in the room,” the elephant in the room refers to something uncomfortable and awkward that everyone in the room is thinking about, but is avoiding speaking about.

Are we going to talk about it?

What?

The elephant in the room. What elephant?

I guess not then.

You’re referring to today.

Yeah, what’s the deal with today?

We all make mistakes.

Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room.

Listen, lady, don’t try any mind games.

Batman is a permanent Bat-chelor.

However, here the elephant in the room is quite literally an elephant.

By the way, did you notice how he said this?

We need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

Here we can see some connected speech (how natives cut and link their words together).

How would you say this? In school, you were probably taught to say it like:

Elephant in the room

But listen to how he said it:

We need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

He didn’t say elephant in, he said [elepha-nin].

Often when we have the letters NT together, natives drop the T sound.

For example: internet [Innernet]

International [Innernational]

I can’t eat that [I ca-neat that]

And that’s exactly what Chief Bogo did here.

Now listen again and repeat.

We need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

Here are a couple more examples from the Tv series Friends:

That was amazing!

Well

I can’t even send back soup.

No, no, it’s a real thing!

Anyone can get ordained on the Internet. And perform weddings and stuff.

You guys are gonna come and visit me, right?

Yes. You know, in six months, the statute of limitations runs out and I can travel internationally again.

Francine—

Happy birthday.

Number two.

There are some new recruits with us I should introduce – but I’m not going to because I don’t care.

A recruit is a new member of an organization.

This term is usually used to refer to the military organization, referring to a recently enlisted soldier.

But you might hear it used for a club or group.

Example: The fraternity House has 15 new recruits this semester.

As the police is a hierarchical organization (similar to the military), there are many words and expressions that are shared: atten-hut, dismissed, recruits, etc.

If you introduce someone, you formally present that person to a group.

Chief Bogo should introduce the new recruits to their colleagues [coworkers], but he doesn’t want to do it.

By this attitude, we can see that he doesn’t show much interest in doing his job (and this contrasts with Judy’s enthusiasm).

Finally, we have 14 missing mammal cases.

Any animal in which the females feed their cubs [babies] with milk from her own body is classified as a mammal.

Humans, dogs and dolphins are just a few examples of mammals.

Police deal with different cases on a daily basis. That is a particular problem that needs to be solve.

What are you trying to tell us? Is this some kind of a clue?

Draw better. We have no idea what this is.

I think it’s a cookie.

No. It’s a pizza.

It’s a cookie pizza!

Another case solved.

No. Detectives, we

Shh shh shh.

I’m putting myself on this case.

All right, Captain.

Look like New York’s finest just got a whole lot

Let’s go!

All right.

If something is missing, it is lost.

Example: My phone is missing. If someone is missing, their location is unknown.

Example: In the USA, missing children’s pictures used to be printed on milk cartons to raise awareness. The police of Zootopia will have to deal with 14 cases of missing animals.

All predators, from a giant polar bear to a teensy little otter.

A predator is an animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals. For example, lions, wolves and foxes are all predators.

The animals they hunt are prey. Teensy means very small. Example: The movie was a teensy bit boring.

What’s another way to say teensy?

Trick question! All three of these have the same meaning.

And City Hall is right up my tail to find them. This is priority number one.

This phrase is quite funny because it refers to the expression “up my butt”.

As the Chief is a buffalo, he has a tail and for this reason, the expression has been changed, as well as to avoid vulgarity as it is a children’s movie

Chief Bogo is saying that the city hall is urging him intensely to find them, so they’ll have to give maximum importance to those cases before any other.

Assignments.

An assignment is a piece of work that is given to someone.

I’m gonna give you a little homework assignment.

I want you and your kids to have a family playdate.

Maybe if the four of you can along, you can set a better example for your children.

I think that’s a wonderful idea. Pam?

Fine.

The Chief will give every member of the police their task to do.

Officers Grizzoli – Fangmeyer, Delgato.

Your teams take missing mammals from the Rainforest District.

Officers McHorn, Rhinowitz, Wolfard. Your teams take Sahara Square.

Officers Higgins, Snarlov, Trunkaby. Tundratown.

And finally, our first bunny – Officer Hopps.

Parking Duty. Dismissed.

Judy got the assignment of parking duty, that means that she’ll be responsible for things related to this activity, such as fines [parking tickets].

This seems like a boring task to do, and she doesn’t want to be in charge of this particular duty, as we can see here, she’d prefer to solve one of the cases of the missing mammals.

Dismiss means to let someone leave. For example, if your professor says “class dismissed,” this means that all the students are free to go.

Parking duty?

Chief! Chief Bogo?

Sir, you said there were 14 missing mammal cases.

So?

So, I can handle one.

If you say that you can handle something, you mean that you can deal with it, even if it’s a difficult situation.

I don’t think I’m sensitive enough to raise a girl.

Jay, you’re being sensitive right now.

I mean, I was pretty hysterical, and you calmed me down. I don’t think you’re the guy you used to be.

So you’re saying that if I can deal with you, then I can handle - any other little girl?

Let’s take a look at how Judy said this:

So, I can handle one.

Judy did something that native speakers do all the time, and that is reducing the verb can.

When we do this, rather than saying a long A sound [A]. [Can]

We reduce it to a short i sound [ih] [kihn]

So, I can handle one.

Let’s see a few more examples of this:

I can [kihn] be an astronaut.

Today, I can [kihn] hunt for tax exemptions.

I’m gonna be an actuary!

And I can make the world a better place.

I’m going to be — a police officer!

You probably forgot, but I was top my class at the Academy.

Didn’t forget. Just don’t care.

If you are top of your class, you are the best student out of all the other students at your same level.

That is, you have the best marks or grades in your various subjects or tests.

Example: She’s top of her class in math.

Yes, Chuck. You obviously have something you want to say or sing.

I have got just the guy. It’s a girl.

My sister Silver.

She goes to Avian Academy, top of her class.

She would be perfect.

Yeah, she totally would.

So out of all of the graduates of her police academy, Judy did the best on the various exams and physical tests.

Sir, I’m not just some token bunny.

In this case, a token is a person who is considered as a representative of a minority and that has been hired primarily to prevent an employer for being accused of discrimination.

By saying this, Judy means that she is qualified and can actually do her job and that she’s there to be a police officer like all the others.

Come on!

He bared his teeth first!

Excuse me.

Down here.

Hi.

O-M-Goodness!

They really did hire a bunny!

What!

I gotta tell you, you are even cuter than I thought you’d be!

You probably didn’t know, but a bunny can call another bunny “cute”—but when other animals do it – it’s a little —

I am so sorry! Me, Benjamin Clawhauser— the guy everyone thinks is just a flabby, donut-loving cop, stereotyping you.

No, it’s okay. Oh, you’ve actually got—

There’s a —

In your neck. The fold. Where? Oh!

There you went, you little dickens!

I should get to roll call

So, which way do I –?

Oh, Bullpen’s over there to the left.

Great. Thank you!

That poor little bunny’s gonna get eaten alive.

Hey, Officer Hopps.

You ready to make the world a better place?

Atten-hut!

All right, all right! Everybody sit. I’ve got three items on the docket.

First—we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

Francine—

Happy birthday.

Number two.

There are some new recruits with us I should introduce – but I’m not going to because I don’t care.

Finally, we have 14 missing mammal cases.

All predators, from a giant polar bear to a teensy little otter. And City Hall is right up my tail to find them.

This is priority number one.

Assignments.

Officers Grizzoli – Fangmeyer, Delgato.

Your teams take missing mammals from the Rainforest District.

Officers McHorn, Rhinowitz, Wolfard. Your teams take Sahara Square.

Officers Higgins, Snarlov, Trunkaby. Tundratown.

And finally, our first bunny – Officer Hopps.

Parking Duty. Dismissed.

Parking duty?

Chief! Chief Bogo?

Sir, you said there were 14 missing mammal cases.

So?

So, I can handle one. You probably forgot, but I was top of my class at the Academy.

Didn’t forget. Just don’t care.

Sir, I’m not just some token bunny.

Well, then writing 100 tickets a day should be easy.

100 tickets. I’m not gonna write 100 tickets. I’m gonna write 200 tickets. Before noon.