Anthropomorphic animal tales have been a cultural mainstay for a couple of millennia this side of Aesop, but it was Walt Disney of course, who elevated the genre to cultural trope – and built an empire on animal animation. With that pedigree (and studio honcho John Lasseter’s reverence for Disney tradition) it’s no wonder that Zootopia, the latest animated feature from Walt Disney Animation, follows squarely in those footsteps. The team even took a page from Bambi and Jungle Book-era productions, sending animators to study real live animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida and even in Kenya’s national parks, in order to nail the creature’s mannerisms. The heroine of the story is hopeful recruit to the ZPD (Zootopia police department), Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young rabbit hailing from Bunnyburrow whose investigation of mysterious cases of missing mammals leads to a nefarious conspiracy. The neo-noir overtones may be reminiscent of Roger Rabbit as well as other famous screen bunnies (Bugs? Harvey?). But directors Rich Moore and Byron Howard also credit Frank Capra as an inspiration. Listen as they explain some of those references.