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Disney has made a lot of anthropomorphic animal movies — "Bambi," "The Jungle Book," "The Rescuers" and "The Lion King," to name a few.

According to Rich Moore, co-director of Disney's latest, "Zootopia," these films have one important thing in common.

"One of the main conventions of these kind of talking-animal movies … is that it wants to be a mirror image of our society today," Moore said this week in Salt Lake City, while on a publicity tour for the movie (which opens nationwide on Friday, March 4).

For a society where urban unease and distrust between neighbors is high, "Zootopia" finds a handy metaphor: the split between predator and prey.

In the big animal-filled city of Zootopia, the two groups live in civilized harmony, though some level of distrust remains below the smiling surface.

But unlike, say, "The Lion King," where the predators are in charge, in "Zootopia" the predators are in the minority. The film's other co-director, Byron Howard, noted that in Zootopia — as with mammals in the real animal kingdom — prey outnumber predators by a ratio of 9-to-1.

Howard, who co-directed "Tangled," pitched the idea of an animal city to Walt Disney Animation Studios' chief creative officer, John Lasseter, five years ago. He said Lasseter shared his affinity for Disney's animal-centric movies — Howard was a fan of "Robin Hood" (1973), while Lasseter's favorite was "The Wind in the Willows" (half of 1949's "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mister Toad").

"John said, 'I will fully support any movie that features animals running around in tiny clothes.' That was like a direct quote," Howard said. "He did task us to go beyond any animal film."

"No one had figured out how their world works," Howard said. "They've had an environment where a lion and a deer are right next to each other, wearing suits. But no one's figuring out why they're not eating each other."

Howard and Moore (who directed "Wreck-It Ralph") started building "Zootopia" with one character: Nick Wilde, a clever fox who feels, as a predator, oppressed by the prey-dominated system. He counters this by using his wits "living in a sketchy part of the law, running cons and hustles on people," Moore said.

The natural foil for a con-artist fox would be a rabbit cop. Thus was created Judy Hopps, a country bunny trying to make a difference as the first rabbit in the Zootopia Police Department.

The characters — Nick is voiced by Jason Bateman ("Arrested Development," "Juno"), while Judy's voice is provided by Ginnifer Goodwin (star of the Disney-made TV series "Once Upon a Time") — go even deeper, Howard said.

"At one time, Nick wanted to make a difference in the world, but he was so beaten down so much, he just gave up," Howard said. "He shielded himself within this cynical personality that he has, to protect himself."

On the other hand, Howard said, "Judy has flaws, and there's a major flaw that she doesn't even think she has" — a prejudice against predators. "The fact that she can step up and own that, and appreciate that we're not all perfect, and look within herself to make that change, is great for us. It's a great maturity story."

Moore said the movie's breezy tone was set when they made Judy the lead — a do-gooder whose sunny optimism is tempered by Nick's world-weary view.

"With Nick as the protagonist, it painted the world in kind of a very negative way — this world felt like a police state," Moore said, adding that with Judy out front, "that's when the whole kind of buddy-cop dynamic started to come alive."

"Zootopia" emulates the buddy-cop formula of such 1980s classics as "48 Hrs." and "Lethal Weapon." The cultural allusions don't end there, as there's an extended "Godfather" joke and a sly reference to "Breaking Bad." But it's still a Disney cartoon, so those jokes fly over the kids' heads.

Besides Bateman and Goodwin, "Zootopia" boasts a strong voice cast that includes one Oscar winner (J.K. Simmons, as Mayor Lionheart), as well as Idris Elba (as the water-buffalo police chief), comedian Jenny Slate (as the mayor's lamb second in command) and longtime comic collaborators Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake as Judy's carrot-farming parents (who improvised a fair amount of their dialogue in the recording studio).

As for the message of hope vs. fear that permeates "Zootopia," Howard stressed that it "developed naturally from the story."

"We never start out with an intellectual idea or a political message, because we don't like message-y movies. We never want to be preachy about these films," he said. "But it gave us great story fuel to propel what Nick and Judy were arguing about."

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