| In the countryside community of Bunnyburrow, young Judy has dreamed of becoming a police officer in the city of Zootopia, where anyone can be anything. Her parents, Bonnie and Stu, try to dissuade Judy from following her risky dream and encourage her to become a carrot farmer with the family instead. Judy sticks to her determination to make the world a better place by becoming an officer, claiming she doesn't know when to quit, despite the fact that no rabbit has ever yet become a cop. Judy decides she will just have to be the first bunny cop in order to fulfill her dream. At the farm fair, Judy confronts a young fox and local bully named Gideon Grey picking on prey children; Judy demands he give her friends their stolen tickets back. Gideon mocks the young rabbit and shoves her to the ground, to which Judy retaliates by kicking him in the face. Angered, Gideon claws Judy's cheek, drawing blood, and derides her, snarling that she will never be a cop or anything more than a "dumb bunny". Gideon then leaves without knowing that she swiped the tickets from him, and after recovering, she stands tall and becomes inspired to prove Gideon wrong. Fifteen years later, Judy joins the Zootopia Police Academy under Mayor Lionheart's Mammal Inclusion Initiative; at first struggling with the course demands, she gradually becomes stronger and graduates as valedictorian and the first rabbit officer for Zootopia's police, meeting Mayor Lionheart and his assistant, Dawn Bellwether during the ceremony. Because she was assigned to the department's first precinct, located at the center of the city, Judy prepares to move to Zootopia. Bonnie, Stu, and the rest of her family all say their goodbyes at the train station. Bonnie and Stu reluctantly accept the path their daughter is taking but warns her of the dangers of predators in the city, particularly foxes. They give her a care package filled with various "anti-fox" products, just in case, though Judy only agrees to take one canister of fox repellent to keep her parents' worries at a minimum. Disregarding the sour note, Judy bids her parents a loving farewell as the train arrives, and her journey to Zootopia begins. In Zootopia, Judy finds a home in the Grand Pangolin Apartments, never minding its small size, undesirable wallpaper, and rowdy neighbors. Excited to start her first day on the police force, Judy prepares to leave home but takes a few moments to ponder over taking her fox repellent along with her. She neglects it at first but quickly turns around to retrieve it upon second thought. She then travels to the Zootopia Police Department, where she finds a large number of animals on the force to be either predators or massive in size, including Officer Clawhauser. At muster, Chief Bogo disregards Judy's impressive academy record and places her on parking duty, not willing to acknowledge her as a real officer because of her species. Judy takes offense but nevertheless is determined to make the best of her new position. Thanks to her exceptional hearing, she is able to detect every meter on time, processing a planned 200 tickets by noon, plus one after running the meter to her own vehicle. During her time at work, she spots a shady fox sidling into Jumbeaux's Café and follows him, suspicious of his motives. She discovers that the fox simply brought his elephant-enthusiast son to the parlor to get a Jumbo-pop for his birthday, and is ashamed of her bigotry. The head of the parlor, Jerry Jumbeaux Jr., refuses to sell the fox an elephant-sized treat on account of his being a fox. Judy interrupts the argument by pointing out potential health violations in the parlor, blackmailing Jerry into selling the popsicle to the foxes, and even paying for it herself when the fox claims to have forgotten his wallet. The fox introduces himself as Nick Wilde and thanks Judy for her assistance, with Judy admitting foxes should not be treated as sly or crooked. But while filing tickets in Sahara Square, she spots Nick melting the Jumbo-pop down into "pawpsicles" with his son. Following them throughout the city, Judy discovers Nick's "son" to actually be a fully-grown accomplice named Finnick, who helps Nick sell the pawpsicles to lemmings before recycling the sticks as lumber to mice construction workers for an additional price. When Judy confronts Nick, he stumps her by revealing permits for his actions. He is quick to guess her fears and insecurities, warning her that Zootopia is not the paradise she believes it to be and predicting her inevitable failure, and to make her return home because no one will ever take a small-town hick bunny cop seriously. As a self-assured Nick leaves the bunny in shock and with her feet in wet cement, Judy returns to her apartment, and after a phone call from her parents, she has her hopes of being accepted on the police force dented. The next day, Judy resumes her meter duties but is increasingly depressed as she only succeeds in aggravating animals with parking tickets. As she dejectedly asserts to herself that she is a real cop, she is alerted to a crime courtesy of Duke Weaselton, who had robbed a nearby flower shop. Ecstatic, she removes her parking enforcement garb and pursues Weaselton, taking the chase into Little Rodentia. Weaselton causes chaos in his escape, nearly killing a young female shrew in the process, though Judy manages to both save her and apprehend Weaselton, who is delivered to the ZPD headquarters. Upon Judy's arrival, a furious Bogo grills her on abandoning her post and endangering the public because of her chase, insisting that a meter maid is all she is qualified to be. Just then, Mrs. Otterton arrives at Bogo's office, desperately seeking someone to search for her missing husband, Emmitt; Judy volunteers for the challenge, much to Mrs. Otterton's joy. Bogo, outraged, fires Judy for insubordination, but a brief talk with Bellwether forces him to assign Judy the case, though not unconditionally: should Judy fail to solve the case in the timeframe of 48 hours, she must resign from the force. Clawhauser provides Judy with the case file on Otterton, but the information is scarce. According to Clawhauser, Judy lacks leads, witnesses, and—due to the fact that she is not in the computer system yet—resources, adding to the level of difficulty in her mission. Upon further investigation, however, Judy discovers that Emmitt had bought a pawpsicle from Nick on the day of his disappearance; she seeks out the fox for questioning, but Nick refuses to cooperate, wanting to continue with his latest hustle as he brags about the amount of money he makes off of such schemes, unknowingly admitting to tax evasion while doing so, which Judy slyly records on her carrot pen with a recording function. Judy then blackmails Nick into aiding her on the case or be subject to five years jail time, to which Nick begrudgingly abides to. Nick brings Judy to the last place he saw Emmitt, the Mystic Springs Oasis, which to Judy's horror and discomfort is a naturist club. The receptionist, Yax, mentions that Emmitt was last seen jumping into a limousine and provides the plate number. Because she lacks the authority to run a plate, Nick takes Judy to the Department of Mammal Vehicles, to seek the assistance of his friend, Flash. To Judy's dismay, Flash and his co-workers are all sloths. After some frustration with the sloth's slow nature, worsened by Nick telling Flash a joke, they obtain the plate number, identifying which company the limo belonged to. Upon stepping out of the DMV, Judy is dismayed to find that night has already fallen. The pair locate the motor pool where the limo was parked. But to Judy's annoyance, it is locked, and she lacks a warrant to search the place. Believing his debt to her paid, Nick asks for the recording, but Judy casually tosses her pen over the fence, tricking Nick into climbing over and thus giving himself a trespassing violation for additional blackmail, also providing Judy "probable cause" to search the premises. When they locate the limo, they discover the back compartment riddled with claw marks. Nick soon realizes that the limo belongs to Mr. Big, Tundratown's biggest and feared crime boss. Before they can escape, a pair of polar bear henchmen find and take them directly to Mr. Big, whom Judy discovers is an arctic shrew. When Mr. Big addresses Judy, Nick tries to prevent her from revealing that she is a cop, but she directly accuses Big of being behind Emmitt's disappearance. Scorned, Mr. Big orders the pair to be "iced", but before the polar bears can drop them into a pool of freezing ice water, his daughter Fru Fru―the same shrew Judy saved the previous day―arrives and recognizes Judy. Fru Fru tells her father of Judy's deeds, resulting in Big sparing Judy and Nick's lives. In gratitude, Mr. Big kisses Judy on both cheeks, establishing an alliance (much to Nick's shock and confusion), and invites her and Nick to Fru Fru's wedding reception. During the wedding reception, Mr. Big explains that Emmitt was his florist, who was coming to tell him something important but, en route, suddenly went savage and attacked his chauffeur Manchas, a black jaguar. Judy and Nick visit Manchas at his home in the Rainforest District for questioning. Manchas mentions "night howlers" were involved in the case, but before further answers can be uncovered, Manchas suddenly goes savage himself and chases the pair. Judy frantically radios Clawhauser for backup just before she and Nick are separated at a nearby gondola drop off. Nick finds himself cornered and nearly killed by Manchas, but Judy chains the jaguar's ankle to a post using handcuffs, saving Nick's life. The two narrowly make their escape, crossing paths with Bogo and the force once they do. Judy then escorts her colleagues to the gondola drop off, but when they arrive, Manchas is nowhere to be found. When Judy tries to explain the events that had transpired, Bogo refuses to listen, taking her claims as a coverup for failure, thus requesting her badge as resignation. Defeated, Judy slowly starts to comply, but Nick steps in and rebukes Bogo for purposely setting Judy up for failure, noting her lack of resources, and extremely limited timeframe to solve a case that the entirety of the ZPD couldn't solve in two weeks. Nick then notes that Judy still has a remaining 10 hours, and the fox kindly escorts Hopps to a gondola leaving the Rainforest District, allowing their case to continue. As the pair depart the district during sunrise, Judy softly thanks Nick for his support. Nick replies by revealing his past experiences with prejudice, having been cruelly ganged and muzzled by a group of prey animals as a child just for being a fox, explaining his sympathy for the oppressed and underestimated. Nick continues, confessing that he resolved to live out the "sly fox" stereotype as he felt there was no point in trying to fight the preconceived notions that society had established. Judy comforts him by expressing her belief that Nick is more than what society labels him as, and her attitude towards him softens significantly. Their tender moment is cut short due to Nick's discomfort in having opened up to someone, and he tries to change the subject by jokingly talking about traffic. This leads Nick to the revelation that the city's traffic cameras may have captured how Manchas disappeared. An impressed Judy commends Nick on his cleverness, and in order to access the camera data, they consult Assistant Mayor Bellwether at City Hall. Reviewing the footage, they learn that a pair of wolves, whom Judy assumes to be the "night howlers", captured Manchas and trace their truck to the Cliffside Asylum. As they infiltrate the facility after distracting the guards with a howl, they find all the missing predators imprisoned there, including Emmitt and Manchas, all having gone savage. The duo then discovers Mayor Lionheart to be keeping the savage predators imprisoned and their existence concealed from the public and the ZPD to prevent civil unrest. Judy uses her phone camera to record Lionheart's admission, but their presence is given away by an inconvenient call from her parents. As the wolf guards are summoned, Judy uses a toilet to flush herself and Nick to the outside. With her evidence intact, Judy calls the ZPD, who raid the asylum and arrest Lionheart. Judy reads Lionheart his rights and is unsympathetic when he claims to have simply been trying to keep the city safe, ignoring his warnings concerning the danger that the mysterious savage outbreak holds over the city. A press conference is held centering the events of Judy's success. While preparing for her interview, Judy gives Nick her carrot pen with his confession and also offers him a chance to join the ZPD, stating that she would like to have him as a partner. Nick is notably touched by this, but when it comes time for Judy to speak, jumps to a conclusion by describing the savaged mammals' condition a case of "biology", claiming they may be reverting to their natural instincts. As the crowd goes into a confused panic, Bellwether assists Judy off the stage, where she is confronted by an offended Nick. Judy tries to justify her words by declaring that predators are naturally savage, unlike prey such as bunnies, deeming Nick the exception, as he wasn't like "them"; however, this only furthers Nick's anger that Judy is basing this on a "them". As the confrontation heats, Judy starts to feel threatened (as Nick's claws and fangs are showing), instinctively reaching for her canister of fox repellent and confirming her bigotry against foxes when Nick reaches to a point when he asked her if she thought he might eat her. Nick returns the fully filled ZPD application and storms off, thinking that Judy doesn't want a "predator" for a partner, thus showing how much he is hurt when Judy labelled the predators as savages. Judy tries to chase after him to make amends, but a crowd of press blocks her path. As time goes on, more cases of predators going savage begin sprouting across Zootopia with no known cause or cure, resulting in fear and discrimination against predators from the prey population. Judy watches, firsthand, the controversial consequences of her actions unfold, and in response to this, she and Bogo are summoned by Mayor Bellwether at City Hall. Bellwether and Bogo request that Judy becomes the public face of the ZPD, as prey citizens look to her for guidance and view her as a hero. Judy declines, feeling she has failed at her mission to make the world a better place by instead provoking chaos and fear amongst the city. Downheartedly and realizing this is all her fault, Judy inflicts penalty upon herself by resigning from the force. Judy returns home to Bunnyburrow and rejoins the family business as a carrot farmer, just as Nick had predicted when they first met. Bonnie and Stu comfort the visibly depressed Judy, celebrating her will to try new things, despite her actions having caused so much trouble. Just as Judy openly feels she's failed countless predators, she meets an adult and much more mature Gideon. Her parents reveal they've established a partnership with Gideon, a fox, based on Judy's progressive influence. Gideon awkwardly apologizes to Judy for his past behavior, explaining his actions to have been due to self-doubt and unchecked aggression, rather than "predatory instinct", like he claimed as a child. Subsequently, Judy notices flowers her parents have been growing to protect their crops, but which neither of her parents wants any of their children to come into contact with. As Stu explains that the flowers have severe psychotropic effects on mammals, including rabbits like her Uncle Terry, Gideon also reveals that the flowers are nicknamed "Night howlers". Judy learns that predators are not the only ones who can be turned savage and realizes that these flowers must be the cause of the outbreaks. Judy hastily takes her father's truck and returns to Zootopia to set things right. With help from Finnick, Judy tracks down Nick and reveals this new information, but Nick rebuffs her. As Judy becomes visibly upset, tearfully apologizing and condemning herself as "just a dumb bunny" for her words and actions, Nick opens up and forgives and comforts her, playfully playing back her apology on the carrot pen, which he held onto. With a hug, their friendship is reconciled and their investigation is renewed. Recalling that Duke Weaselton had been stealing a bunch of Night howler bulbs when she first arrested him, Judy and Nick confront him, demanding to know who he was stealing for. When he refuses to cooperate, they take him to Mr. Big, who threatens to ice him unless he told them what they wanted to know. During the interrogation, Mr. Big designates Judy the godmother of his future granddaughter, whom Fru Fru intends to name Judy in her honor. Using Weaselton's information, the pair track down a ram named Doug, who is cultivating and weaponizing Night howlers at a secret lab hidden in an abandoned subway car. They spy on Doug, who mentions during a phone call with his mysterious client that he "hit a tiny little otter through the open window of a moving car". These words and the sight of photos of all the "savaged" predators on Doug's bulletin map, make Judy realize that the reason why Otterton, Manchas, and all the other predators went savage is because Doug had secretly shot them with the Night howler toxin via a dart gun, completely unnoticed. As two more sheep arrive, Judy takes the opportunity to steal the subway car, hoping to get the evidence to ZPD. As the sheep give chase, they spot an oncoming train about to collide with them, so Judy knocks a sheep onto a track switch, diverting the car onto a different track. Unfortunately, the car is going too fast, forcing the pair to abandon ship, resulting in it crashing and bursting into flames. However, Nick reveals that he retrieved a case containing the dart gun and its Night howler pellets. As they cut through the Natural History Museum to get to the ZPD, the pair run into Bellwether, who insists on taking the evidence. Suspicious as to how Bellwether knew of their whereabouts, Judy and Nick try to leave, only to find a large, sinister-looking ram blocking their way. Realizing that Bellwether is the true mastermind of the conspiracy, Judy and Nick try to flee, but Judy accidentally cuts her leg on a tusk display, prompting Nick to do first aid. As Bellwether and her ram henchmen close in, with Nick refusing to leave Judy behind, the pair use a stuffed bunny as a decoy and make a run for the exit, only to be knocked into a pit by the big ram, making them drop the gun case. Bellwether then shoots the dart gun at Nick, apparently causing him to go savage, and frames a call for help to the ZPD. While trying to evade Nick, Judy induces Bellwether to reveal her plot to divide predator and prey so the latter can take over Zootopia, enabling Bellwether to remain in power. When it seems like Nick is about to bite Judy, it turns out it was all an act; they had secretly swapped the dart gun's ammo with blueberries from Judy's farm. Bellwether nevertheless threatens to frame the duo as she had done with Lionheart, but Judy reveals her action of recording Bellwether's confession on the carrot recorder. After Judy plays back Bellwether's admission aloud, Bogo and his force arrive to arrest the treacherous sheep mayor and her accomplices. Later, Judy is reinstated into the ZPD. The savaged predators have been successfully cured and Judy is present at a hospital witnessing the reunion between Mr. and Mrs. Otterton, the latter thanking Judy for her help. She sees that the city of Zootopia is peaceful and predators and prey live in harmony once again. Months later, Judy is present at Nick's police graduation ceremony, where she gives a rousing speech reflecting her experiences and matured viewpoints. She also takes the honour of badging Nick, exchanges salutes with him to officially welcome him into the force as the first fox officer on the ZPD, and later takes him on as her partner. During their first muster together, Bogo seemingly relegates them to parking duty as a jest referencing their past history, before assigning the pair to hunt down a street racer zipping through Savanna Central. As they roll out on their first assignment, Judy admits to Nick that she loves him (platonically). Just then, they find and apprehend the racer and, to Judy's shock, and Nick's amusement, discover he is none other than Flash. During the credits, Judy and Nick, along with most of the Zootopian populace, attend and dance at a concert performance of "Try Everything" by Gazelle.
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