Zootopia

I saw Zootopia and liked it much more than I thought I would. From the trailers, the premise looked pretty boring to me: just the usual cutesy CGI-animated stuff full of slapstick and shallow pop culture. However, the movie was actually good, with nuanced characters, social themes, and an interesting plot. I liked Jason Bateman playing the sly fox Nick Wild, who apparently has been a con-artist since he was 12 years old. Nick reminds me of the devilish characters Bateman played as a child, on Silver Spoons and It's Your Move. At least Bateman's not playing a totally slimy jerk this time. Nick charms and hustles people for a living, but he has vulnerabilities beneath his cool exterior, and he's learned to live this way because of anti-fox prejudice. I liked the complexity of the world, and how Judy had real character growth and an arc that had nothing to do with romance. We need more movies like this, and I'm glad it was successful at the box office.

On TV lately, I'm sad that The Muppets ended, and its low ratings make it doubtful that the show will be renewed. Just as doubtful are Sleepy Hollow and Second Chance, but I hope that the current plots will get decent endings before cancellation. I like that the Apocalypse show is finally revealing stuff about Grandma's survival bunker, as well as the connected family ties, though it's still a little confusing. At least the nun got some development with her history of being homeless, but I still don't like her being setup for romance with the priest. I tried watching The Family, but I'm not sure I'll stay with it, since they dropped the whole plot about the DNA test. I'm looking forward to when The Carmichael Show returns; I need a comedy in the midst of all the March Madness basketball.

On Monday, something went wrong with my Tivo, so it didn't record Lucifer, and I had to watch it online instead. I wish the angel plot would be more prominent than the procedural cases; I still don't care much about the Palmetto case. My Tivo's wireless connection typically goes down when there's a thunderstorm or blackout in my area. I thought I got the wireless network fixed, but the Tivo is still showing a connection error, so I'll have to call customer support tomorrow when I have time, I guess.