Zootopia, which looks vaguely like Manhattan, has all the anthropomorphic creatures glued to their phones — there is Zuber providing cabs, sloths running licence plates on a tablet, muzzle time (FaceTime anyone?) and the police chief goggling at pop star Gazelle’s (Shakira) viral video, which allows you to put your face on one of the dancers. The super-cute, beyond-clever buddy/crime animation caper running in theatres goes to show how technology has taken over our jolly lives.
While most animation films take place in worlds and galaxies far, far away or in the ret-con timelines like The Good Dinosaur , there are animation fantasies that take place in the here and now — yes it is an oxymoron. That is where you get to slip in the cell phones, computers and other gadgets that are familiar from the real world but just that little bit different, like Vince Vega would say.
Hello, is it me you’re looking for?
You have that hilarious scene in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania 2 , where Drac’s son-in-law, Johnny, gives him a cell phone and shows him the intricacies of texting. When Drac’s talons come in the way, Johnny suggests using Bluetooth. Drac agrees and calls for blue tooth, at which point a giant blue tooth appears! Also, campers at Camp Winnepacaca film and upload Drac’s rather unconventional ways of honing his grandson’s vampire abilities on the internet.
The Academy Award-winning Inside Out has the ubiquitous cell phones (was the new iPhone revealed in the movie?) but nothing more by way of tech. There is the Bing Bong’s happy song rainbow-powered rocket to get you out of the memory dump to make up for it.
Game on
While Wreck-It Ralph is set in the world of arcade games, there are a lot of gaming references. Directed by Rich Moore, the film tells of an arcade game villain, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly), who wants to be a hero. There is Bowser from Mario at the villains support meeting, Wreck-It Ralph’s game cabinet is designed to resemble Donkey Kong, there is Pac-Man, Hero’s Duty references Call of Duty and Halo. The gaming worlds are also incredibly-detailed — you would get a sugar rush from Sugar Rush.
The geek interpreters
The genius talking dog, Mr. Peabody, dedicates his life to technology after a traumatic rejection. Thank god for that, as Mr. Peabody invents WABAC, a time machine, and spins through history with his adopted son Sherman. Mr Peabody & Sherman , the 2014 film directed by Rob Minkoff, has the duo spin through time from the Reign of Terror, with Peabody narrowly missing getting guillotined by Robespierre, to hanging out in ancient Egypt, with a quick stopover at Florence to discuss design with a certain Mr. Da Vinci.
The good bad guys
What do Megamind and Gru have in common, apart from Minions and awesome Metal music? These super-intelligent master criminals use technology to unleash all sorts of mayhem on the world. Megamind, the blue alien, escapes from prison using a holographic watch and kills his arch rival, the irritatingly-good Metro man, using a death ray powered by the sun.
And there is Gru with his colleague Dr Nefario in Despicable Me , inventing the Shrink Ray and seeking VC funding from Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Bros). His nemesis is Vector, who helpfully explains “It’s a mathematical term, represented by an arrow with both direction and magnitude. I commit crimes with both direction and magnitude.”
