Ever dream of becoming a cartoon character? My chance at being Fru Fru from Disney's Zootopia! & chat with Dialogue Mixer Paul McGraf #‎ZootopiaBluray

                 **Disney provided an all-expense paid trip for me to cover this event, all opinions are 100% my own **

On a recent press trip, to DisneyToon Studios, I was very fortunate to be in the very studio where they did a lot of the character voicing for Zootopia. I learned the process of recording with Dialogue Mixer Paul McGraf. With an animated movie like Zootopia, Paul was involved in the recording room from the very beginning of the film through the very end.   

According to Paul McGraf “Even though everything’s been digitized and things have become more computer generated, animation and the process of animation is still done the same way that it was back with Snow White where it starts with the script, then it starts with the voice”. 

Each of the major characters, actors like the voice of Judy and Nick had 15 hours’ worth of recording time. Smaller (no pun intended) characters like “Mr. Big” had about 5 hours of recording time. How many times do the actors have to read their lines? It’s not uncommon for them to read the line 50 to 60 times. Easily! Has an actor ever given up, and just did not want to try the line anymore? Surprisingly for Paul this has never happened. 

Zootopia, a great family movie & you will go Wilde for the bonus content! #‎ZootopiaBluray

**Disney provided an all-expense paid trip for me to cover this event, all opinions are 100% my own **

A bunny as a cop and a fox as a scam-artist…how can this possibly work?! It did and it was wonderful to watch. Walt Disney Animation Studio’s Zootopia is a movie that will suck you in and not let go. The premise of the movie is that a bunny Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) wants to leave her small rural town where her family runs a carrot farm and move to the big city of Zootopia and become of all things a police officer! She makes the big move and runs into a scam-artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) who gets the best of her on her first day on the force. A job that no one including her parents and her superior officer a water buffalo named Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) think she’s qualified for or can actually be successful at.

Without giving away any major plot lines Judy is determined to solve a mysterious case and is only given a few days to figure it out…she goes to uncover a nefarious plan and now has to enlist the help of her scam-artist friend Nick to help her get to the bottom of it. This is a great movie, and I know its been said a million times before about a lot of movies but this one is really fun for the whole family. 

To see so many different animals represented on the screen and done so well that they look life like is a testament to the quality of animators that the Walt Disney Studio’s has. The art is an amazing aspect of this film, but the story is the real driving aspect of it. If the story stunk no matter how well it was animated it would have been awful, but this is a great story with a great message that tells kids to strive for goals and that with hard work and determination you can achieve anything you dream of. My family and I loved this movie so much! 

Taking a look into the world of Zootopia with Disney animators, Renato dos Anjos & Chad Sellers #‎ZootopiaBluray

**Disney provided an all-expense paid trip for me to cover this event, all opinions are 100% my own **

To learn more about the animals  and what goes into making the world of Zootopia, I recently sat down with Renato dos Anjos head of animation on Zootopia & Chad Sellers animation supervisor on Zootopia to learn more. Have you ever wondered what goes into making the animals you love in this movie? Well it turns out there is a lot of hard work and many hours (years really) to craft an amazing movie like Zootopia.

To get up close to the animals the animators went on several trips to study animals up close and in person. From visiting the San Diego Safari to visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom to get as much information as they could to get the right feel for the animals in the animation. They even brought animals into the office when they could, like rabbits and sloths. When they wanted an even more authentic view of animals they planned a trip to Africa! Now that is really paying attention to details, to travel all the way to Africa, to get a better animation that is pretty cool.

According to, Renato dos Anjos “Multiple species were needed to get the proper behavior. Each animal is specific to its species. We had to study how an elephant behaves versus how a mouse behaves. Why does this animal move this way”? “Animals move in herds and we wanted to have the species move together in crowds. The drawings each have their own personalities”. 

Talking with the talented people behind the Disney hit Zootopia Director's Byron Howard & Rich Moore & Producer Clark Spencer. #‎ZootopiaBluray

**Disney provided an all-expense paid trip for me to cover this event, all opinions are 100% my own **

Recently during a fun Zootopia media day I was very fortunate to sit down and have a chat with the extremely talented Directors and the Producer of Zootopia. These guys have been working at Disney for many years and have also been a part of some of your favorite Disney Hits. 

Byron Howard, was the Director of Disney's 2010 world-wide hit feature Tangled, and the popular short Tangled Ever After. 

Rich Moore was the Director of Walt Disney Animation Studios 2012 Oscar nominated feature Wreck-it Ralph! 

Clark Spencer,  was the producer of Walt Disney Animation Studios 2012 Oscar nominated feature Wreck-it Ralph. A role for which he was a Producers Guild of America winner for, best animated film. 

What was it like sitting down to chat with these Disney big wigs? Was it intimidating? No... Not at all, I have to say these were some of the most down to earth guys who really loved their job, and were excited to share their love of their newest project Zootopia, which will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 7th 2016.  Did you ever wonder how Disney movies get started?