Night of the Zoopocalypse

Story

Gracie (voice of Gabbi Kosmidis), a spirited young timber wolf raised by her cautious grandmother, is bored by life in the zoo and complains that nothing ever happens. When a meteor, containing a virus, crashes into the zoo, it’s eaten by a bunny who transforms into a deranged mutant zombie. The bunny zombie bites other animals and seems intent on infecting the entire zoo. As chaos erupts, Gracie is separated from her pack and must navigate the infected grounds to reunite with them.

Gracie soon teams up with Dan (voice of David Harbour), a gruff mountain lion who recently arrived at the zoo and whose survival instincts and brute strength make him a powerful ally. The pair form an unlikely alliance with a random group of survivors, including Felix (voice of Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) a selfish monkey, Ash (voice of Scott Thompson) a cautious Ostrich, a baby pigmy hippo called Poot (voice of Christina Nova), and Xavier (voice of Pierre Simpson) a lemur obsessed with movies. Together they must try to survive the zombie attack, stop the virus from spreading and find a way to save those who are already infected.

Themes

Prejudice; xenophobia; paranoia; survivalism; manipulation; fear; contagion; distrust and division

Violence

Night of the Zoopocalypse has some violence. For example:

Dan is shot with a tranquiliser. The gun is later dropped and a dart hits a wolf.
A character is nearly eaten by Dan after she was tied up in ropes beside him.
Gracie and Dan are both shot with tranquiliser darts.
A bunny zombie eats baby animals and then regurgitates them, having transformed them into zombies as well. They all attack other animals.
A group of monkeys are attacked by zombies.
Zombie animals try to break into a vet’s office where Gracie, Dan and Xavier are.
A zombie leg is severed.
Gracie and Dan are chased by zombies.
Stuffed animals are hung from the ceiling by their necks. They momentarily terrify the animals fleeing the zombies.
Gracie’s Grandma tries to eat Gracie’s arm.
A character punches Gracie’s Grandma in the face and Gracie flees from her family after realising the whole pack has been turned into zombies.
A monkey is electrocuted.
Ash attacks Felix.
Zombies attack Dan. Dan grabs a zombie by its tongue and swings it into other zombies.
A gorilla zombie tries to bite and eat Gracie and the others.
Gracie kicks the gorilla zombie in the face, decapitating its head.
One zombie lands on another and they both blast apart on the ground.
A zombie attacks Dan, who bites off the zombie’s head.
Tree frog zombies chase and try to attack Felix, he is nearly crushed and grabbed.
Felix is chased and grabbed by Dan.
Gracie is attacked and chased by a zombie bunny.
Poot is nearly crushed.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Night of the Zoopocalypse.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no substance use in Night of the Zoopocalypse.

Nudity and sexual activity

Night of the Zoopocalypse has some nudity and sexual activity – for example, the bare butt of a gorilla is shown.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Night of the Zoopocalypse.

Coarse language

Night of the Zoopocalypse has some coarse language - for example, ‘God dern’ and ‘stupid’. Insults include, ‘numbskulls’, ‘little missy’ and ‘coward’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

family movie due to the lack of swearing, however, the animated horror sequences are likely to be a little much for younger audiences. The movie is best suited to children over 10 years.

These are the main messages in Night of the Zoopocalypse:

There’s strength in diversity.
Working together can help overcome even the largest of obstacles.
The ‘lights’ of resilience and optimism can brighten up even the darkest and most desperate of times.

Values in Night of the Zoopocalypse that you could reinforce with your children include teamwork, cooperation, open-mindedness, empathy, courage and resilience.

Night of the Zoopocalypse could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of facing fears and building courage, as well as the importance of questioning prejudice and assumptions.