Since we're talking about trailers, and writing, good ol' Amid Amidi over on Cartoon Brew has pointed out a trend in recent animated movies; apparently yoga is hilarious.
But, in Zootopia's case, the yoga is used a bit smarter; the scene in question isn't just about yoga, isn't it funny? It's about finding a tiny piece of the puzzle; in this case, a license plate number. Which, being a random string of numbers and letters, is super boring information. So, they have a joke going on in the background, so we get the exposition and whatnot, but aren't bored by it. But that's not all; we're also getting character stuff. Judy is still freaking out a little about the whole "being naked" thing, and of course the yoga moves are making this even more obvious. And it's also a thematically appropriate scene; Yax is so sure that elephants have great memories (it's a positive stereotype, but still a stereotype) that he doesn't even trust his own (really good) memory and ignores the quite obvious fact that the elephant in question doesn't remember anything. It's a complicated scene, with a lot going on, and the sight gag is just part of it; it's really clever writing.
Compare that to the scenes showcased in the trailers for Angry Birds and Ice Age ... Whatever Number We're On, I Forget, where the entire scene is "yoga is funny; also, butts." (Caveat; may have better context in the actual movies, and trailer-wise, Zootopia did look like "yoga is funny; also, butts" was all that was going to be going on.)
Since we're talking about trailers, and writing, good ol' Amid Amidi over on Cartoon Brew has pointed out a trend in recent animated movies; apparently yoga is hilarious.
But, in Zootopia's case, the yoga is used a bit smarter; the scene in question isn't just about yoga, isn't it funny? It's about finding a tiny piece of the puzzle; in this case, a license plate number. Which, being a random string of numbers and letters, is super boring information. So, they have a joke going on in the background, so we get the exposition and whatnot, but aren't bored by it. But that's not all; we're also getting character stuff. Judy is still freaking out a little about the whole "being naked" thing, and of course the yoga moves are making this even more obvious. And it's also a thematically appropriate scene; Yax is so sure that elephants have great memories (it's a positive stereotype, but still a stereotype) that he doesn't even trust his own (really good) memory and ignores the quite obvious fact that the elephant in question doesn't remember anything. It's a complicated scene, with a lot going on, and the sight gag is just part of it; it's really clever writing.
Compare that to the scenes showcased in the trailers for Angry Birds and Ice Age ... Whatever Number We're On, I Forget, where the entire scene is "yoga is funny; also, butts." (Caveat; may have better context in the actual movies, and trailer-wise, Zootopia did look like "yoga is funny; also, butts" was all that was going to be going on.)