From Finding Nemo to Zootopia, How Movies Changed the Way We Treat Animals

You’d be forgiven for thinking that movies like Zootopia – and its brilliant sequel – are little more than animated fodder to keep young kids and their parents entertained for a couple of hours. Sometimes, that’s all a film really needs to be, and that’s absolutely fine.

But sometimes something special happens: animated movies released into the wild have a profound impact, even altering the way we behave. That’s especially true of films featuring animals, as we learned in the wake of the release of Zootopia 2, after which something interesting happened in China.

‘Zootopia 2’ Spurs a Reptile Craze in China

The incredible success of Zootopia 2 – a film that’s already broken Frozen 2’s record to become Disney’s highest-grossing animated feature of all time – has led to one character becoming so popular that he’s totally changed the perception of reptiles in China. 

The new character, Gary De’Snake, voiced brilliantly by Ke Huy Quan, is a blue viper who goes against stereotypes. Snakes are often portrayed as villains, but not this time. Gary is a loveable, gentle fella, and now some fans want their own, real-life version of him.

As per a report from CNN, Beijing citizen Qi Weihao is just one of those reptile aficionados, and he’s invested in an Indonesian pit viper that very much resembles Gary. Apparently, Qi had wanted to own the snake for years, but always felt like he would be shunned for what many in China previously perceived to be a “weird taste for creepy creatures.”

Thanks to the new Disney movie, that’s changed. Qi said: “Zootopia 2 helps give reptile pets a better image – they’re not oddballs, and Gary is the most representative character among them. I love his enthusiastic attitude and his sense of responsibility.”

There’s a clear correlation between the release of Zootopia 2 and the ongoing increase in search volume and pricing for pit vipers in Chinese e-commerce markets. There are now over 17 million exotic pet owners in China, and by the end of 2025, more than 50% of that is attributed to snakes.

Pit vipers may be venomous, but clearly, more and more people are willing to take on that risk. With Gary warming hearts across the world, who can blame them?

How ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Star Trek IV’ Helped Protect Sea Creatures

This is not the first time Disney (or more specifically, Disney Pixar) has helped to positively impact the animal kingdom. Finding Nemo – one of the very best Pixar movies, in my opinion – was so effective in representing marine biology and all the weird and wonderful creatures in our oceans that it prompted the launch of a whole host of initiatives and campaigns to protect the Great Barrier Reef and its inhabitants.

The core concept is that “fish aren’t made to be put in a box.” Sometimes, the boxes (and the animals) are a little bigger, but films can still help to change things. And it’s not just Disney’s animated catalogue that’s responsible for these positive contributions towards conservation efforts.

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Captain Kirk and his crew go back in time to Earth. There, they prevent an alien attack that threatens to vaporise our oceans, with humpback whales the key focus of the rescue mission. The Enterprise’s on-screen success was replicated in the real world, with a heightened awareness of the plight of the humpback whale; so much so that their population recovered from the brink of extinction and is no longer considered an endangered species.

Let’s not forget, though, that movies don’t always lead to a happy ending for animals. Jaws may have made waves when it became the first bona fide summer blockbuster in 1975, and it’s stood the test of time as one of the greatest movies of all time, but its legacy is tainted. The mass fear generated by the great white shark at the heart of the story bled into society, and the creature was hunted so much that the species saw a 50% decline in population across North American waters.

Animal Rights Improved Thanks to ‘Babe’ and ‘King Kong’

Away from the seas, animals have enjoyed greater protection thanks to films like Babe and Peter Jackson’s 2005 version of King Kong.

After seeing that adorable little pig chattering away and living out his dream as a sheepdog, many viewers naturally decided meat wasn’t for them. The film was so influential, in fact, that the term ‘Babe effect’ was coined, and animal exploitation in farming was heavily scrutinised. Lead actor James Cromwell even became a vegan himself, and he remains a prominent animal rights advocate to this day, thanks to his experience of working on the 1995 flick.

Likewise, when Jackson was promoting his remake of the classic 1933 hit King Kong, he and the stars of the movie used their platform to advocate for gorilla conservation. Jackson very vocally backed the International Gorilla Conservation Programme and pushed back against threats like habitat damage and hunting. He also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the efforts to prevent the extinction of one of mankind’s closest relatives in the animal kingdom.

By and large, the portrayal of animals in film over recent years has had a more profoundly positive impact on the world around us than in the past. Whether intentional or not, filmmakers can achieve truly incredible things through their work. The snakes, whales, clownfish, and pigs of this world quite literally owe their lives to the films mentioned above; isn’t that wonderful?