animation, Carolyn Scott, Christina Nova, David Harbour, Gabbi Kosmidis, Heather Loreto, Kyle Derek, movies, Night of the Zoopocalypse, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Pierre Simpson, reviews, Ricardo Curtis, Rodrigo Perez-Castro, Scott Thompson
March 7, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro
Culture Representation: Taking place at the fictional Colepepper Zoo, the animated film “Night of the Zoopocalypse” features a cast of characters who are talking animals.
Culture Clash: After a meteor from outer space crashes into a zoo, many of the animals at the zoo turn into mutant zombies, with only a ragtag group of non-infected animals who can possibly stop this apocalypse.
Culture Audience: “Night of the Zoopocalypse” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in family-friendly animated entertainment that is energetic sci-fi horror.
It might surprise some people to learn that the kiddie-oriented “Night of the Zoopocalypse” is from a concept from Clive Barker, one of the masters of graphic horror that’s geared to teens and adults. It’s yet another animated movie with talking animals and a predictable plot. At least it’s entertaining to watch. The story is about a zombie apocalypse that turns a zoo into chaos. Children under the age of 10 are the movie’s main target audience.
Directed by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro, “Night of the Apocalypse” is written by Steven Hoban and James Kee. The movie takes place in an unnamed U.S. city at a fictional place called Colepepper Zoo. The animals in this movie come from various nations and have varying speaking accents. It’s another story about a group of characters who have to overcome their differences to work together toward a shared goal.
“Night of the Apocalypse” takes a simple concept and stretches it into this 91-minute film. The way the characters are introduced is somewhat rushed and flimsy. Essentially, the beginning of the movie shows a meteor from outer space falling into the zoo at night, when the zoo is closed. The result is a zombie apocalypse.
The zombie infestation begins when a bunny rabbit, whose name is listed as Bunny Zero (played by Bryn McAuley) in the end credits, accidentally swallows a piece of the meteor that has landed on a pile of peanuts. For no reason whatsoever, the bunny convulses and starts to glow.
The bunny has now turned into a zombie. One bite from this zombie turns other animals at the zoo into zombies until the entire zoo is in danger of being overrun by zombies. There are no human characters in the movie during this zoopocalypse. Viewers will have to suspend disbelief that a zoo would leave the zoo’s animals alone at night without any human supervision.
You know what happens next: The group of non-infected must try to avoid getting infected while fguring out a way to stop the zombies. These animals are:
- Gracie (voiced by Gabbi Kosmidis), a plucky young American wolf
- Dan (voiced by David Harbour), a grouchy mountain lion
- Xavier (voiced by Pierre Simpson), a movie-loving French lemur
- Fred (voiced by Kyle Derek), a goofball gorilla
- Frida (voiced by Heather Loreto), a sassy Latina capybara
- Ash (voiced by Scott Thompson), a sarcastic ostrich
- Felix (voiced by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), a pompous proboscis monkey
- Poot (voiced by Christina Nova), a limited-vocabulary baby pygmy, who is this movie’s version of Groot from “Guardians of the Galaxy”
“Night of the Zoopocalypse” is basically a series of chase scenes with a lot of slapstick comedy. The movie has a noticeable but not overbearing or preachy message about how cruel it can be to deprive animals of their natural habitat and keep them locked up in a laboratory or a zoo. There’s also a message about learning to trust others who are “different” from you. Predictably, the canine (Gracie) and the feline (Dan), who are supposed to be natural enemies, have conflicts.
In the beginning of the film (before the zombie apocalypse affects the zoo), Gracie is seen with other members of her pack of wolves, including her grandmother Grandma Abigail (voiced by Carolyn Scott), who warns Gracie not to stray too far from the pack. Abigail wants Gracie to believe live in fear because “we’re surrounded by dangerous critters,” even in the supposedly protected environment of the zoo.
Of course, Gracie finds out that most other animals (at least not the zombies) are not the enemies that Grandma Abigail says they are. Grandma Abigail is conveniently not seen again until the end of the film because the filmmakers probably didn’t want an elderly nag who can’t keep up with the action to ruin the story. “Night of the Zoopocalypse” is bursting with candy-hued tones that make this a very bubblegum-looking movie. It’s a cute romp that gets the job done sufficiently on all levels, but it’s not the type of animated film that’s memorable or imaginative enough to become a cult classic or a beloved blockbuster.
Viva Pictures released “Night of the Zoopocalypse” in U.S. cinemas on March 7, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on April 4, 2025.