Disney’s upcoming 3-D animated film, Zootopia, has just released its full cast, and it looks like behind each furry, anthropomorphized animal will be the voice of one or another very popular “human” celebrity. Along with the already announced headliners Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin, the cast will also include Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate, and Tommy Chong.

It seems as if those in charge of casting for the film wanted to find the most compatible human voice for the corresponding animal, and according to this list, it looks like they accomplished their goal. Elba, the painfully handsome lead of television series and films including Luther and Beasts of No Nation, will be playing Chief Bogo, the oxymoronically serious yet silly buffalo who heads up Zootopia’s police department. J.K. Simmons,a.k.a. the jazz drumming instructor of our nightmares, will play the Lion Mayor, Leodore Lionheart. Plus, Jenny Slate (Parks and Recreation) will play the sheep assistant to Simmons’ Lion Mayor (can’t imagine there being any issue with that dyad).

Additionally, Nate Torrence (Hello Ladies) will play Zootopia P.D.’s resident cheetah charmer, Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, with a penchant for pop music and pastries; Octavia Spencer (The Help) is Mrs. Otterton, an otter desperate to find her missing husband; Tommy Chong (Up in Smoke) will lend his laid-back tones to Yax the Yak, a chilled-out yet surprisingly insightful yak; Bonnie Hunt (Jerry Maguire) voices Bonnie Hopps, Judy’s nervous but supporting mother; Don Lake (Dumb and Dumber To) plays Judy’s father, Stu Hopps, a humble carrot farmer; Alan Tudyk (Rogue One) plays Duke Weaselton, naturally, a two-bit crook with a big-time mouth; Tommy “Tiny” Lister (Friday) will play Finnick, a fennec fox with a chip on his shoulder; Raymond Persi (Wreck-It Ralph) will lend his voice to Flash, the fastest-working sloth in the DMV (Department of Mammal Vehicles); Katie Lowes (Scandal) is Dr. Madge Honey Badger, City Hall’s chief medical officer; Jesse Corti (Frozen) is the jaguar Manchas, a a chauffeur for the biggest and sleaziest limo company around; and John DiMaggio (Futurama) is Jerry Jumbeaux Jr., the quick-to-anger owner of a local ice cream shop.

For those who need a brush up on the bushy tale, Zooptopia is about a “modern mammal metropolis” that fully excludes humans (lest we not forget that we don’t lay eggs and also lactate occasionally!). All walks of life are welcome in Zooptopia, but when a plucky and bright-eyed rabbit by the name of Judy Hopps (Goodwin) joins a police force dominated by big blustery beasts, she finds that she’ll have to prove that such a small creature is capable of great big things. Sort of like Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy, but with much less cursing, drinking, and heavy artillery.

The feature, which is due out in March of 2016, is directed by Byron Howard (Bolt, Tangled) and Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph), who’ve both already brought to life popular animated movies for Disney, so Zooptopia should deliver the caliber of character and adventure that we’ve come to expect from the House of Mouse in recent years.

What do you think about the casting for Zooptopia? Would you have similarly studded the cast with stars or did Disney let the dogs out? Let us know in the comments below.

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HT: USA Today via /FILM 

IMAGE: Disney Studios