Movie Review: ‘Zootopia 2’

Directors: Jared Bush and Byron Howard

Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Shakira, Idris Elba, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo

Plot: Judy and Nick garnered public attention for cracking the missing carnivores case, and now face the pressure of keeping up with expectations. The force already resent them and, with a new case delving into the history of Zootopia, they have to prove they can work together.

Review: There weren’t many movies we were rushing out to see on release day this year. Sinners, Bugonia, The Running Man…and Zootopia 2. A Disney animated sequel may not feel like it fits in with the other titles on the list, but the first film was so damn delightful! It’s an incredibly rich world built off a simple concept, and the dynamic between Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman could not have been more perfect. It explored complex societal ideas in a way accessible to all along with some darn silly gags. Flash the Sloth cracking up laughing is one of the best moments of modern animation.

We also visited the Zootopia land in the Shanghai Disneyland park. It’s legit the best designed land in Disney parks to date.

Not that we assumed that this would be a worthwhile sequel. Disney animation has not been doing their best work the last few years. Frozen 2 and Moana 2 felt rushed out and janky, Strange World was forgettable and the less said about Wish the better. Plus, we’d just been stung by the disappointment of The Running Man. Fortunately for us, Zootopia 2 was the exact movie we were hoping to see.

Another case with Judy (Goodwin) and Nick (Bateman) that delves into the history and machinations of how Zootopia operates along with a handful of fun new characters. The trailers suggested that they would be mostly rehashing gags from the first film, but that seems to have been just the marketing.

As Nick and Judy attend Partner therapy and investigate smuggling rings, they find evidence that a snake is sneaking around the city. Due to a long standing public hatred, reptiles are ostracised from society to live in hidden ghettos and snakes in particular are shunned. What they find is a hidden history to the city perpetrated by the wealthy Lynxley family. Teaming up with Gary De’Snake (Quan), a conspiracy theory podcaster Nibbles Maplestick (Feimster) and the black sheep of the Lynxley family Pawbert (Samberg) to uncover the truth while the rest of the police force try to shut them down.

Much like the first film, discrimination and social divisions are central to the theme, with classism being a key component. Whilst that is something to think about, the heart of the movie lies with Judy and Nick having to address their own insecurities and shortcomings to work better as police and as partners. It’s all as well written as the first and just as fun.

Although we said that this movie doesn’t rely on recycling jokes from the original film, it does go hard on cameos and pop culture references. They never got in the way of the film, but they could get on some viewers nerves. There’s an extensive The Shining reference towards the end that feels very out of place for a children’s film produced more than 50 years later. We did get a good chuckle from ‘Bob Tiger’ though. It’s worth sitting through the end credits just to see all the famous names. Also the end-credit sting that sets up Zootopia 3…which will happen, since this one just broke box office records in China.

Rating: EIGHT out of TEN