Zootropolis 2 Review

Disney has returned to the world of Zootopia (or Zootropolis in many parts of Europe), with Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde needing to work together to uncover another conspiracy.

Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick (Jason Bateman) have been police partners for a week. When they cause a colossal amount of damage, Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) threatens to split them up unless they complete couples therapy. However, Judy continues to work a case, believing it’s linked to Zootropolis’s centenary and the appearance of a snake for the first time in 100 years.

The original Zootopia/Zootropolis was a massive hit for Disney. It made over a billion dollars at the box office and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was made at a time when Disney was churning out hit after hit, including Inside Out, The Jungle Book, and Beauty and the Beast, as well as owning the Marvel and Star Wars properties. However, post-pandemic Disney hasn’t been as successful. Raya and the Last Dragon and Strange World were box-office bombs, and Wish was arguably one of Disney’s worst animated films. Disney have gone back to the safety of sequels. Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 were huge hits, and future films being made by Disney and its subsidiaries include two Frozen sequels, Toy Story 5, and a second Simpsons movie.

Zootropolis 2 has been a massive success already. It has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and made $560 million at the box office during the opening weekend. Zootropolis had more potential for an expansion than some other Disney properties. The world was creative and thought out, more so than other animal-themed films like the Sing series. The Zootropolis films were buddy cop movies, so it meant there were more story possibilities.

The first Zootropolis film was praised for its exploration of racism. Zootropolis 2 continued this but took it in a different direction. In Zootropolis, prejudice was based on stereotypes and misconceptions. Judy was underestimated because she was a small rabbit, and foxes were seen as shifty, leading most of the characters to distrust Nick. Zootropolis 2: discrimination was used as a method of control. When Zootropolis was founded, a snake murdered a maid for the Lynxleys’ family, and this crime led to reptiles going into hiding and snakes being feared. The Lynxleys wanted to keep snakes as a villain.

The villains’ plot had two pillars: a historical lie and an evil real estate scheme. It was revealed early on that the legend of Ebenezer Lynxley and the founding of Zootropolis was based on a lie. This cover-up story was similar to the classic Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast,” and to a lesser extent, Frozen II. The real estate scheme made Zootropolis the family-friendly version of Chinatown, or a modern version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The film aimed to be an indictment of generational wealth, corporate issues, and racism, which is iconic considering some of Disney’s recent actions, i.e. content purges, planning to use AI to make ‘content’, and cowering to the Trump administration.

The sequel did see a change in Judy and Nick’s dynamic. The first film showed the pair tricking and outwitting each other before earning each other’s trust. In Zootropolis 2 Judy was still a headstrong go-getter who wanted to prove herself, but Nick changed. He was a more cautious character who was trying to rein in Judy’s impulsiveness. Nick wanted to keep his head down. One of Nick’s strengths in the first film was that he was a street-wise character who could take Judy to places she couldn’t go. This strength disappeared when he went to Marsh Town since he was, for lack of a better term, a fish out of water.

Zootropolis 2 was a busier film since there were more characters and storylines going on. The mystery was revealed early, and Judy’s partnership with Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan) played out like an Indiana Jones or Dan Brown-style adventure. They were looking for artefacts and solving puzzles. The Lynxleys tricked the police and used them to hunt Judy and Nick. Some of the most memorable characters in the film were Captain Hoggbottom (Michelle Gomez), since she spoke with a thick Scottish accent, the zebra cops, and a mad conspiracy theorist, Nibbles Maplestikc (Fortune Feimster). The character of Mayor Winddancer (Patrick Warburton) felt like Bojack Horseman if he got his act together.

For a family film, there was a lot to keep up with in Zootropolis 2. The film suffered from sequelitis due to its broader plot and reliance on callbacks to the previous film.

Zootropolis 2 was a funny and energetic film, which made it a breezy watch. There were a lot of visual gags, with one of the favourites being big animals working with small items. There were a lot of movie references and gags, which made Zootropolis 2 more like a DreamWorks film, yet a reference to The Shining is always welcome.

Zootropolis 2 wasn’t as strong as its predecessor, but it’s still a funny film that should please most families.