Zootopia 2

Bigger and busier, this sequel can’t recapture the original’s spark

After the return of Bob Iger as Disney CEO, a pivot was made to make less quantity of content for the streamer Disney +,  which had partially doomed his chosen successor Bob Chapek, and instead play it safe with sequels to beloved franchises. Thus, a greenlight was given for Moana 2 (2024), Toy Story 5 (2026), and Frozen 3 (2027). Among the anointed sequels to previous hits is Zootopia 2 (2025), which just hit theaters.

Zootopia 2 comes out nine years after the original, yet only a week has passed in the cinematic narrative. Newly anointed hero cops, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and ex-con Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), find that working together professionally is more challenging than expected. They are roped in to yet another conspiracy, when a snake (Ke Huy Quan) – banished and feared animals in Zootopia – pulls off a heist at a gala. Judy and Nick chase down the leads and while pulling at the threads, discover that not all is at it seems with Zootopia’s past.

Zootopia 2 reunites Jared Bush and Byron Howard from the first film, with Bush as the sole screenwriter. To have a singular screenwriter for an animated family film is quite unusual, as one usually gets a barrage of angles and perspectives to try and fine-tune the story to be as harmless and sellable as possible. Zootopia (2016) impressed with a complex mystery and a tangled web of characters within a lived-in world. Pulling off this complicated storytelling so that both young children and their parents stayed entertained was quite a feat. With Zootopia 2 we again get a complex mystery and expanded view of the rich world, yet the film also falls into the most glaring sequel trope: telling the same story again, only bigger.

The fine-tuning of the first film gets lost in the shuffle as Bush and Byron overstuff Zootopia 2 with more characters, settings, and narrative twists and turns. It is a risky move that could alienate the youngest viewers, as even adults have to stay focused to track the narrative. Meanwhile, character work is diluted as we are introduced to an array of colorful new characters, crammed alongside the old ones. This ironically blunts the message of the original by simplifying characters to one-dimensional cliches instead of taking the complexity of each individual.

The first Zootopia had a powerful message regarding stereotypes, racism, and judging people by their family or appearance. Its sequel doubles down on this subject matter, yet introduces a more ambitious concept to introduce to kids: gentrification. The main plot revolves around the exclusion of reptiles from the mammal world (another variation of herbivore and carnivore confrontation of the first film), and how mammals wish to expand their “tundra” neighborhood into the marshland district, displacing the reptiles living there. It is a fascinating experiment to see if children understand the complexities at play in gentrification: from developer rights, to land ownership, and the pricing out or “inhospitable” habitat replacing original establishments. It is too specific a point to explore in a family film, which is already overstuffed and bloated. Perhaps with a better focus and less overextension, the subject could have been broached in a clear and gentle manner.

Even though it plays it as safe as it can, essentially delivering the same film again with a different coat of paint, Zootopia 2 is still an enjoyable romp. It does go way overboard on the pun humor of the first, to a point that I was oversaturated 20 minutes in by how many jokes you could put the word “zoo” in. Yet, the great voice cast, led by Goodwin and Bateman, who bring their A-game, helps elevate the more emotional scenes and make the cringier ones more digestible. The animation quality is also astounding, once again showcasing Disney’s computer animators as the best in the industry. There are many more scenes involving water – a notorious element to animate – and its interaction with different furs, hairs, and coats, which had me in awe.

In the end, Zootopia 2 is a harmless repackaged version of the original. It works as a fainter echo of the first’s blast, yet proves enjoyable nonetheless. The narrative suffers from overstuffing, and the plot might prove too complicated for younger viewers this time around. Nevertheless, for a benign time at the movies, this sequel will help pass the time amiably.

6.6/10