Zootopia 2 is a stagnant sequel with one stellar subplot
Disney seems less invested in the sequel, which feels more like a Disney+ TV show than an animated epic.
Photo: Disney
It’s been nearly a decade since Zootopia‘s buddy-cop metaphor for prejudice and racism ignited a firestorm of thinkpieces about the limits of allegory. In the years since, Disney seems to have realized it bit off more than its animal protagonists could chew with that one. Early into Zootopia 2, a character celebrates how easy it was to teach everyone to “set aside their differences and solve bias and prejudice forever”—a winking nod towards the mixed reception of the first film’s themes. The good news is that Disney has tried to be even more thoughtful and nuanced with its oppression metaphors this time around. The bad news is that the Mouse House also seems less invested in Zootopia as an artistic effort, churning out a sequel that feels more like a Disney+ TV show than an animated epic.
Imperfect themes aside, what the first Zootopia had going for it was its gorgeous animation and evocative character design. From the clever visual worldbuilding of its city to the lush colors and textures of a nighttime chase through the Rainforest District, Zootopia was part of a wave of projects that proved CG animation could have the same depth and expressivity as a classic hand-drawn film. That visual wonder elevated the first Zootopia, but the X-factor is gone in the sequel; everything looks brighter, flatter, and cheaper. Rather than push animation forward, Zootopia 2 is content to be just another colorful kids’ movie about cute, funny animals in a big, frenetic world.
There’s something similarly rote about the dynamic between Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), the first bunny cop in the Zootopia Police Department, and con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), who ended the first film by renouncing his criminal ways and joining the ZPD himself. Despite the real-world passage of time, it’s still Judy and Nick’s first week as partners as the story picks up. And in a world where police officers are mostly paired by species (zebras with zebras, hippos with hippos, etc.), Judy and Nick’s rare bunny/fox combo marks them as outliers.
That they’re immediately forced to join a “partners in crisis” group therapy session, where all the other animals are also mixed pairs, raises questions about the ZPD’s unconscious bias in what it thinks a “good team” looks like. But perhaps wary of commenting on policing any more than it has to, Zootopia 2 downplays the cop angle by placing Judy and Nick on the run and giving them a more personal dilemma about needing to communicate better and listen to each other. It’s a sweet message and well-acted by the perfectly cast Goodwin and Bateman, whose incredible chemistry is almost wasted by not making this an overt love story. But it’s another place where the film feels content to repeat the beats of the first one rather than enter new territory.
