When I sat down to watch “Zootopia 2,” the long awaited sequel to Disney Animation’s “Zootopia,” I did not have high expectations. Disney has a reputation of taking great movies and making less than impressive continuations of their stories, whether it be live-action remakes or sequels. “Moana 2” and the live action remake of “Mulan” are examples of this phenomenon; both were met with bad reviews from critics and fans alike.
So, with these recent examples in my mind, I was not particularly expecting the great movie that I saw. What I saw was actually a well thought out, entertaining movie that I liked just as much as the first, to my surprise.
The idea of the original movie’s plot has always been intriguing: a world where instead of humans, all kinds of animals are the predominant species. Furthermore, they live in a multicultural city with different environments suited for all the different occupants of the city, divided by walls. How fun! It’s a great set up for a great movie.
The original story of Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a small-town bunny dreaming to be a police officer in the big, idealized city of Zootopia, and the sneaky businessman fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), teaming up to solve a major case against all odds earned the movie a loyal following.
Considering the critical success and massive profit made by the first movie, “Zootopia 2” had a huge chance for financial success, but the question still lingered: will it actually be good?
Fans and critics are happy to report: the general consensus is yes, the movie is very good! It earned a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and had the highest-grossing Thanksgiving weekend opening ever. “Zootopia 2” is still enjoying an extremely successful movie theater run since its release on Nov. 26, 2025.
“Zootopia 2” begins a week after the final events of “Zootopia,” after Nick joins Judy in the police workplace and decides to improve his life. The duo is known throughout the city as heroes for defeating the oppressive, species-dividing villains of the last movie.
The pair are ready for action and important assignments, but there’s just one problem: they aren’t working particularly gracefully with each other or the other cops, taking on missions they haven’t been assigned to. This gets them in trouble with their stern cape buffalo boss, Chief Bogo, voiced by Idris Elba. He threatens to split the not-so-dynamic duo up,ends up jokingly giving them a “case”: group partner therapy, making for a scene I found very funny due to Quinta Brunson’s depiction of Dr. Fuzzby, the cool and collected quokka therapist.
However, in the opening scene of the movie, Judy discovers snake skin and investigates. Breaching Bogo’s orders, she and Nick attend a party hosted by the Lynxleys, a powerful lynx family, to investigate the Lynxley Journal: a relic documenting the foundation of Zootopia, that Judy has learned is connected with reptiles.
As Judy attempts to get a closer look at the journal, chaos breaks out. A cloaked figure steals the coveted relic. As Judy and Nick chase him, Judy realizes it is Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), who truly means no harm at all. However, she and Nick are soon accused of working with the snake, a villainized member of society.
This throws the pair into a dramatic adventure where our leading duo find that they are very different, a big theme throughout the movie. When Nick wants to give up, Judy does not. After the many attempts to catch the runaway snake they lose after the window escape, Nick is captured by the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD). Without her partner, Judy teams up with Pawbert Lynxley (Andy Samberg), the disgruntled outcast of the Lynxley family who is working with Gary. Gary tells Judy the story of his ancestors, the true founders of Zootopia, whose history was buried by the tyrannical Lynxley family. Now it’s a race for the Lynxley Journal, which contains proof of this secret.
The first movie is obviously a very clear analogy for racism, and it’s faced some criticism for not being the best depiction of this issue. The second movie does a much better job of breaking down complex issues like racism and gentrification for a younger audience. Zootopia’s real history being covered up by the Lynxleys and vilification of all of the reptiles actually worked very well.
At the same time, the Lynxleys as villains were not fully explored to the extent that they should have been. It’s a detail that doesn’t bother me too much, but it’s still something that was left to be desired. Pawbert is the runt of his family, we know that, but why? We never get an explanation as to why he is so disliked by his family members, or why the Lynxleys continue to be so evil throughout the years, or how they have this immense control of the political system of Zootopia.
I got whiplash from watching the final minutes of the movie, where all conflict suddenly just stops, and character motivations seem to become nonsensical (such as the ZPD suddenly starting to help Nick and Judy, after chasing them the whole movie). The movie was jammed packed, and overall very stimulating. Which is good, I liked that, but come on. I just don’t understand why the end of the movie is so rushed when they had so much wiggle room.
Although entertaining, the movie just has a lot of plot holes that had me raising my eyebrows. Gazelle, the (you guessed it) gazelle popstar voiced by and based on the Columbian superstar, Shakira, runs into Judy while she’s hot on the track of the case. While Judy is a wanted criminal, Gazelle supports Judy for some reason. Does this mean there is a group of animals still supporting Judy, even if in the general city’s eyes she is a criminal? I wish we got an explanation for that, because it just seemed like it was added to use Gazelle’s character (which I have no problem with, she’s glamorous). But is there not a better way to do that without clearly just writing a solution for Judy, where none of the short-lived exchange made literally any sense?
The movie in itself is very emotional. There were some dark scenes that I was surprised to see in a children’s movie, but I think complex emotions and topics like death are important for kids to be exposed to. I don’t think that it’s anything a child above a certain age or maturity level couldn’t handle. They have to learn how to feel, and movies are a great way to do that.
The animation is beautiful, Zootopia is just such a fun world to watch. The different species and settings keep you entertained, everywhere you look, there’s something to see.
Overall, if you need a fun animated watch, this is the one. As long as you don’t think too logistically into the story it is an easy watch, but, hey, this is literally a movie about talking animals, so we can’t expect everything to be one hundred percent realistic, because it simply is not the real world. Obviously I don’t expect this movie to be a masterpiece, with absolutely no room for error.
Also, “Zoo” by Shakira is a hit, it was playing in the car the whole ride home.
