Zootropolis 2 (Zootopia 2)

Nearly ten years after the release of the first Zootropolis in 2016 (or Zootopia, depending on the market), we are finally back to this city inhabited by mammals of all kinds, sizes, and diets, meeting our beloved Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, two of the best lead characters in recent Disney animated films. In fact, one could make a strong case that Zootropolis is Disney's best and most iconic animated film (excluding Pixar) of the last decade (and therefore this quarter of a century), maybe only behind Frozen.

Sadly, as it has often happened with Disney sequels (and continues to happen with Frozen 2, Moana 2, or Mufasa very recently), this second entry is significantly inferior to the first one, lacking the inventiveness of the original: all its virtues are repeated from the first movie and yet still feel inferior, less original, and less fun.

Despite the more than nine years that have passed between movies, Zootropolis 2 takes place almost right after the first movie ended, with Hopps and Wilde teaming up in the police force, but still as rookies. After uncovering a deep conspiracy that threatened to shake the core pillars of the city in the first movie, the idealistic little bunny Judy is hungry to save the city again, but the fox Wilde, with a more relaxed attitude, warns her that not everything is going to be a huge adventure.

Naturally, in order to have a bigger movie than the first, they will end up finding an even deeper conspiracy that once again threatens the core pillars of the city. What an exhausting few months to live in Zootropolis...

Zootropolis 2 may be bigger, but it's not smarter. The topics of the movie and the morals feel too similar to stand out on their own, but they are not as well presented and developed. It's nice that the movie presents a different "race" (so to speak, the reptiles) that used to live alongside the rest of the animals but were forced into exile and were erased from history, but this is Disney, so don't expect them to dig deeper and dare to voice any commentary about the Palestine genocide, for example.

What this movie is mostly about is welcoming and embracing our differences, which is expressed in the bigger picture (the mammals-reptiles conflict) but also in the relationship between Hopps and Wilde and their strikingly different personalities. The most beautiful and platonic friendship in Disney is tested... not as much as they could have, honestly, so the big emotional third act feels a little flat.

The chemistry between the two lead characters played by Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman is once again what propels the movie and keeps it afloat even in the least interesting parts. The new characters, mainly a snake played by Ke Huy Quan and a beaver played by Fortune Feimster, are not very fun, and the plot twists are predictable, sometimes even mirroring those of the first movie, but with the true villain being far less memorable.

Zootropolis 2 (or Zootopia 2) is still a fun, entertaining film, filled with slapstick humour using the animals and the new environments, like the mangrove, which may not make you laugh out loud, but will put a smile on your face all the way. However, I was left disappointed that after nine years, what we got is basically a repeat of the same elements. The new additions to the cast don't feel nearly as charismatic as Hopps and Wilde, whose relationship remains at the core of the sequel.

But while I appreciate the things they are aiming to do with the two lead characters and the lesson they want to teach us about friendship and team work, it feels they were a little afraid to really test their relationship in a truly meaningful way to make the eventual reconciliation have more weight (I can't help but think about the very underrated Monsters University here), which ends up feeling like a wasted opportunity. Zootropolis 2 is another conservative Disney sequel that does enough to entertain, but plays too safely to surprise.