Theatrical Review: Zootopia 2

Date: Sunday November 30, 2025
Time: 10:15am
Party: 2 (my sister & I)

Introductions

As promised, I saw the new Wicked movie with my mom and the new Zootopia with my sister. We'd been kinda slacking with the movie watching this year, but there also hasn't been much that generate that excitement. 
Perhaps next year will be better.

We arrived just in time for the previews, thanks to not accounting for the kind of traffic we'd see the weekend after Thanksgiving. We got off an earlier exit and she was my navigator as we cut through some local streets to get back to the route that leads to the mall. 
It was night and day, how slow the highway was and how [almost] deserted this road was.
Then when we made our way back, naturally the East side of the highway was slower than it had been earlier. But at least we got to see a rare Hawaii license that made the slow trek worth the extra effort.
To quote Ryan Stiles from Whose Life is it Anyway? 
"Welcome to Hawaii: how do you get here in a car?"

The trailers were nothing really special. We caught part of "GOAT," which is a basketball movie featuring animals and Steph Curry has the starring role.
Actually, he's not the starring role, but he does have a role as one of the players on the basketball team the goat character aspires to join. He's also one of the movie's producers.

Then they had the trailer for the SpongeBob movie and "Hopper," where there's technology to download human minds into really realistic robots of furry forest animals. I'm sure I'd mentioned it in another review but it still doesn't wow me. 

Movie Talk

I LOVED the original Zootopia so I was looking forward to this as well, while secretly hoping that this sequel was worth the wait and all the effort. Sequels are tricky business in general. "Frozen 2" I still consider a big disappointment with how good the original movie was.

Thankfully, Zootopia was the rare exception of a good quality sequel.
Was it as good as the original? Maybe not... both were super fun and exciting, but also had their dramatic moments. That moment where you find out who the real villain is and can't help wondering how things are going to resolve so the good guys are able to win. 
This plot twist and all the drama and peril following it ran a little long... but the good thing about these movies is the way they lighten the mood. 
In this case, Judy and Nick are having a really nice heart-to-heart where they apologize and say how much they care about each other and another character comments just as they finish "oh, by the way, the bad guy is getting away." 
Disney (and their many affiliates) have gone a little far with meta/self-aware humor but in this case, I couldn't help but laugh because I thought the same thing maybe five minutes before this was said on screen. 

The movie had a lot of moments where I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Some of those highlights were in Marsh Market where the Judy and Nick are being escorted by their new ally, a conspiracy theorist played by Fortune Feimster (a role absolutely written for her brand of humor) through the Marsh Market and Nick keeps making faux pas with the locals. 
Despite how dire things feel at times, with our main duo being wanted fugitives, there's still the occasional moments humor shines through and you're having such a good time that you forget just how much is at stake.

In both movies, the heart of it is obviously the camaraderie between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Here, they're officially partners on the police force, but this comes with some unexpected complications that lands them in couples therapy. They take their first case and it falls into chaos because Judy is too gung ho about tracking down the bad guys that she ignores any attempts from Nick to think things through before acting. 
The lead they follow that gets them into trouble, not only with the powerful Lynx family but their brothers in blue-- the first snake had gotten into Zootopia for the first times in 100 years and they're branded fugitives for helping it escape.

Much like in the original, the plot revolves around debunking misconceptions. Instead of it being about "predators acting out because of their instincts" (spoiler alert- they were being set-up), it's about reptiles being outcast from Zootopia because one had been implicated in a murder, so therefore none of them can be trusted.
In truth, the real bad guys are the Lynx family and their hidden agenda is about expanding their territory, even if it means resorting to revisionist history. Judy uncovers this century-long cover-up and like it or not, Nick is by her side to help her see it through.

In addition to the new characters, NIbbles Maplestick the beaver, Gary the pit viper (Ke Huy Quan, who's still experiencing an incredible resurgence since being in The Goonies and The Temple of Doom back in the 80's), action movie-star-turned-mayor Brian Winddancer (whoa, Patrick Warburton has come a long way since he played Kronk in the Emperor's New Groove), we have the return of some old favorites.

"Try Everything" is one of the big reasons why I loved the original Zootopia. (The second biggest being Jason Bateman as Nick... I wasn't even a fan of this guy before this movie. Now, it's sort of like what happened with Ryan Reynolds. I didn't think much of him until he was Deadpool. Now, he's just awesome. Same goes with Jason Bateman)
But yeah, "Try Everything" is such a fun bop and it really set the scene for when Judy makes her first trip into the fabled Zootopia to make her dream of being the first bunny cop a reality. 
Shakira is back as Gazelle with a new song, which features at a Burning Mammal festival in the desert (gee, I wonder what that's a reference too...) and the end credits. 
"Zoo" isn't quite at the same level, but I still enjoyed it. 
Also, she gets to have a cool moment where she helps the good guys by distracting some of the animals pursuing them.

There's a few duos on the police force. The pigs (which I'm just now realizing is a really on-the-nose reference) show up the most and are the most cutthroat of the bunch. 
On the other hand, we have a couple of zebras who serve as occasional comic relief. As soon as they did their first head-butt chanting "Zebros!," I was immediately a fan. Sometimes I just can't resist a good pun, especially when it's this perfect. 

Also returning is Flash, everyone's favorite sloth from the DMV. As limited as his screen time is, he leaves an undeniable impression. 

Probably the most fun thing is all the little references scattered throughout the movie.
A lot of Disney references, like Judy wearing Belle's ballgown when she and Nick sneak into a gala. And when a frying pan gets used as a weapon (a little nod to Rapunzel from "Tangled").
My favorite might be a polar bear being seen holding a Coca-Cola bottle right before his snow mobile gets stolen. It's not labeled, but there's no mistaking the shape. A very fitting reference for a movie being released just before the start of Christmas time.

There isn't much left to say without giving any major spoilers away so I'll leave it here.
I'll just end with saying that this is a Disney sequel, or a sequel in general, that's definitely worth your time. Especially if you or someone you know is in the target demographic, although this is a movie that would be fun for both kids and adults.

Grade: A/A-