The Gist
Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.
The Review
A decade ago one animated film surprised everybody. At the time Disney’s animation arm had watched as Pixar and Dreamworks had shot past it and were creating hit after hit. Then Disney dropped Zootopia – a film that people seemed to expect very little from but ended up getting rave reviews, was a box office success and was lapped up by its target audience.
It may have been a surprise – but yes somehow a story about a city of animals and a little bunny that dreamed about becoming a Police Officer became a hit.
Now nine years later Judy Hoops (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin – Once Upon A Time), that determined bunny, once again teams up with her street-wise fox friend, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman – Game Night), for another adventure and once again audiences are for an absolute trip.
This time around Judy and Nick find themselves wanted by the law when they try to impress their boss, Chief Bogo (Idris Elba – Thor: Ragnarok), by making a major bust. Instead the bust ends badly but during it Judy claims to have seen a snake – something that was expelled from Zootopia after a random attack that left an innocent person dead 100 years earlier.
Convinced of what she has seen Judy talks Nick into sneaking into a upper-class ball with her. Here she meets the rich Lynxly family led by – Milton Lynxly (David Strathairn – Lincoln) – whose power came from the fact that their family created the unique ‘weather wall’ system that keeps Zootopia’s residents alive.
However, during the ball Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once) attacks not only stealing a valuable artifact but creating a situation where Judy and Nick are framed for almost killing Chief Bogo.
But with the law now after them the pair soon learn that the only animals that can help them are Gary De’Snake, the ambitious Pawbert Lynxly (Andy Samberg – Hotel Transylvania) and the seemingly crazy conspiracy theorist Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster – Office Christmas Part).
Like the first film Zootopia 2 isn’t afraid to be a little darker than your average family animation. It safely lands in the same boat as The Bad Guys franchise in that while the story-line may not exactly be good for younger children it does more than enough to entertain those a little older. Characters like Mr. Big (Maurice LaMarche – The Simpsons) are clearly aimed at an older audience as their ‘Mafia’ influence is not exactly hidden at all – but to be honest it is that kind of edgy things that make Zootopia such a great franchise to watch.
Much of the genius of Zootopia 2 comes from its screenwriters (who are also coincidentally co-directors), Jared Bush (Encanto) and Byron Howard (Tangled), who manage to take what is a simply buddy cop movie and give it creativity, humour, heart and a thought-provoking storyline.
Creativity is the key here. The audience will see an expansion of the Zootopia world here with an introduction to the area where the water creatures and reptiles call home and as you watch these scenes every single space on the screen is filled with something new and different. You do get a genuine feeling while watching the film that these guys have thought of everything single little thing as it all comes together.
Then there is the heart here. Whether it be the friendship between Judy or Nick or the fact that this film teaches people of all ages to not judge but care about the people around us. The screenwriters here even find a way to touch on a important cause like human displacement but do it without politicising the film – something rare in film these days.
And the best thing about all that is that Bush and Howard cram all that into the film without ever letting it get in the way of the actual story at hand. Yes, this is a crime story at the heart and that plays out exceptionally well while even the humour hits every mark as well.
The Verdict
Zootopia 2 is a well-written and funny film that is bound to entertain audiences of all ages. All the characters you know and love are back and like the original film this is a movie that can be watched over and over without ever getting stale.
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