Zootopia 2 is every bit as fast and funny and socially attuned as its predecessor, which came out—if you can believe it—almost a decade ago. Given that stretch of time, one couldn't be blamed for noticing how both films happen to coincide with particularly Trumpian moments in history: The first film was released when Trump was the leading Republican candidate in the 2016 Presidential election, and now the second has been released at the tail end of his tumultuous first year back in office. As I wrote nine years ago, Zootopia (2016) eerily presaged Trump's penchant for eschewing facts and nuance in favor of fear-mongering and broad generalizations designed to strike fear in his political base. Nothing has changed, of course, and in fact those tendencies have been super-charged by his return to power and have found even more voice in scapegoating enemies that are more figments of his fevered imagination than actual threats—which is precisely what Zootopia 2 is about.

The story place in the titular metropolis, which, as you may recall (and, if you don't, the film provides a helpful recap at the beginning), is a fantasy city in which all manner of mammals live together in relative harmony. The city is divided into four boroughs that provide ideal environmental conditions for the various types of animals that live there. The boroughs are separated by massive walls that keep the competing environments (e.g., Tundratown and the Rainforest District) separate.

We pick up right where the first movie left off, with Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), the determined, bright-eyed bunny who became the first rabbit police officer, and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a wily con-artist of a fox, working together as a team. Having largely (but not entirely) overcome their differences, they still feel the need to prove themselves in a police force that is not used to rabbits and foxes being counted among their ranks (police officers tend to be larger animals like zebras, hippos, and, of course, returning water-buffalo Chief Bogo, voiced by Idris Elba). If the first film was about breaking through stereotypes and the importance of digging beneath assumptions, Zooptopia 2 doubles down on that message by expanding beyond the inherent tensions within the city itself and bringing in a group of animals that has been expelled entirely: reptiles.

As it turns out, there are no reptiles in Zootopia because they were forcibly ejected a hundred years ago due to a snake being accused of murder. Those accusations happen to come from the wealthy Lynxley family, a dynasty whose paterfamilias was responsible for designing the walls that made Zootopia possible. So, we have a monied, powerful, politically connected family with a vested interest in maintaining its power by pushing a (possible false) narrative that demonizes another group and requires their expulsion. Sound familiar?

I won't dig too deep into the narrative details because part of the film's pleasure is the way the mystery unfolds; it plays like a good ol' fashioned police procedural crossed with Hitchcock's wrongly accused man hijinks, wrapped up in computer-animated mania. Suffice it say that Judy and Nick stumble upon a deep conspiracy that involves, in one way or another, a smuggled snake named Gary (recent Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan); the awkward, black-sheep youngest member of the Lynxley dynasty (Andy Samberg), which is headed by his gruff father (David Strathairn); the equine movie-star-turned-Zootopia mayor (Patrick Warburton); and a conspiracy-theory-addled podcaster-beaver named Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster).

There are a lot of twists and turns and hyper-funny action sequences, but the movie is constantly moored by the heart-and-soul ethos embodied by Judy and Nick's odd-couple chemistry, which works (as they eventually learn) precisely because they are different. The film embraces diversity not as a bumper-sticker slogan, but as an ethos that creates a better world through understanding and acceptance. If that sounds too mushy, don't worry—the film isn't above sending up touchy-feeliness, which we see in the emotional breakthrough moment when Judy, the insecure overachiever, and Nick, the insecure swindler, admit to each other all of their personal and psychological shortcomings, which is both immensely touching and absolutely hilarious ("It's true! I do need a herd of therapy animals!").

Such moments suggest that returning screenwriter Jared Bush, who again co-directed with Byron Howard (they previous collaborated on Encanto), sees his characters as more than plug-n-play figures, and it helps that Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman give Judy and Nick such life. Granted, the film's emotional contours tend to be drowned out by some of the visual excess, including an unexpectedly spot-on homage to the climax of The Shining (1980), and some of the characters feel like they're trying too hard to be memorable (I'm looking at you, Nibbles). But, on the whole, Zootopia 2 admirably balances visual mania and genuine emotion.

Copyright © 2025 James Kendrick

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