Rating 7/10
Zootopia’s bunny-and-fox cop duo is back! It’s been nearly a decade since we last saw Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), and their return feels like catching up with old friends. While the first leaned heavily into an allegory about race, this sequel lets the messaging take a backseat and kicks up a breezier, joke-driven sense of fun.
Zootopia 2 begins right after Judy and Nick have exposed Dawn Bellwether (Jenny Slate), the villainous assistant mayor sheep who tried to turn the city against predators. The city prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its “weather walls,” the environmental barriers that create snowy, desert, rainforest, and savanna districts, allowing all species to coexist. Judy and Nick slip away from Chief Bogo’s (Idris Elba) morning briefing to follow a lead on a seemingly simple contraband case.
That investigation leads them to a glamorous gala hosted by the powerful Lynxley family, with proud patriarch Milton (David Strathairn) presiding. There, a pit viper named Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan) crashes the event, trying to steal the Lynxleys’ prized family journal. In the chaos of the chase, the mismatched partners’ attempts to stop him look like they’re helping him escape. Suddenly branded fugitives, the pair must clear their names, learn why reptiles vanished from Zootopia a century ago, and uncover the secrets of the Lynxley dynasty.
The film is peppered with more throwaway lines and visual gags than I could possibly list, but a handful illustrate its silly humor. Judy and Nick infiltrate the smuggling ring by posing as a married couple with a “baby” who is actually Finnick (Tommy Lister Jr.). The adult fennec fox is stuffed into a stroller, spits out his pacifier, and coos “Toot toot” in a deep voice. A chase through the kitchen at the Tundratown gala includes a moment when a lion chef’s hat pops off to reveal a tiny rat puppeteering him, a wink at Ratatouille. The movie dips into horror parody, with a snowy hedge-maze chase that mirrors the labyrinth from The Shining, complete with a pursuer in full Jack Torrance mode. And in one memorable exchange, the beaver Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster) brings the bunny-and-fox pair to Marsh Market and summons a walrus named Russ, leading to a back-and-forth barrage of nothing but “Hey, bub!”
A host of new characters adds more charm to the mix. A feline named Pawbert (Andy Samberg ) is the youngest member of the prestigious Lynxley clan, whose overeager attempts to fit in are, shall we say, awkward. Mayor Brian Winddancer (Patrick Warburton), a muscular stallion with Fabio hair, carries himself with all the theatrical flair you’d expect from a former actor-turned-politician. Marsupial Dr. Fuzzby (Quinta Brunson) is the upbeat quokka who runs Judy and Nick’s “partners therapy,” and Jesús, a plumed basilisk lizard, provokes our cop duo into eating live worms. But the breakout is the aforementioned Nibbles, whose conspiracy theorist energy made me chuckle the most. Oh, and old favorites return, too. Flash (Raymond S. Persi), the three-toed sloth from the DMV, turns out to be a surprisingly fast getaway driver.
Amid all that fun, the story can get a bit convoluted. The account delves into a century-old mystery while juggling frantic chases, clue-hunting, and shifting allegiances. It keeps introducing new corners of Zootopia and characters tied to the Lynxleys and the reptiles’ disappearance. The plot spreads these revelations across so many scenes that the picture can feel dense for an otherwise breezy comedy. Thankfully, the movie unfolds with such cheerful momentum that it stays enjoyable even when the plot threatens to overwhelm.
Zootopia 2 is an energetic romp, buoyed by nonstop puns and pop-culture riffs. I had a great time with it, and audiences clearly agree. The film earned the highest global weekend opening for an animated feature ever, debuting with a staggering $556 million. Something tells me we won’t have to wait another decade for Zootopia 3.
11-25-25
3 Responses
I actually couldn’t remember the last one. It didn’t matter, this one was quite funny. The jokes were more tailored for a more mature audience, with the ones you mentioned as examples. I really enjoyed. 7-10
The humor felt less frantic. It gave the film a different rhythm than the first (which was also good).
A lot of reviewers seem to prefer this one over the original. I kind of feel like the original introduced us to the skewed relationship between Hops and Wilde and the whole preditor prey situation that mirrored it.
Somehow the whole snakes vs. lynx plot didn’t work as well even though we had set pieces like Marsh Land and even a nod to Burning Man to hang the story beats on. The direction felt uneven to me. It starts to just be jokes and while I appreciate the inside jokes for the adults, that gimmick may have been overused.
I saw real five or six year olds in the theater and they actually got up and started walking around. Granted it was a matinee with only a handful of people in the theater, but it points out that the movie couldn’t hold thier attention for an hour and 48 minutes.
Seriously, do they think long speeches with big teary eyes, talking about appreciating our differences are going to enthrall the kids, or are those meant for us adults? It worked for Toy Story 4. I was in tears over Woody not being his child’s favorite toy and the bigger picture – when we grow up we don’t care about any of our toys any more. This movie just didn’t create that kind of pathos for me.
Worth mentioning the animation, which was amazing, but we’ve gone used to that from Pixar and Disney. We just take it for granted these days. All those background extras working so hard and they don’t even get SAG/AFTRA pay!
It was a fun romp, but I still like the first movie better. It’s hard to recapture the magic of seeing that Zootopia world and Hops and Wilde for the first time.