Re: Zootopia 2
Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:07 pm
Spoiler-tagging everything just to be considerate, but the last half of the post is a bit more spoilery than the first.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. Not as much as I enjoyed Frozen II, but leagues better than Ralph Breaks the Internet or Moana 2 or any Pixar sequel post TS3.
I think the story team lived up to their promise of making this sequel about Nick and Judy. There were unique, specific pay-offs to their characters that deepened our connection to them. I felt like we got to see what it was we loved about them while also witnessing them become wholler versions of themselves. By the end, they were different characters than they were at the start of this film, which was also different than who they were at the start of the first film.
Part of what holds this back for me is that I felt there were a few too many dangling threads that weren't resolved. Nothing major in the way of plot resolution, but like Nick confides that he has a fear of reptiles, and I felt like they were telegraphing a specific moment where he gets over that, but if we got that, it was a definite blink-and-you-miss it ordeal. Nick accidentally releasing all of Zootopia's major criminals from prison was also a big sore for me, even if they did acknowledge it in the final minutes with an exchange about him and Judy needing to go round them up again.
I was also surprised that we didn't see more of Gary. I felt like in order Judy and Gary to have the relationship we needed from them, they should have joined up earlier. Like, maybe a version of the movie where they actually catch him in the water tunnels, and they have an episode of bonding while they're investigating the old honeymoon cottage, which was already the slimmest part of the movie for me.
But one little thing that I liked was [minor spoiler] the animation for when Gary gives Judy that life-saving hug in the climax. It's one of the strengths of these films that even though it's far removed from like the fairy-tale field that Disney normally plays with, they still have a recognizable "magical" feel to them rooted in what we know about friendship and goodness being like this salvific force. In the last movie, I love that Judy and Nick through their bond are able to thwart Bellweather's attempts to use the serum to have Nick attack Judy--even though the in-universe explanation has to do with them literally switching out the toxin. There was something similar here where it is Judy's physical warmth that restores Gary, but we also know that it's been Judy's spiritual warmth that has gotten them this far.
I had mixed feelings about the bad guy here. [Major Spoiler] I really wanted it to be the beaver, not just because I picked her out of a hat right at the start. Her character just never landed for me. They were trying to use her to capture the charm of backwoods smalltown Americana, but she just always felt like a parody to me. Like she's designed to tell city folk who've never been to the country that this is just how country people are, but even as this kind of character is meant to be endearing, I just find that representation super condescending. Similar reason why I've never connected with Ray from "Princess and the Frog."
But from Pawbert and Judy's very first interaction, I was kind of like, "Dang ... it's gonna be him, isn't it?" I was hoping they'd kind of go against the grain and let there be like ONE rich person who somehow broke the cycle of tyranny and helped take down the system, but that's just not what we got. I guess we KINDA got that from the mayor finally standing up to the Lynxlies, but I could have lived with him being the aberration that helped correct the flaws of the society.
I'll welcome more original films always, but I think it's also important to not be ungrateful when a sequel works as well as this one does. I'd personally score it as like 7.5/10, with that rating more likely to go up than down.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. Not as much as I enjoyed Frozen II, but leagues better than Ralph Breaks the Internet or Moana 2 or any Pixar sequel post TS3.
I think the story team lived up to their promise of making this sequel about Nick and Judy. There were unique, specific pay-offs to their characters that deepened our connection to them. I felt like we got to see what it was we loved about them while also witnessing them become wholler versions of themselves. By the end, they were different characters than they were at the start of this film, which was also different than who they were at the start of the first film.
Part of what holds this back for me is that I felt there were a few too many dangling threads that weren't resolved. Nothing major in the way of plot resolution, but like Nick confides that he has a fear of reptiles, and I felt like they were telegraphing a specific moment where he gets over that, but if we got that, it was a definite blink-and-you-miss it ordeal. Nick accidentally releasing all of Zootopia's major criminals from prison was also a big sore for me, even if they did acknowledge it in the final minutes with an exchange about him and Judy needing to go round them up again.
I was also surprised that we didn't see more of Gary. I felt like in order Judy and Gary to have the relationship we needed from them, they should have joined up earlier. Like, maybe a version of the movie where they actually catch him in the water tunnels, and they have an episode of bonding while they're investigating the old honeymoon cottage, which was already the slimmest part of the movie for me.
But one little thing that I liked was [minor spoiler] the animation for when Gary gives Judy that life-saving hug in the climax. It's one of the strengths of these films that even though it's far removed from like the fairy-tale field that Disney normally plays with, they still have a recognizable "magical" feel to them rooted in what we know about friendship and goodness being like this salvific force. In the last movie, I love that Judy and Nick through their bond are able to thwart Bellweather's attempts to use the serum to have Nick attack Judy--even though the in-universe explanation has to do with them literally switching out the toxin. There was something similar here where it is Judy's physical warmth that restores Gary, but we also know that it's been Judy's spiritual warmth that has gotten them this far.
I had mixed feelings about the bad guy here. [Major Spoiler] I really wanted it to be the beaver, not just because I picked her out of a hat right at the start. Her character just never landed for me. They were trying to use her to capture the charm of backwoods smalltown Americana, but she just always felt like a parody to me. Like she's designed to tell city folk who've never been to the country that this is just how country people are, but even as this kind of character is meant to be endearing, I just find that representation super condescending. Similar reason why I've never connected with Ray from "Princess and the Frog."
But from Pawbert and Judy's very first interaction, I was kind of like, "Dang ... it's gonna be him, isn't it?" I was hoping they'd kind of go against the grain and let there be like ONE rich person who somehow broke the cycle of tyranny and helped take down the system, but that's just not what we got. I guess we KINDA got that from the mayor finally standing up to the Lynxlies, but I could have lived with him being the aberration that helped correct the flaws of the society.
I'll welcome more original films always, but I think it's also important to not be ungrateful when a sequel works as well as this one does. I'd personally score it as like 7.5/10, with that rating more likely to go up than down.
