Tech Support Dude: “Have you ever tried not being an idiot?”

Zootopia 2 takes place roughly one week after the first movie (and nine and a half years our time for whatever reason), where both Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are now officially partners. After causing a bit of a disaster while trying to solve a case they weren’t even assigned to, though, they are put in a partnership therapy session by Chief Bogo to prove that they can actually work together. During their initial case, however, Judy Hopps found a piece of shed snake skin, which would unravel a whole new mystery in Zootopia, as snakes haven’t been seen in the city for decades, and aren’t even allowed after a tragic event that happened in the past.

One thing I loved so much about the original Zootopia, and the thing that made it most puzzling to me that it took so long to get a sequel, was the world and worldbuilding. Zootopia introduced a fascinating new world, full of so many interesting and different subareas and ideas. Zootopia 2 adds even more and does an incredibly good job at it. Every new location that was explored was not only really interesting but also really visually cool to look at.

Speaking of visuals, the animation in Zootopia 2 is, without a doubt, fantastic and even better than the first. It fits the tone of the movie perfectly, as this is a much more “fun,” I guess you could say, Zootopia movie, so the colors are a lot more vibrant and eye-catching. As more and more locations are explored, this becomes an even bigger factor, and makes this movie stand out from a lot of other animated movies nowadays, at least 3D ones, let alone Disney.

Despite me liking the first one quite a bit more, I honestly think that this one was even funnier. There is a negative that comes with that, which I’ll get into later, but the vast majority of the jokes throughout landed for me. One thing I really like and appreciate about both of the Zootopia movies, as well, is that they have jokes for both kids and adults, but the adult jokes don’t go too far. There were a few of them here and there in this movie that had me laughing pretty hard, but kids likely wouldn’t understand them.

Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, of course, continue to be fantastic with one another. Their chemistry is just so fun to watch, and I could honestly watch so many more Zootopia movies just because of them. It’s cool to actually see them officially work together for the first time, where Nick is now an actual officer, and the film gets straight to that. One problem that a lot of sequels have when it comes to “team-ups,” so to speak, is that often, they get separated in the sequel, which kind of undoes, in a way, the original, and is usually pretty frustrating (except if you’re Empire Strikes Back). I’m not going to say whether or not they get separated in Zootopia 2, but their relationship is definitely tested, and thankfully, it never goes as far as to do any of the things I just mentioned, which I both really appreciated and was relieved by.

Zootopia 2 also has a pretty sweet and emotionally charged ending. Once everything is unravelled and everything starts to wrap up, the movie settles down for a little bit to really focus on the characters and character relationships. It was definitely my favorite part of the movie by a landslide, and the part that most reminded me of the first Zootopia.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel, it did definitely disappoint me just a tad. I wasn’t expecting it to surpass or even be as good as the original, as that is one of my favorite animated movies, period, but it lacked the emotional moments and heart that the first one was plentiful with. It’s very fast-paced and quick-moving, and doesn’t slow down a whole lot, at least not until the end, to really hone in on, as I said in the last paragraph, characters and character relationships. I was still just as attached to Nick and Judy’s relationship, just not any more than I already was, which I was hoping this sequel would do. I could have done without the new side characters, too, with the exception of the snake, and even then, I really wish the snake had more screentime.

The main storyline revolving around the snake also wasn’t nearly as interesting as the case in the first movie, even though I really liked the actual character himself. I don’t know, it just wasn’t nearly as emotionally gripping for me, personally. The plot wasn’t nearly as serious, which might just be a me problem, but I really liked the slightly dark tone of the first Zootopia, as it was a lot more appealing for someone my age, as well as older adults, but wasn’t too dark to turn away kids. Really, at the end of the day, I just didn’t care a whole lot about the mystery itself in Zootopia 2. It had its moments, like at the end, but overall, it wasn’t great to me.

Another negative revolving around the plot is that, despite it being a sequel, the plot and mystery surprisingly felt a lot less important and grand compared to the original, which definitely surprised me. Not that bigger sequels are necessarily always better, but here, I felt that there needed to be a bit more substance and grander stakes than there actually were. The overall weight of the plot almost felt like it belonged in a Disney+ show, but I might be on an island with that one. I’m not saying that the actual writing was Disney+ quality or anything remotely like that, just that the “grandness” of the story felt that way to me.

Zootopia 2 let me down quite a bit, sure, but I still really enjoyed my time with it, and who knows, maybe I’ll like it more on a rewatch. One thing that definitely didn’t let me down, as I stated earlier, was the further worldbuilding, and I’m hoping we get another sequel because of that sooner rather than later.