Zootopia 2 review: can Judy and Nick’s giant sequel live up to the stampede?
- Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde return as fully fledged police partners, just in time for Zootopia’s shiny centenary celebrations to go horribly wrong.
- A mysterious snake crashes the party, poking holes in the city’s founding myth and dragging our heroes into a scandal that could wreck their careers.
- Disney’s animators go wild with fur, feathers, scales and neon skylines, building an even bigger, busier animal megacity than last time.
- Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman lead a voice cast that mixes heartfelt emotion with machine-gun sarcasm, backed by a scene-stealing new reptile.
- The result is a box office monster with serious awards ambitions, which somehow still finds room for a few gloriously stupid sloth jokes.
A blockbuster return to the animal city
Box office dominance and sequel pressure
Zootopia 2 landed at the end of last month and pretty much set up camp at the top of the global box office. It smashed opening records for animated films, proving that audiences were absolutely ready for another trip back to the mammal metropolis.
That success brings big expectations, because this is no longer a surprise hit about prejudice with cute animals. It is a full-blown franchise instalment that has to please nostalgic fans, restless kids and critics who would quite like something more than recycled bunny jokes.
Where we find Judy and Nick now
The sequel picks up with Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde working together as official partners at the Zootopia Police Department. They are good at catching crooks, less good at talking about feelings, which is how they end up in forced partnership therapy that looks suspiciously like an HR initiative gone too far.
The early scenes refresh their odd-couple dynamic without feeling like a repeat of the first film. Judy is still relentlessly optimistic; Nick is still allergic to sincerity, and their friction gives the opening act its energy and most of its laughs.
Story and tone: snakes, secrets and shaky legends
A plot that twists without spoiling the fun
The main plot kicks in when Judy stumbles across a strip of shed snakeskin during a routine case. That small discovery leads her to the city’s lavish centenary gala, where Zootopia is celebrating one hundred years of harmonious history with suspiciously polished speeches.
Into this smug party slithers a mysterious snake with a grudge and a taste for chaos. Before long, something valuable is stolen, someone important goes missing and Judy and Nick find themselves framed as the villains of their own city.
Founding myths under the microscope
The sequel uses its central mystery to question who actually built Zootopia and whose labour made those famous climate walls possible. The official story says the city was a noble project of unity; the snake suggests it was rather more exploitative if you happen to have scales instead of fur.
It is all handled through animal allegory rather than dry lectures, but the subtext is clear enough for any adult who has ever side-eyed a statue. Children get a tense adventure about misunderstood outsiders; grown-ups get a cheeky reminder that “history” is often something written by the mammals in charge.
How much do you need to know before watching?
Without spoiling the final act, the film builds to a showdown on and around Zootopia’s towering weather walls. Loyalties are tested, secrets fall out of the city’s foundations and at least one character makes a choice that will have think-piece writers quietly rubbing their hands.
You can go in knowing that the mystery is bigger and darker than the first film’s predator plot, but still wrapped in jokes and chases. The story never gets grim enough to terrify younger viewers, though some of the emotional beats might hit older kids and adults surprisingly hard.
Performances and awards potential
Judy and Nick still carry the heart of the film
Ginnifer Goodwin slips back into Judy’s energetic optimism as if she never left the recording booth. Her performance gives the bunny’s relentless drive a slightly frayed edge this time, letting us feel the strain of always trying to do the right thing in a system that keeps shifting under her feet.
Jason Bateman once again makes Nick Wilde the franchise’s secret weapon, with a voice that can move from lazy sarcasm to bruised honesty in a single line. When the story drags up his past and forces him to confront how much he really trusts the city, his delivery gives those scenes far more weight than you expect from a fox in a tie.
The new snake in town
The standout newcomer is the snake antagonist, voiced with a mix of wounded charm and simmering fury. Every line lands like a coil tightening, and there are stretches where you find yourself uncomfortably on his side even while objects explode around him.
He is not just a moustache-twirling villain in reptile form; he is a character who reveals how badly the city has failed certain groups. That complexity makes him one of Disney’s more interesting recent antagonists, and the performance is strong enough that awards chatter around animated voice work does not feel ridiculous.
Could Zootopia 2 bag an Oscar?
Realistically, the film is a major contender for Best Animated Feature, helped by its box office power and the critical goodwill left over from the first outing. It has the combination awards voters like: topical themes, emotional arcs and enough polish to blind you if you look directly at the fur rendering.
On top of that, the new soundtrack and original song have a clear “please notice me, Academy” energy. A nomination for the music or sound design would not be surprising, and there is a world where people quietly whisper that a certain snake deserved more attention than some live-action performances.
Special effects: fur, scales and city lights
Animation that justifies the big screen
Technically, Zootopia 2 is a show-off piece for modern animation. The city districts are denser and more varied, with lighting that shifts from cosy twilight streets to harsh interrogation rooms in ways that subtly control your mood.
Reptile-heavy scenes give the animators an excuse to show off every scale, ripple and flick of a tongue. The contrast between soft mammal fur and sleek, reflective snakeskin is striking, and the movement feels fluid enough that you briefly forget you are watching pixels rather than nature documentary outtakes.
Action sequences and 3D value
The major set pieces take full advantage of the city’s verticality, throwing characters along train lines, over the climate walls and through dense crowds. These sequences feel designed with IMAX and 3D in mind, using depth and height rather than just throwing objects at your face.
If you are debating whether to pay extra for a premium screen, this is one of those rare cases where the upgrade makes sense. The mix of scale, motion and detailed environments means the big screen genuinely adds spectacle rather than simply enlarging your snack bill.
Themes, humour and who this film is for
Balancing politics with punchlines
The first Zootopia tackled prejudice and profiling; the sequel digs into historical erasure and unequal power while still aiming to entertain fidgety ten-year-olds. It is a tricky balance, but the script mostly manages it by using fast-paced gags as a sugar coating for heavier ideas.
There are plenty of throwaway jokes about bureaucracy, influencer culture and corporate spin, with background billboards doing half the satirical lifting. You can laugh at a sloth attempting mindfulness while the film quietly asks why certain animals were never invited to the city’s founding party.
Ideal audience and who might grumble
Zootopia 2 is perfect for families with children old enough to handle mild peril and emotional stakes, roughly in the same age range as the first film. It also works well for animation fans, Disney loyalists and anyone who enjoyed the original’s mix of mystery, comedy and allegory.
People who already found the franchise smug or too on-the-nose about its metaphors may roll their eyes at the more pointed commentary here. For everyone else, the blend of heart, humour and spectacle makes it a strong choice for a weekend cinema trip, especially if you want something that gives adults and kids different things to chew on.
Verdict: is Zootopia 2 worth your ticket?
Final thoughts and viewing recommendation
As sequels go, Zootopia 2 does the important things right. It respects what worked in the first film, pushes the world and themes further and delivers enough jokes and set pieces to justify dragging yourself out in the rain to sit in a dark room with strangers.
It may not have the pure novelty of the original, and a couple of subplots could have lost a few minutes without anyone grieving. However, the core mystery, character work and technical bravado make it one of last month’s most satisfying big-screen trips, especially if you like your family films with a side of political bite.