WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
It’s called a sequel, sweetheart. Nearly ten years after the first film was released, Zootopia 2 has finally hit theaters as one of Disney’s latest lines of sequels. Unlike the majority of them, however, Zootopia 2 actually manages to be arguably even more enjoyable than the first film. Along with several new characters, concepts, and ideas, Zootopia 2 manages to connect with one of the most outspoken issues in American history, racism, turning the usual trope of reptiles as evil on its head.
One week after the first movie, newly partnered ZPD officers Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodstock) and Nick Wilde’s (Jason Bateman) clashing personalities cause chaos on the job, most notably during a city-leveling chase that catches smuggler Antony Snootley. When Judy spots mysterious blue snakeskin at the scene, nobody believes her, but a lead takes them to the Zootennial Gala, where a blue pit viper named Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan) steals the Lynxley Journal, claiming it holds proof his family was wronged. After a series of chases and escapes with help from conspiracy theorist Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster) and Lynxley black sheep Pawbert (Andy Samberg), Judy and Nick uncover that Gary’s great-grandmother Agnes was the true founder of Zootopia, framed and erased from history by Ebenezer Lynxley. When Pawbert betrays them by poisoning Judy and leaving Gary to freeze, Gary uses Judy’s body warmth to cure himself. Nick, while grappling with Pawbert, throws Gary the antivenom pen to save her, and together they expose the Lynxleys, reopen the buried Reptile Ravine, and restore Agnes’ legacy. Later, Nick gifts Judy the repaired carrot pen and confesses his feelings, which she promptly records. Later, she replays the message, as a large feather falls on her windowsill…
I think it’s safe to say that Zootopia 2 was a lot better than I expected. Personally, I wasn’t too big a fan of the original film as a kid (please don’t hate me) because it was darker in several places than the usual Disney standard. Nowadays, I get it a little bit more—it’s a mystery movie; there’s bound to be some slightly unnerving bits in it—but the concept of using a flower’s nectar to turn sentient animals into savages didn’t really sit too well with me. Now, we have a slightly more tame subject in the form of discrimination and corruption, something that gets a bit of a shoutout in the first film but becomes the main problem here in this movie. The idea of using a snake as the tertiary protagonist of this film is personally ingenious, especially with this topic, given the usual idea of snakes being a symbol of evil in almost every society since the Ancient Egyptians. Ke Huy Quan’s Gary De’Snake is a far contrast from these sinister descriptions, as a happy-go-lucky, optimistic snake who only wants to prove the reptiles’ innocence to Zootopia. In fact, I’m pretty sure Gary might be the only friendly snake in Disney history.
Also, the usual comedy of these kinds of films seems more augmented, paired with Nick and Judy’s relationship. Several scenes where Nick’s sense of humor grates on Judy or vice versa feel strangely a lot more relatable than most of the modern-day Disney films, a trait that carries from the first film, which I did like for that reason, like a good old sibling squabble. This is where we get to our fourth main protagonist, Nibbles. Cast in a slightly more controversial role as a conspiracy theorist, Nibbles surprisingly became one of my top favorites in this film due to her comedic timing. She constantly grates on Nick, practically almost breaks the fourth wall every time we see her, and overall even makes her own poisoning hilarious with a deadpan “Yup. Should have seen that coming.” It’s honestly refreshing to have this kind of character as a break between the seriousness and the tension of the film, because having something like a rather one-sided conversation between a beaver and a walrus mainly consisting of the words “hey, bub” is stupid enough to be a breather.
Then there are the Easter eggs. And there’s a ton of them. I mean, a ton. Every scene has at least one in it, the most notable being a chef lion being accidentally exposed by Judy and Nick chasing Gary to be controlled by a rat chef, an obvious reference to the previous Pixar film Ratatouille. Wordplay is rampant across the movie as well, especially with platforms like Huluzoo, Ewetube, ZNN, and Zoogle, as well as movie cameos like Deadmule and Wolverine, The Devil Wears Preyda 2, and The Mandalorian and Grogu. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out where those came from.
Overall, Zootopia 2 hit Disney off pretty promisingly for 2026. It’s a fun ride, and it packs a lot of hustle into one movie. Just as long as they stop with the puns. Please?
