The world of Disney’s Zootopia is not exactly an unspoiled paradise. The various animal species live in harmony — but only to a point. They still need a police force to maintain law and order. There’s still some form of a capitalist economy; the new sequel makes it very clear there are still haves and have nots. Really, the word “Zootopia” is less of a descriptor of the place and more of an accurate pun — because the only people who might truly feel like they have found utopia there are those who enjoy cheesy animal puns and knowingly corny dad jokes.
Let me put it this way. Let’s say there’s a world populated entirely by animals. Let’s say in this world there’s a road sign for a place called “Gnu Jersey.” If that gag makes you chuckle, then congrats, Zootopia 2 is for you.
Sure, yes, technically speaking Zootopia 2 is intended for your children. This is a colorful, energetic, and extremely busy animated film about talking animals. But while these critters’ adventures keep the kids occupied, a lot of the movie’s humor, tucked into its corners and backgrounds of the frame, is aimed squarely at their parents and guardians, at least those who love a groan-inducing play on words. As a certified dad (and certified dad joke teller), I must confess that while I would not necessarily describe Zootopia 2 as a watershed moment in the history of American animation, I will cop to chuckling quite a few times, and generally enjoying my return to this land of animals and animal-related wordplay.
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Although it’s been nine years since the release of the first Zootopia, this sequel takes place just one week after its conclusion, when dogged (I told you I love an animal pun) Zootopia Police Department rookie Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) officially became partners with former con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). They previously teamed up to expose a quite-possibly allegorical conspiracy within the Zootopia government, in which a seemingly meek sheep seized power by making the populace fear the scary-looking predators in their midst. This time, Judy and Nick must literally achieve the metaphorical task set before all movie sequels: Prove their prior success was not a fluke by repeating it.
With their stern boss in the ZPD (Idris Elba) threatening to split up Judy and Nick after a bust gone wrong, the pair must prove their partnership’s merit while investigating the appearance of a snake in Zootopia. All reptiles are generally unwelcome within the city limits, and must remain in their own swampy neighborhood called Marsh Market. After said snake (voiced with charming innocence by Ke Huy Quan) crashes a gala honoring 100 years since the city’s founding, our heroes find themselves at the center of yet another surprisingly complicated mystery, one that threatens to upend the very nature of their century-old civilization.
Disney[/caption]Much of Zootopia 2’s creative team, including co-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard, worked on the first film as well. Both movies deploy their stratified world of talking animals in the name of symbolic life lessons that are pointed by never too heavy-handed. In the case of Zootopia 2, that includes scenes about the ills of segregation and greedy land grabs. Most of this will go right over the heads of Zootopia’s target audience, who will be far more concerned with whether or not Judy or Nick solve their latest case and solidify their tenuous relationship. Then again, some parents might miss it too; the plot (and the puns) fly so fast that viewers get little time to ponder the story’s larger meaning.
That subtext places Zootopia 2 in the tradition of many detective movies throughout history, and in general this franchise operates as a kind of Baby’s First Buddy Cop Movie. The bubbly but determined Judy and the laconic and sarcastic Nick are classic mismatched partners, and Goodwin and Bateman’s energies are pleasantly misaligned for maximum comedic friction. While Nick and Judy’s banter is a lot less profane (and contains a lot more shameless dad jokes) than, say, Murtaugh and Riggs from Lethal Weapon, the character dynamics are largely the same.
So is the film’s storyline, which is jammed with chase scenes and includes a surprising amount of gun violence for a movie about a bunny and fox running after a snake. (The cops’ guns shoot tranquilizer darts instead of bullets, but still.) While Zootopia 2 rarely slows down to let the audience fully appreciate them, there are fun voice performances galore as well, including Patrick Warburton as the extremely muscular and macho horse that’s become Zootopia’s new mayor, Maurice LaMarche as a Godfather-esque crime boss, and Fortune Feimster as a perky beaver who hosts a conspiracy theory show on, ahem, EweTube, and teams up with Judy and Nick to solve the snake case.
That could also explain why Zootopia 2 turned out better than other recent Disney sequels like Moana 2 and Mufasa: The Lion King. Those films might have been drawn from stronger source material, but they weren’t as well-suited for ongoing franchises. Stories about heroes on epic quests of discovery and self-actualization rarely are unless you draw those quests out across multiple films. With buddy cops, though, there’s always another case. Toss in enough new wrinkles — like reptiles characters (and reptile-related jokes) — and as long as the action is exciting and the audience cares about the characters, they can keep solving mysteries forever.
Disney clearly thinks so; Zootopia 2 ends with a very strong hint that Zootopia 3 will arrive in te near future. Instead of Gnu Jersey, maybe next time Judy and Nick can visit Arizoona. Or Coloradodo. Or Chicagoat. Keep those animal puns coming, guys. I can’t get enough of ’em.
RATING: 6/10
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Gallery Credit: Erica Russell
