Since I loved the first Zootopia so much, I knew I had to see the sequel in theaters as soon as possible. My verdict? It's a great movie overall, though I do have a few gripes with it. Beware: Slight spoilers ahead.
The story
We open merely one week after Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) saved the city from the Nighthowlers epidemic affecting the all-mammalian population of Zootopia, and successfully arrested its perpetrators. As a result, Nick was accepted into the Zootopia Police Department and became Judy's (work) partner.
However, this new partnership hasn't changed them much. The bunny is still impulsive in her dreams of making the world a better place and using her position as an officer to do so, and Nick is... well, as sarcastic as ever. The movie begins as Judy's attitude gets her team in trouble again for running into a mission before even hearing the briefing from Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) at the station. So, sure enough, their idea goes awry and they almost ruin the ZPD's plan. Even the ensuing car chase ends with them accidentally destroying a statue of Ebenezer Lynxley, the founder of the city, that was being placed to celebrate its hundredth anniversary. Lynxley is the inventor of the weather walls allowing the biomes to exist next to each other and letting mammals from all walks of life to be a part of this great city.
Investigating the van they were chasing, Judy finds dried skin that looks like it came from a scaled body. There was a reptile in there. However, due to her recklessness, her team is knocked off the case and told to stay away. And because there are clearly a few hiccups in the partnership, Bogo forces them to attend therapy sessions for mismatched PD work partners.
Even though she was told to steer clear, Judy finds just enough connections to figure out what might happen next, and she (of course) drags Nick into action, despite him trying his best, for once, to follow orders. This leads to them infiltrating the ceremony honoring Lynxley's legacy, where Judy believes someone will try to steal the inventor's journal, on display at the event.
And, indeed, someone does try! Someone long and slithery, who snuck into the ceremony in a hoodie. Someone who, due to Judy and Nick's intervention, gets revealed to the entire crowd, causing mass panic. A snake? In Zootopia? Almost nobody has seen a reptile in the city in a hundred years! And especially not a venomous snake! When cornered in a room, with Milton Lynxley (David Strathairn), current patriarch of the Lynsley family, and the journal in his coils, the snake (Ke Huy Quan), named Gary, says he has good intentions - he wants to set a record straight, restore the image of reptiles (who were framed and maligned, causing their exile from the city) and allow them to live in Zootopia again.
However, events in that room end with Chief Bogo accidentally poisoned by one of Gary's fangs and the bunny and fox framed for attempted murder of both Bogo and a Lynxley, forcing them to go on the run and figure out what, exactly, is going on. And though they can count on the help of allies met during their previous investigation, they'll also need the help of new folks: Gary, of course, but also Pawbert Lynxley (Andy Samberg), the youngest son of the wealthy family. Not to mention Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster), a semi-kooky beaver who lives in the detached Marsh Market area of Zootopia and who makes videos about conspiracies and unsolved mysteries of the city...
The review
As I said time and time again, a good sequel builds upon the foundations laid by the first film. Of course, it expands the setting: We see new areas of Zootopia, learn about the city's history, and spend more time in a few biomes that weren't seen as much in the first film. Above that, it expands the characters and further shows how they behave, providing a new read on them that we didn't have originally.
A trope I've come to love when it comes to character exploration is "character with a quality that's so overbearing it becomes a flaw", which is 100% what happens with Judy here; her intentions are still good, but her impulsive desire to do good and improve the world pushes her to endanger herself, Nick, and even others. Her tendency to see the good in people makes her more gullible, a trait normally counterbalanced by her fox friend who's got a more realist viewpoint, even if he can rarely say what he thinks without hiding it under a heavy layer of sarcasm. Which is all good until it evolves into him struggling to be earnest with anyone, even his best friend. This WILL come to a head in the film, forcing both to reevaluate themselves and each other and how they act. It's great, I love it. And Judy's issues in this film lowkey made me despise her for a little while, which I fully assume was intentional considering the similar ways in which Nick reacts.
Oh, and for the Nick/Judy shippers, because I know they exist and may be reading: There's a LOT of teasing. Scenes that play with the "will they/won't they" without ever making anything certain. Don't be so impatient; give 'em time, dammit, this film takes place just one week after the first, in which Judy spent max 3 days with Nick!
As for the allegories on race, prejudice, and not judging books by their covers present in the original film, they're back in full force, with the mammalian population not just outright terrified of reptiles but even hostile to them. It turns out, there are very specific reasons as to why Zootopia showed nothing but mammals, and... well, you'll find out if you see the film.
I probably should throw in my biggest point of critique. If you've followed discourse around the first film, yoiu've heard about how weak its twist villain was. (I think said villain is perfectly in line with the themes the film was going for, but it is true that the reveal is underwhelming after all the build-up.) Well! Sorry to say in advance, but this film pulls a similar trick. Once again, the twist character makes complete sense within the story and its themes, and even mirrors events from the city's past. But that character felt so much more interesting before the reveal, in spite of the film's best attempts at keeping that character interesting afterwards. I'm staying vague on purpose because, well, it's a major element and it's still early in the film's time in theaters.
That said, for what it's worth, I think the new characters introduced are pretty... fine. I really like Gary de'Snake, and wished he had more screentime. Pawbert Lynxley is alright, too, he has an adorable dorky side. Nibbles Maplestick grew on me over time, though I was fully prepared to dislike her because I'm kinda tired of the trope of a conspiracy theorist being "right" all along (I feel this trope validates the feelings of people in the real world that shouldn't have these specific feelings validated, but that's more serious of a rant than I'm willing to do here today). Anyway, she turned out fine, and plenty funny too, as well as an invaluable ally. You wanna be a kooky secondary protagonist? Be useful! Other characters, like the new mayor, stallion Brian Winddancer (Patrick Warburton, re-channelling some Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove), give a fresh flavor to the world.
Judy and Nick's relationship makes up the emotional core of the plot, and it has very interesting moments (especially whenever the situation worsens for them and their friendship is challenged). However, its resolution during the climax is... well... after all that happened, the film needed to do it quick, so Judy and Nick end up talking to each other for over a minute, what I could call "speedrunning therapy", using terms as if they had been attending the aforementioned (work) partner therapy for years instead of just once. I'll admit that it took me out of the experience a bit. It was too sudden, too fast.
Okay, a final thing: Zootopia (the first) introduced a TON of characters to inhabit this world, and the film felt the need to have almost all of them make an appearance in some way, even if just for a few seconds. If you can name any such character from the first film, there's a 90% chance of them either having a blink-and-you-miss-it moment or a couple of seconds just showing what they're up to. Almost like they were afraid that people online would go "Hey wait, where's [minor character]?" Acceptable, but does feel forced when these cameos add up, especially since only two or three of these end up being relevant to the plot. I guess I do appreciate the movie shout-outs here and there, with stuff like The Shining or Ratatouille getting a reference (I suspect this one is a double reference with a combined nod to Everything Everywhere All At Once, considering Ke Huy Quan's role as Gary here.)
I spent more time explaining the stuff that annoyed me, but it's genuinely a great film. The story is very good, the animation got a bump up compared to that of the first (which still looks incredible in its own right, despite being released nearly 10 years ago!), and it's just as funny. It's worth a watch in theaters.
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