The Reel Review
Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, the rabbit and fox police partners, must seek the help of the maligned serpent community to solve a crime and save their city from corrupt, greedy developers. Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan and Fortune Feimster star in this Disney animated, family action/adventure.
The plot points for Zootopia 2 closely mirror the formula of its Oscar-winning 2016 predecessor, but even so, it contains dazzling, worldbuilding 3D animation, a cast of what seems like every actor and actress in Hollywood, and a clever and very funny story with loads of heartfelt messages for viewers of all ages. There are cute Easter eggs galore in the exceptionally detailed animation. One cheeky example – the Burning Mammal festival, a riff on the annual Burning Man festival in the California desert.
Messages about prejudice (against snakes) and gentrification (forcing the snakes out of their homes) are particularly timely without being overly preachy. Feimster is a hilarious standout as the beaver, Nibbles Maplestick. And just as in the original, Shakira, as Gazelle, performs the movie’s theme song, “Zoo.”
REEL FACTS
• Even with a whopping $150 million budget, Zootopia 2 cleared a profit within the first 48 hours of its release, ultimately banking more than $1.8 billion (yes billion with a b) worldwide.
• Fittingly, Zootopia 2 was released in 2025, The Year of the Snake.
• Zootopia 2 writer/co-director Jared Bush says Ke Huy Quan pretty much has the same personality as his character, Gary De Snake.
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