Disney’s major success over the past five years have been the kind of fare that audiences are used to. Sturdy IPs build boffo box office sales, and since COVID that’s been harder and harder to do with the theater going audience. Even the few times they stepped outside and did something new it hardly performed. Wish, Strange World, and Raya and the Last Dragon were all disappointments in terms of sales, even the Pixar releases of Lightyear, Elemental, and this year’s Elio failed to do what the mouse house would normally hope. Only when they go back to the well with pictures like Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 are they really able to get butts in seats. So it makes sense that they are often returning to those wells in question. And once again they have struck pay dirt with their latest sequel Zootopia 2, at least in terms of box office.

Zootopia 2 picks up immediately where the original left off. Office Judy Hops (Ginnifer Goodwin), and her cantankerous crooked friend Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) are now fully fledged police officers in the animal city and hot on the tail of a new case. Much like the previous entry, Zootopia 2 attempts to dissect class and race boundaries, pointing out the ways in which various systems can perpetuate them. It’s done in a child friendly, easy to comprehend fashion, and for that it deserves a ton of respect. It’s hard to imagine a kid’s movie doing a better job at highlighting the dangers of gentrification, and how “progress” can be used as a tool to force entire communities to lose their homes, cultures, and identities. The social commentary of it all is where the Zootopia franchise shines, and with that as a backdrop the wry musings of Nick and infectious eagerness of Judy create the perfect kind of odd couple banter that we need. Along side our duo is our third lead Gary De’Snake, who’s voiced by Joey Award Winner Ke Huy Quan. It should be noted that Ke proves in this performance that his Joey was no fluke. His level of earnestness and joy that is conveyed in this voice over is truly spectacular.

It is a little frustrating looking around at the animation landscape and seeing no signs of Disney moving the needle in terms of style. When we have the Spider-Verse franchise pushing the boundaries of what animated movies can look like, and the awe of the Illumination studios making everything shine in ways no one could have expected, it often feels like Disney just wants to keep cartoons looking how they look. Without the purchase of Pixar I imagine they would have been even slower to computer animated graphics, so it seems Disney prefers to move at a snails pace when it comes to looks. Even a return to the old hand drawn method would feel remarkably refreshing, as these days it’s difficult to notice any tangible difference between Disney Animation and Pixar studios. Even Studio Ghibli has started trying new things out in their animated language, so one would hope that Disney would take a few more risks when it came to the aesthetics of their movies.

The other qualm I have with Disney is the tepidness of their films. I felt the opposite way when every princess had to wind up with a prince in the Disney Renaissance, but I fear we may have overcorrected. A good kid’s movie is a fairy tale, with danger, laughter, adventure, friendship, and love. Yes even occasionally (if not often) romantic love. The fact that the chemistry between Judy and Nick is this obvious, to the point it feels like the movie is winking at their trouble in paradise, and yet for some reason Disney has become allergic to onscreen physical intimacy. The aversion to it becomes more and more of a yoke around the studios neck. Nick and Judy clearly love each other, and they should kiss and that would be really nice!

There’s so much to like in Zootopia 2, and Disney takes a few risks with the structure of these movies which is really refreshing. But at the end of the day these movies are fairytales, even the ones about fighting against classism, and they should have all the elements that make for amazing fairy tales.

3.5/5