'Zootopia 2' review: Subversive Disney sequel tackles discriminatory urban planning. Yes, really!
Before its 2016 release, I would never have dreamed that Disney's anthropomorphic buddy-cop comedy Zootopia could deliver such a salient message about the evils of prejudice.
Using the differences between animal species, including the predator-prey divide, Zootopia addressed heady topics tied to bigotry and implicit bias, like stereotypes and microaggressions. As the first rabbit in the Zootopia Police Department, Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) gets up close and personal with the frustrations of tokenism. Meanwhile, her eventual ally Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) has been discriminated against all his life due simply to being a fox.
As an allegory, Zootopia doesn't offer a perfect one-to-one take on racism. Yet its take on these issues still proved timely and bold, especially for a big-budget Disney animated film. (And yes, my surprise that Zootopia could pull this off does speak to me succumbing to film-based stereotypes myself.) So my main question heading into Zootopia 2 was, could co-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard pull off the same magic trick again? Could they deepen the conversation they started in Zootopia?
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The answer is both yes and no. Like its predecessor, Zootopia 2 is a bubbly, fun mystery, complete with more of Hopps and Wilde's irresistible dynamic and so, so many animal puns. It also tackles new, insidious ways in which discrimination affects people's experiences, this time focusing on how it's knit into the very fabric of Zootopia itself. That it does so in broader strokes doesn't detract from Zootopia 2's admirable ambition, even if the film often treads the same ground as the original.
What is Zootopia 2 about?
After they foiled a major conspiracy in Zootopia, Judy and Nick are heroes of the city, and partners in the ZPD. Yet their current reality isn't as rewarding as the highly ambitious Judy would want. The two aren't landing big cases, and when their opportunity at a big bust goes disastrously awry, she and Nick wind up in timeout, also known as the ZPD's partners' therapy program. After all, one big solve together can't erase Judy's often overbearing quest for validation, or Nick's emotional insecurity masked as blasé coolness.
Zootopia 2 strains Nick and Judy's relationship even further when the two wind up on the run. The reason? Their accidental involvement with pit viper Gary De'Snake (voiced by Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan), who's stolen an old journal from the powerful Lynxley family. The Lynxleys are descended from one of Zootopia's founders, and they want Gary (and everyone tied to him) dead. For Nick, that's reason enough to back out of the case, but Judy is hell-bent on helping Gary — and, by extension, all reptile-kind in Zootopia.
Zootopia 2 uses reptiles to address discriminatory urban planning.
When I say, "all reptile-kind in Zootopia," you might be a bit confused. After all, there were only mammals in the first film, right? Right! With that in mind, Zootopia 2 spends much of its time asking, "Why aren't there more reptiles in a city for animals?" The answer isn't pretty.
Turns out, there's a whole neighborhood for Zootopia's "secret" reptile population, along with aquatic and semiaquatic mammals. Named Marsh Market, it was cut off from the rest of Zootopia during the city's founding. According to beaver conspiracy theorist Nibbles Maplestick (voiced by Fortune Feimster), that separation means Marsh Market's inhabitants have more independence. But it also means they're further removed from the rest of the city, which takes a disdainful look toward reptiles. The separation calls to mind segregated neighborhoods created by racist urban planning. If you've ever wondered whether Zootopia had its own version of New York City's Robert Moses, the answer is yes.
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Zootopia 2's Moses stand-in is Milton Lynxley (voiced by David Strathairn), a major power player in Zootopia. He hopes to expand Zootopia's Tundratown district, a move that sounds like gentrification at best — which still isn't great! — and the rapid annihilation of entire Zootopian communities at worst.
Zootopia 2's focus on discriminatory urban planning is a welcome evolution of Zootopia's initial looks at prejudice. The original film highlights how discrimination manifests in bureaucracy, as well as inter-animal relations. Zootopia 2 goes a step farther to show that discrimination is baked into urban areas, turning its charming animal metropolis into something darker. (One plot point involving a lost reptile neighborhood truly had me wondering if Zootopia 2's creators were at all influenced by the history of settlements like New York City's Seneca Village, a community of primarily Black land owners that was displaced to make way for the construction of Central Park.)
Of course, Zootopia 2 doesn't dive too deep into the nitty-gritty of the city's segregation. It's not like Judy Hopps suddenly learns about redlining! Instead, the film opts for a more standard adventure plot involving new allies, bold plans, and yet another Gazelle (voiced by Shakira) banger.
Still, as familiar as Zootopia 2 feels, there's no denying its more subversive core. Yes, the film is loudest in its more conventional messaging about embracing our differences. (Case in point: the partnership between polar opposites Judy and Nick.) But it's when it tackles complicated, ugly truths about discrimination that the Zootopia franchise sets itself further apart from its Disney compatriots.
Zootopia 2 hits theaters Nov. 26.
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
