I do appreciate the Epiphany holiday, which comes around just when you're feeling a bit grumpy that Christmas is in essence over. Not if the Three Wise Men have anything to say about it, it's not! For some lucky Swedish employees like me, what with the 6th being on a Tuesday, we get an extra "squeeze day" off this year. But it does mean that I have no excuse not to get a blog post in.
It's time to talk about Zootopia 2, released as Zootropolis 2 in Europe (why? I guess I could ask AI). Although Zootropolis 2 is in my opinion a somewhat better title – would you really name a city "Zootopia"? – I'll stick to the original title for the rest of the post for simplicity's sake. Zootopia 2 has become a smash hit which Disney Animation sorely needed, and also happens to be a very good film. But is it as good as the original Zootopia, or even better?
The plot is more or less what you'd expect. Optimistic bunny cop Judy Hopps and her new (police) partner, the cynical fox Nick Wilde, investigate another mystery that turns out to be a conspiracy, and end up being chased by their colleagues all over the city while trying to fix everything. Meanwhile, their partnership comes under strain. Somewhat unexpectedly, Judy is the one most willing to break rules for the Greater Good while Nick wants to play it safe. They fight, they make up, they become closer, and their reputation as crime-solvers is finally restored, while the city learns a new lesson in tolerance, this time towards reptiles.
I had a lot of time for the first film (or movie, as we're talking Disney and the US), so it's a relief that the sequel is as enjoyable as it is. I love Judy and Nick and their dynamic, and of course I ship them – judging by the reaction of a shady ant-eater when they're posing as a couple undercover, interspecies relationships are unusual but not impossible in this world. On rewatching the first Zootopia on Disney Plus, I also have to admit that in some ways, the sequel is a shade better than the original.
For one, it has the edge when it comes to pacing. The first Zootopia had to introduce us to the whole concept of the animal-ruled world and its capital, so the first half can feel meandering. When the sequel comes along, we're already on board, and the plot unfolds in a more streamlined way, which will probably make the sequel a tad more rewatchable. The focus on the Hopps-Wilde relationship is very welcome (though kids may fidget a bit in their big heart-to-heart scenes). Here, it truly feels as if the sequel isn't just repeating the same beats as the original, but digs deeper. New side characters like Gary De Snake are endearing, the animation top-notch (of course) and the Zootopia cityscapes as fascinating as ever, with lots of little gags strewn in to chuckle over.
In one instance, though, the original trumps the sequel, and because of the kind of movies Zootopia and Zootopia 2 are it's not unimportant. I thought the discussion about the nature of prejudice was way more interesting in Zootopia than in Zootopia 2.
Yes, you heard me. I'm actually praising the social commentary in an animated film. I willingly admit, normally I'm sick of political messaging being rammed down my throat when all I want is to enjoy a piece of entertainment. How annoyed I get depends on whether I agree with the sentiment (it happens) or the conclusions drawn (not often) of the earnest people who are trying to force-feed me their musings on the State of Society. The "let's fight prejudice" message is a tricky one. In itself, it's not controversial, though there are very different schools of thought on how prejudice is best counteracted (I'll not go into details, not when I should be talking about Zootopia 2). But it really has been done to death, and the very lack of controversy feeds into the messaging fatigue here. It's nice that you're for world peace, dear filmmakers. Can we move on now?
If we have to have a "let's fight prejudice" message in an animated film, though, I thought the first Zootopia handled the topic rather well. It showed that overcoming prejudice isn't always easy, not when your experiences seem to confirm the notions you already have unconsciously tucked away. It acknowledged that "real life is messy" and that it can take time to reach a mutual understanding. Moreover, by showing how the predators, not the prey, become a target for a smear campaign, it highlights that prejudice can cut all sorts of ways. You can be comparatively privileged but still become a victim of prejudices fuelled by envy and resentment. At the same time, it's not as if Vice-Mayor Bellwether (the film's twist villain, a put-upon sheep) didn't have a case.
There's no such nuance in Zootopia 2. We are informed at an early stage by Gary that reptiles "aren't the bad guys – they are", "they" being a family of powerful entrepreneur lynxes who run the city part of Tundra Town and want to expand it. Though the story has its twist and turns, there's nothing in it that overturns this initial statement. As soon as we hear that the lynx family's ancestor, who's supposed to have invented the city's crucial weather machine, is called Ebenezer, we know that he will turn out to be a crook. So, rich lynxes bad, outcast reptiles good. Nothing that we haven't seen in a myriad of other films, and not exactly the kind of setup to make you think.
I predict that later Zootopia films will go the same way and lean more into the buddy-cop (or possibly something more) dynamic between Judy and Nick rather than explore the prejudice theme. Fine by me, as long as we're acknowledging that this is what's going on, and that there's nothing we can really take away message-wise from a film that tells us to beware of lynxes (they look quite cuddly, though, not gonna lie) and root for the underdog. Zootopia 2 is great fun, and I'm up for the inevitable sequels. But a film of ideas it is not.
