Best Movies Like Zootopia 2: Queue Up These Clever, Critter-Packed Adventures Next
Loved Zootopia 2? Line up these sharp, animal-powered adventures that blend buddy-cop bite, witty world-building, and big-hearted laughs.
Looking for something to queue up after Zootopia 2? Same vibe, fresh story? I got you. I’m skipping the original Zootopia because, yeah, obviously. Everything below hits that same feel-good, fast-talking, all-ages sweet spot, and leans on a fun ensemble rather than one solo hero.
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The Bad Guys (2022)
If you want more talking animals with criminal records, this is the play. A slick crew of anthropomorphic offenders — Mr. Wolf leading Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Ms. Tarantula, and Mr. Piranha — has spent years robbing the city blind and clowning the cops. These species come with a baked-in bad reputation, and the team has leaned into it. Then they get caught.
The pivot? They fake a redemption arc to dodge prison time. The longer they pretend to be model citizens, the more it stops feeling like a con. The real question becomes less 'Can they go straight?' and more 'Will anyone ever see them as anything but crooks?'
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Inside Out (2015)
Pixar swaps talking animals for talking feelings and somehow makes it hit even harder. Inside the mind of 11-year-old Riley, five emotions — Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust — run the control room. A cross-country move shakes up Riley’s world, and then Joy and Sadness (plus Riley’s core happy memories) get accidentally launched out of Headquarters. Not ideal.
That leaves the more volatile emotions at the wheel. They try, but equilibrium is not exactly in their skill set. With Joy and Sadness stranded in the far corners of Riley’s mind, her inner world starts to come apart. The movie’s big takeaway lands: feeling your feelings (all of them) matters.
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Ice Age (2002)
Early-2000s CG that still plays. Even Roger Ebert found plenty to like here. It was up for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and lost to Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away — hard to argue with that result.
We’re in a prehistoric deep freeze, following an unlikely trio: Sid the motormouth sloth, Manny the lonely woolly mammoth, and Diego the saber-toothed tiger with an agenda. They stumble on a human baby separated from its tribe and decide to return him before winter makes it impossible. Along the way, obligation turns into actual friendship.
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Finding Nemo (2003)
You’ve probably seen it, loved it, quoted it, and showed it to someone else. If you somehow missed it, fix that. Marlin (Albert Brooks), a cautious clownfish, goes on a massive ocean trek after his son Nemo is captured and parked in a dentist’s aquarium, with a one-way ticket to a kid named Darla. Not great.
Marlin teams up with Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a relentlessly upbeat blue tang with memory issues and a handy ability to read. On the way: sharks trying to kick their fish-eating habit, a very relaxed sea-turtle collective, a jellyfish gauntlet, and a whole lot of ocean weirdness.
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Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)
The Shrek-verse took a long nap and woke up swinging. Over a decade after the last big-screen outing, Puss (Antonio Banderas) realizes he’s burned through every one of his nine lives but one. There’s a fix: a fabled Wishing Star hidden deep in the forest that can rewrite the math and hand him his lives back.
Getting there is the trick. He’s racing other contenders, including a chaotic, off-the-rails Goldilocks (voiced by Florence Pugh) and her three bears, each with their own agenda. Numbers check out too: 95% Tomatometer and 94% AudienceMeter on Rotten Tomatoes — fans and critics basically agreeing for once.
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Madagascar (2005)
DreamWorks shifts a crew of Central Park Zoo divas into actual wilderness mode. Marty the zebra gets inspired by a crew of escape-artist penguins and bolts for the wild. His best friends — Alex the lion, Gloria the hippo, and Melman the chronically anxious giraffe — chase him, only for the whole situation to blow up at Grand Central Station.
Then things get even messier: animal-rights activists pressure the zoo into shipping them to a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya. Crated up, sent across the ocean, and then the penguins mutiny, dumping the crates overboard. The quartet washes up on Madagascar and realizes real survival is a lot stranger — and a lot harder — than zoo life.
How I picked these
There are tons of animated movies that could sit next to Zootopia 2. I zeroed in on ones that feel bright, witty, and genuinely four-quadrant, but especially those built around a strong ensemble working together. And yeah, they all pass the simple test: high entertainment value for kids and adults without feeling like homework.