Zootopia 2 Forgets What Made the Original Special

Nine years after the first movie charmed pretty much everyone, Zootopia 2 finally shows up. And yeah... it mostly just retraces old paw prints. It is breezy and colorful enough for kids, but if you were hoping for the same spark that pulled in adults the first time, temper expectations.

The setup (and the big swing that isn’t)

The sequel picks up immediately after the original. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are now official partners, but in classic sequel fashion they keep botching assignments while trying to prove they deserve the badges. That puts them squarely on Chief Bogo’s bad side (Idris Elba, still great at being cranky), so when a slick snake plans to swipe a priceless journal that holds the patent to Zootopia’s weather walls — those barriers that keep the city’s biomes running — Judy and Nick see a shot at redemption.

Twist: the snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan) isn’t actually the villain. The real problem is tied to the sudden lack of reptiles in Zootopia and a powerful clan called the Lynxleys, who end up framing our duo and sending them on the run. Cue the bickering, the chase scenes, and the 'we’ve got to clear our names' road-movie energy.

On paper, the mystery about reptiles vanishing should let the movie dig into the species-coexistence themes that made the first one land. Instead, the story mostly narrows in on a wealthy lynx family pulling strings. It feels like the film sands off the social commentary edges — maybe to avoid the discourse that’s tagged along with recent Disney/Pixar releases — and what’s left is a straightforward, pretty thin conspiracy.

The choice that hurts the most

For a big chunk of the movie, Judy and Nick split up. That’s a problem, because their chemistry is the franchise’s engine. Judy spends a lot of time with Pawbert Lynxley (Andy Samberg), the family’s black-sheep son who’s on her side. It is not a terrible idea in theory, but it eats precious time away from the Judy/Nick dynamic and makes the whole thing feel like a remix of the first movie’s beats without the same bite.

What worked last time vs. what’s here

The original Zootopia built a clever, lived-in world with jokes and action that kids and adults could latch onto, plus sharp but approachable commentary about bias and community. This follow-up is content to be a brightly animated chase machine. There’s plenty of wacky animal chaos, but none of the new set pieces come close to those standout sequences from the first film. It’s entertaining in the moment and evaporates just as quickly.

New faces, familiar voices (and some head-scratchers)

• Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman return as Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde — still earnest vs. cynical, still fun, but stuck replaying their old dynamic.
• Idris Elba is back as Chief Bogo, perpetually unimpressed and perpetually yelling.
• Ke Huy Quan voices the snake who looks like the big bad at first and … isn’t.
• Andy Samberg plays Pawbert Lynxley, the family outcast who backs Judy — he gets a lot of screentime during the Judy/Nick split.
• Fortune Feimster pops as Nibbles Maplestick, a beaver podcaster, one of the few fresh characters who actually makes an impression.
• Macaulay Culkin and Quinta Brunson are in the mix, along with other big names, but the movie barely gives them anything to do.
• WWE’s CM Punk and Roman Reigns voice the 'Zebros', two zebra cop buddies who should have been comedy gold. The potential is right there — the movie mostly shrugs it off.

The Disney sequel problem, again

No one is confusing Disney Animation’s sequel game with their best runs or with peak Pixar. They can still knock out crowd-pleasers — Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, and the first Zootopia are proof — but they rarely stick the sequel landing. Zootopia 2 continues that trend. It isn’t bad; it’s just overly safe. The movie feels manufactured to be inoffensive to as many people as possible, which has the side effect of stripping away the personality that made the original a crossover hit. Kids will be fine. Parents won’t suffer. But the broad, multi-quadrant excitement the first one sparked? Not here.

Bottom line

Zootopia 2 moves fast, looks great, and gives you enough zippy action to justify the ticket. It also replays a lot of the first film without adding much heart or bite, sidelines its best duo for too long, and wastes a stacked voice cast. For a mystery about missing reptiles and a city literally walled by technology, the biggest surprise is how predictable it feels.

Score: 6/10 — Average