Zootopia 2 (Christian Movie Review)
Zootopia 2 offers more of the same as what made the first film a delight, with an abundance of charming characters, clever worldbuilding, and wholesome messages about overcoming prejudice and living in a diverse world.
About the Film
Nearly a decade after Disney first invited audiences to visit the metropolis of Zootopia, sly fox Nick Wilde and his bubbly bunny companion Judy Hopps are finally back for a new adventure. Zootopia 2 offers more of the same as what made the first film a delight, with an abundance of charming characters, clever world building, and wholesome messages about overcoming prejudice and living in a diverse world. Briskly paced and filled with vibrant colors and characters, the animated sequel forges its own entertaining path. It may not be as fresh as the original, but it is no less fun.
Despite the nine-year gap between films, Zootopia 2 picks up shortly after the events of the first movie. Even though Nick and Judy, now partners on the Zootopia police force, helped the city begin to overcome their prejudices in the first movie, they soon realize their work is not done. They may start by looking inside themselves. Zootopia is arguably a more mature and nuanced story than the first film (which, for all its charms, was heavy-handed in its message). Zootopia 2 aims slightly older with its themes, but it never loses sight of its primary purpose to entertain young audiences. From start to finish, this film is a ton of fun.
Sequels often struggle to walk to line between offering audiences enough familiar elements while not becoming a mere “greatest hits” tour. There are certainly plenty of familiar callbacks including a meta moment where the film overtly acknowledges a repeated third act story beat. Even so, Zootopia 2 arguably does better than many sequels in its willingness to explore new territory. That the film resisted the temptation to capitalize on the internet-breaking popularity of Flash (the scene stealing sloth from the first film) and not give him a more prominent role demonstrates the confidence of a film that is not overly reliant on what came before (even if none of the new ideas or characters manage to recapture the same magic as that iconic DMV scene).
As with all good sequels, Zootopia 2 is at its best when expanding the story and world in meaningful ways. Zootopia is not necessarily a hilarious film (although there are a few great jokes), but it is consistently amusing and clever. Worldbuilding remains a highlight, this time taking audiences even further outside the borders of Zootopia itself. Much of the film’s humor derives from the inventive ways it translates the real world into the anthropomorphic animal world. For example, Judy does a “Zoogle” search, and a series of famous movie posters are reimagined with animals. Many of these allusions will go over the heads of younger viewers, but there are always enough interesting visuals or quirky characters on screen to keep them entertained, even if parents and children may sometimes chuckle at different times.
There is no shortage of new ideas, but unfortunately, they don’t always fit together as cohesively as the prior film. Nick and Judy race through a series of new locations and adventures, but the plot feels disjointed at times. The story begins to feel like a series of isolated scenes and moments strung together by an increasingly convoluted story. Finding a long-lost patent to prove the rightful originator of an invention lacks the simplicity of the first film’s predator/prey mystery. Also, plenty of new characters are introduced, but many of them—including the snake featured so prominently in the trailers—are not given enough attention to make any impression.
The beating heart of the film remains the endearing relationship between Nick and Judy. Thankfully, the film doesn’t try to force any unnecessary romance between the two platonic friends – although there are a few moments that suggest that such a development may not be fully off the table for the inevitable Zootopia 3. After all, kids need to see models of healthy friendship more than budding romance. A scene near the end where the two take turns confessing their weaknesses and shortcomings to each other is irresistibly wholesome, and a reminder that these two loveable animals are some of the best developed characters in the modern Disney canon.
Overall, Zootopia 2 may not be a better film than the original, but it is a worthwhile and entertaining return to Zootopia for both older and younger audiences. The film may not feel as inspired or monumental as you might expect from a nearly-decade long follow-up to a wildly popular and academy-award winning movie, but neither does it feel like Hollywood merely milking a successful story for easy box office money. Zootopia 2 accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, with enough wholesome entertainment and redemptive themes to satisfy Christian and family audiences this holiday season.
For Consideration
On the Surface—(Profanity, Sexual content, violence, etc.).
Language: There are 1-2 uses of “OMG”, as well as a few rude works (“sucks”, “idiot”). A pig character exclaims, “What the pork?”
Violence: There is reference to a murder, where a turtle was seemingly killed by the venom of a snake. The deceased turtle is shown, but not the murder itself.
Sexuality: There is a sheep at a grooming salon having its wool fashioned into a masculine six-pack, but an event causes the sheep to instead have its wool shaped into the shape of a bra or feminine top, and the sheep seems satisfied with both appearances. At a music festival (“Burning Mammal” an illusion to “Burning Man” festival) various animals wear revealing or relatively provocative attire. At a “Honeymoon Lodge”, there are pictures of kissing goats hung on the walls.
Engage The Film
The Same but Different
The original Zootopia had a straightforward message about overcoming prejudice and stereotypes. It challenged viewers to look past our differences and realize that we have more in common than we realize. In contrast, Zootopia 2 takes an inverse approach, urging viewers to look past the surface level commonalities and see the beautiful differences and individuality underneath.
Interestingly, as a sequel arriving nearly a decade after the original, it gives a glimpse into some of the shifting trends and cultural mentalities. The first film was more or less akin to the “color blind” approach of rejecting cultural/social/ethnic categories to affirm only shared humanity. Zootopia 2 echoes more current sentiment that countered those first beliefs and holds that to not see the clear outward and experiential differences is to miss much that makes people uniquely beautiful.
Scripture speaks to the importance of both. The Apostle Paul famously wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female” (Galatians 3:28). But elsewhere, he also wrote instructions aimed at each of those specific categorizations. Christians are “all one in Christ Jesus,” but that does not eliminate individuality. In the same way, the messages of Zootopia and Zootopia 2 are complementary rather than conflicting. Parents can discuss with their children the importance of a shared humanity and seeing every person as being someone made in the image of God while also encouraging them to appreciate the differences that make each person unique and beautiful.
