(courtesy IMP Awards)
Is it possible for a sequel to better or at least emphatically equal its predecessor?
Most of the time the answer to that question, especially when it comes to movies is a firm and unequivocal “NO!” but in the case of Zootopia 2, the sequel to 2016’s delightful piece of animated animalian world-building and rich, funny characterisation, Zootopia, you can’t but joyously shout out “YES!”
How good Zootopia 2, directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard to a story by Bush, is going to be is clear pretty much from the word go when we meet up again with newly-minted police officers and partners, earnestly enthusiastic, heart-of-gold rabbit Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and streetwise, cynical but also heart of gold (shhhh tell no one; it’s no good for his self-imposed street cred) fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) who are not quite enjoying the major post-case solving glow they earned in the first film.
If you recall, and ———- SPOILER ALERT !!!!! ———- Judy and Nick stopped evil assistant mayor, ewe Dawn Bellwether (Jenny Slate) from enacting her evil plan and saving Zootopia in the process, and now the twosome are enjoying being lauded for their efforts.
Or not, as the case may be because it seems that while the good mammalian-only (that’s important later) citizens of Zootopia, who live in special climate-controlled zones made possible by century-old “weather walls” appreciate what Judy and Nick did, their fellow officers do not, with the acrimony getting to the point where the rookie partners have to go to some very amusing partners’ therapy, led by Dr. Fuzzby (Quinta Brunson), a quokka psychotherapist, or they have no meaningful future in the Zootopia Police Department.
It’s a tough position in which to be placed and points to the fact that while Zootopia 2 is full of as much witty fun and laugh-inducing world-building as the 2016 effort, it’s also happy to go grittier and darker and to wear its emotionally hefty heart very much on its sleeve.
That means that Judy and Nick have to admit to each other that they matter to each other – in an hilarious heart-to-heart moment right in the middle of the heartstopping (pretty much literally) climax, they lay it all on the line and it’s rather sweet and very funny too – the villains actually have to be pretty nasty (think billionaire fascist nasty) rather than cartoon villain-ish and there have to be real stakes at play, including the future of an entire group of animals (hello, reptiles) who are presently excluded from Zootopia’s beautiful and fully-formed animal-centric world.
But have reptiles always been on the outer?
Perhaps not, and the grand conspiracy at the heart of Zootopia 2, which has very meta-driven twists and turns, centres on who has kicked them to the residential curb, excluding from the glories of a city which seems to have everything any kind of animal could want.
As you might expect, Nick wants nothing to do with the investigation, his innate drive for self preservation leading him to happily accept an offer from Arctic Shrew gangster Mr. Big (Maurice LaMarche) and his daughter Fru Fru (leah Latham) to hightail it from Zootopia under the protection.
Judy, however, who is driven by a need to do good and to not leave injustice unchallenged, can’t take the same offer and so she and a reluctant Nick find themselves on the path of an investigation that puts them well and truly on the wrong side of the law, in the crosshairs of some very dangerous animals who will stop at nothing to grab more power and land, and in some very precarious positions indeed.
The push and pull between Nick and Judy, which was clearly evident in the first film, is more pronounced now and gives Zootopia 2 not only some cop buddy film vibes but also much of its heart and soul as Judy particularly puts herself well and truly on the line for the good of her fellow citizens.
Quite where that leads the crime-fighting duo must be left to your viewing of the film, which has some glorious conspiracy thriller elements which pay homage to many films of that genre, but suffice to say, Zootopia 2 not only tells a hugely engaging and brilliantly immersive, not to mention complex story, but also has a huge amount of fun with its two central characters in the process.
What really makes Zootopia 2 works, apart from some extraordinary attention to detail – the street scenes alone are worth the price of admission with total worlds unfolding before you in highly imaginative fashion – is how it balances its desire to tell a dark and clever story but to also make you laugh along the way.
That it holds the two elements in tension without a single dropped moment is testament to how faultlessly this film has been put together and how much it appreciates how affecting it can be when dark stories also have a lighter side.
Thus, while Judy and Nick are in mortal peril more than once, and the Big Bads seem to have the upper-hand in a city seemingly doomed to be used and abused by some terribly unsavoury characters, you get some visual jokes about the use of a certain Pixar character, a pig named Babe and a board game involving hippos.
These moments of inspired comedy, which also include a mole or shrew whose sole job it is to free cans caught in vending machines so customers aka Nick can get what they paid for, are a sheer delight, as are some moments of superb slapstick humour, and they perfectly leaven out Zootopia 2 which is as funny and gleefully clever as its predecessor while going dark, deep and muscularly heartfelt in a way that means you feel even more this time around, happy to be back in a world that is everything you can imagine our animal friends loving but which also reflects the light and dark of life in ways that will leave you utterly enthralled, moved and delighted throughout.