Despite having an extensive catalog of animated films of the past century, Disney itself doesn’t produce as many sequels as one might think. Now, if you’re a bit confused by that statement, let me rephrase it another way: Disney hasn’t produced many sequels that are made by Disney Animation Studios which have been given a theatrical release, so I’m not counting the ones that got the straight to video/dvd treatment. Out of the sixty-four films released by Disney Animation Studios as of 2025, only seven of them are sequels, which includes The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Fantasia 2000 (1999), Winnie the Pooh (2011), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Frozen II (2019), Moana 2 (2024), and now Zootopia 2.

Now, I know that sounds like a bit of niche trivia for the average mover goer. It may be more interesting if you are a Disney fan, and I do consider myself one. While I don’t have an annual pass to Disney World, nor have gone to Disneyland in California, I do try and keep up with their films as much as I can, more specifically the animated films. Growing up in the 1990s, I was basically spoiled with the quality of Disney animated films, such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), Aladdin (1992), and much more. Many fans consider this era the Disney Renaissance. When the 2000s hit, we got some really good ones as well such as Lilo & Stitch (2002), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and Treasure Planet (2002), the last two I reviewed in years past. Unfortunately, Disney pretty much hit its peak with the films I mentioned within that decade as the company transitioned to computer generate images (CGI) animated films, and let’s just say they stumbled out of the gate with Chicken Little (2005). Luckily, after a few okay entries, Disney bounced back with The Princess and Frog (2009), along with other films from the 2010s such as Tangled (2010), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Frozen (2013), Big Hero 6 (2014), Zootopia (2016), and Moana (2016), just to name a few. It seemed like Disney entered another renaissance that was going to lead well into the 2020s, but then Frozen II happened.

As you can tell from that previous statement, I’m not the biggest fan of the sequel to Frozen, and I was hoping it would be a hiccup, but I was wrong. I did enjoy the next Disney film, Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), but didn’t think it was of the same caliber as the previous greats. I did, however, think Encanto (2021) brilliant due to it breaking the mold of typical Disney storytelling. The next couple productions didn’t meet my expectations, being disappointing. Strange World (2022) felt too familiar to other, better films; Wish (2023) was just pandering to Disney fans; and Moana 2 should’ve been a Disney + series as was intended. Now that we have another Zootopia I start asking myself: will it have the same quality as the other Disney films released this decade, or can it be just as good as the original released almost ten years ago in 2016? As usual, let’s find out.    

Set about a week after the events of the first film, Zootopia 2 follows Judy Hopps (voiced by Jennifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) as they officially become partners for the Zootopia Police Department (ZPD). Their newly established partnership, however, is threatened by their boss, Chief Bogo (voiced by Idris Elba) after one mission, which involves a raid at the Zootopia docks. It is made worse when they didn’t get permission for it, and it goes south. Wanting to redeem herself from the botched assignment, Judy starts looking into clues from the scene where she had found piece of snake skin. She believes a snake was smuggled into Zootopia from the docks. She also thinks that the snake might be at the Zootenial Gala, which is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Zootopia. This event is hosted by the Lynxley Family (a family of lynxes) who are descendants of Ebenezer Lynxley, the founder of Zootopia. Donning gala attire and working with the information that they have, both cops try to figure out if anything suspicious is taking place. While at the gala, Judy becomes well acquainted with Pawbert (voiced by Andy Samberg), the youngest and most awkward member of the Lynxley family. Nick, on the other hand, notices a suspicious hooded figure and he starts to pursue. The hooded figure is later revealed to be a snake named Gary De ‘Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan) who crashed the gala in order to take an old journal which was created by Ebenezer Lynxley. The journal’s contents are highly valuable as it details the creation of the weather walls that control the different climates in Zootopia. After getting caught, Gary kidnaps the patriarch of the Lynxley family, Milton (voiced by David Stathairn), but Nick and Judy are close behind. Unfortunately for the two cops, they get framed for the crime as Milton accuses them of aiding the snake. This causes them to flee the party with the snake, escaping with an unknown figure in a motorcycle. With our officers now wanted for conspiracy, Nick and Judy must find a way to clear their name and figure out why a snake wanted the book so badly and if he has any ties with the Lynxes.

Right after watching Zootopia 2, I didn’t think it was as good as the first film and even writing this review, my thoughts remain the same. Despite that, after watching Strange World, Wish, and Moana 2, I’m extremely thankful that I finally got to watch a good Disney production.

One thing that I appreciated from Zootopia 2 compared to the average animated sequel is that “sequelitis” wasn’t the word I was thinking after seeing it. I’ve mentioned that term before but for anyone not unaware, sequelitis is something that best describes a film that’s a sequel which is conceived from the end results of the first film but isn’t that great and you can tell that it was made just to make more money rather than genuine filmmaking. While Zootopia 2 was made because the first film grossed over a billion dollars, and I did state that it wasn’t as good as the first one, there is a lack of sequelitis because it expands on what made the first one so great, which is world building. Zootopia itself feels like its own character given how complex and diverse it is, and this sequel allows us to explore not only more environments, but some of the history that made Zootopia what it is. This brings up what makes this sequel almost as good as the original, which is its message.  

For those who haven’t seen or need a brief reminder, the film had a unique message about diversity, which included topics such as racism and stereotyping with predators and prey being allegories of those topics. On paper, I can see someone thinking it would be a little a too on the nose or forced, but it worked for Zootopia and they further expand on that message in the follow up. This time, the focus is on segregation. I won’t say too much because of spoilers, but I will avow that it involves reptiles, which are considered “bad animals” in the Zootopia community. Viewing it through a Catholic lens, I’ve always been against segregation and I’m glad the Catholic Church has been with that stance as well. There’s a reason why the Church is sometimes referred to as the universal church. The city of Zootopia, however, doesn’t quite have that same mentality. As mentioned earlier, the film explores some of the history of the city, which parallels to the United States. Don’t worry, I won’t get “political,” but if you know anything about American history, it’s anything but perfect, especially when comes to segregation.  There’s a lot to uncover that I would like to bring up and if it was an older film and/or one I didn’t really care for, I would spoil it, but it’s something worth watching for yourself to discover.  

Zootopia 2 may not be perfect though it’s mostly because the first film was unique, and this sequel didn’t quite reach that level of uniqueness, but it’s close. I would also say that some of the humor wasn’t that great this time around though that’s more of a subjective criticism if anything. I did, however, get one big laugh when the film referenced The Shining (1980) and Pulp Fiction (1994) somewhat out of nowhere, but done so in a clever way. While Encanto still holds up as my favorite from Disney Animated Studios film as of 2025, Zootopia 2 is easily my second favorite, and I just hope that the studio can get back to making competent movies just like they did in the 1990s and the 2010s. I know I’m no longer the central demographic, but I’m still a kid at heart when it comes to Disney and this “kid” wants better sequels like Zootopia 2.