How puritanical has the Disney machine become that the animated fox and bunny can’t even shack up in Zootropolis 2? Yet, the creative team here, in this otherwise witty and fun sequel, might in fact share in those frustrations, considering they’ve turned Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde’s (Jason Bateman) inability to examine their own feelings into a running joke about their new roles as “partners” at the Zootopia Police Department, bringing order to an entire metropolis of mammalians.
Having putting aside their own internal biases about prey and predators, the pair still have to wrestle with more essential differences: he’s a steadfast cynic who relies on humour to cover for a traumatic childhood, while she’s an aggressively idealistic micromanager. They end up being sent to couples – sorry, PARTNER – therapy headed by a bespectacled quokka (Quinta Brunson).
It’s a cute way to acknowledge that the people who made Zootropolis 2 are entirely aware of what they’re doing by having their leads address each other only through half-lidded eyes and flirtatious smirks. They want us to know they’re on our side.
That might also explain the gag where a DVD bootlegger, pushing a pirated copy of the live-action Wrangled (there’s a horse on the cover), yells, “prequels, sequels – who says the industry’s going down the tubes?” Someone here is clearly aware that Zootropolis 2 is contributing to the dearth of original material at the studio. Yet, directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush, the latter the new head of the studio, have made a sequel that not only justifies itself, but arguably improves on its predecessor. Really, it’s the same film but better.
Zootropolis 2 reframes the original’s metaphor for racism in a sounder, more thought-out way. In the first, the wave of fear and discrimination against predators like Nick was given material justification in the fact predators like Nick had been repeatedly attacking people (only under the influence of psychotropic substances).
In Zootropolis 2, we see the first snake in 100 years, Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), rock up to the city. See, everyone’s learned now that predators aren’t, in fact, dangerous – but reptiles? No, no, reptiles are the real problem, Judy and Nick swear, in a move that’s both narratively frustrating yet depressingly realistic. But, here, the fact reptiles are perceived as violent and vicious is an essential aspect of the story. Who controls these narratives, after all? And what do you do when you’re faced with someone like Gary, so sweetly voiced by Quan, and with many of the actor’s own earnest, crumpled-up expressions?
Some of the broad strokes of Zootropolis 2 are the same, with the same contractually obliged reappearances from Flash Slothmore (Raymond S Persi), Gazelle (Shakira), and the Shrewfather himself, Mr Big (Maurice LaMarche). Yet, there’s more than enough of a change of scenery to never feel like we’re watching a dog chase its own tail, and an endless supply of visual jokes and references. A disgruntled rodent will appear to jostle any cans stuck in the vending machine; in the Louisiana-flavoured Marsh Market, there are jazz-slinging lizards and sea lions easily offended by the term “seal”.
It all ends with a hint at a third film that might end up repeating the whole, same narrative cycle once more – if it does, someone’s going to have to finally pull out the old, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” quote. Just to let us know the animators are on our side.
Dir: Jared Bush, Byron Howard Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Idris Elba, Shakira, Patrick Warburton, Quinta Brunson. Cert PG, 108 mins.
Zootropolis 2 is in cinemas from 26 November
