This was a brave gamble.
2016’s Zootopia was a perfect film, and (as I wrote, at the time), a work of subversive genius: an enormously clever project that functioned both as a charming, suspenseful and exciting adventure, and also as a compelling parable of tolerance and inclusion.
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| While doggedly pursuing a fleeing sspect through waterlogged Marsh Market, Nick and Judy accept transport from a rather unusual source. |
But they pulled it off.
Trust the talent involved: Co-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard have returned, along with all the key voice actors. Bush also has the sole writing credit, and his cunning script is another impressive blend of cheeky character interaction, suspenseful action set-pieces and sly references to real-world issues, once again set in an alternate animals-only universe that hilariously sends up human behavior.
This film’s overall look and settings are just as visually rich and detail-laden as its predecessor, once again stuffed with far more sight gags and little bits of sidebar business than can possibly be absorbed in one viewing.
The core plot also involves a cheeky nod to 1974’s Chinatown, which is rather audacious on Bush’s part.
Events resume where they left off. Plucky bunny Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and street-smart con artist-turned-good-guy fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) have become the newest partner team in Zootopia’s police force. This naturally annoys the much larger, more ferocious teams of Hoggbottom and Truffler (razorback hogs), Bloats and Higgins (hippos) and Zebro Zebraxton and Zebro Zebrowski (zebras, of course … and the coolest cops in the station).
Mindful of the high expectations under which she and her new partner are operating, and desperate to prove that their first success wasn’t a fluke, Judy naturally disobeys orders, much to Nick’s exasperated consternation. She recklessly follows another of her shrewd hunches, nearly ruins an ongoing investigation, and wrecks untold city property during the first of this film’s madcap chase sequences.
This naturally confirms the dismissive opinions of her razorback, hippo and zebra colleagues, and also earns a stern public scolding by exasperated Chief Bogo (Idris Elba).
Privately, though, Bogo tells Judy that he likes and respects her, but warns that her unchecked behavior could jeopardize the dreams of other rabbits hoping to follow in her footsteps. Elba’s softened tone, during this gentle caution, is note-perfect.
Even so, Judy is intrigued anew by an odd detail discovered during the aforementioned skirmish: a bit of sloughed-off snake skin. That’s odd, because reptiles were long ago banished from Zootopia: an edict that remains in place to this day.
This leads Judy (and us viewers) to wonder why reptiles remain personas non grata.
Additional clues point to a treasured book — the Lynxley Journal — that contains the details behind the creation of Zootopia’s “weather walls,” which allow divergent community environments to co-exist side-by-side, for the comfort of all animals. Carry-overs from the first film include Sahara Square, Tundratown, Bunnyburrow, Little Rodentia, the Rainforest District and Savanna Central (the primary hub, and home of the Zootopia Police Department).
Marsh Market, designed for semiaquatic mammals, is introduced in this film; it later becomes the setting for another dog-nuts chase sequence. It’s also the home of Nibbles Maplestick (Fortune Feimster), an oddball beaver whose podcast — “Scales & Tales of the Weird — explores conspiracies, reptile mysteries and rumors about Marsh Market’s wetlands creatures.
Judy becomes convinced that the historic journal has something to do with a much larger conspiracy. By coincidence, the book is about to be displayed at the Zootennial gala, taking place at Tundratown’s Lynxley Manor, home of the ruthless and powerful Milton Lynxley (David Strathairn) and his three children, Cattrick (Macaulay Culkin), Kitty (Brenda Song) and ne’er-do-well younger son, Pawbert (Andy Samberg).
Disobeying orders again, Judy and Nick cleverly infiltrate the gala … just in time to see the Lynxley Journal snatched by a rapidly slithering pit viper (Ke Huy Quan, as Gary De’Snake).
After which, things get quite chaotic.
Additional key characters include Jesús (Danny Trejo), a basilisk lizard of few words. He’s also an underground source with revealing information about Zootopia’s history, particularly regarding reptiles … and it isn’t pretty. (Again, the real-world connection is sobering.)
Mayor Brian Winddancer (Patrick Warburton) is less than useless. He’s a charismatic, insufferably vain and hilariously clueless stallion: a former actor-turned-politician who dreams of being as heroic in real life, as the characters he once played on television. (Real-world similarities are intentional.)
Although — as with the first film — the furious action is a lot of fun, the story’s heart comes from its character interactions. Goodwin and Bateman once again share a great dynamic, the focus this time on Judy and Nick as they try — and repeatedly fail — to overcome the awkwardness of their new working relationship.
This also threatens to interfere with their blossoming friendship, which prompts a hilarious sequence in a “partners therapy” session, ordered by Chief Bogo and overseen by Dr. Fuzzby (Quinta Brunson), a quokka therapy animal.
Samberg is captivating as the clumsy, stammering and socially inept Pawbert, who — try as he might — can’t do anything right, in the eyes of his father and siblings. Strathairn’s Milton Lynxley is imperious and scary, and Feimster’s Nibbles Maplestick is a hoot. Maurice La Marche once again voices underworld kingpin Mr. Big, the tiny arctic shrew; and Flash (Raymond S. Persi), the slow-speaking sloth, pops up in a new profession.
As for Gary De’Snake … well, I can’t say anything specific. (Spoilers.) But he’s also a great character.
Michael Giacchino again supplies a lively orchestral score that is just as fun, frantic and ferocious as the music he composed for the first film.
Solely because this film’s second act sags a trifle, the result isn’t quite up to its predecessor … but it’s darn close.
Bravo!
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