Zootopia 2

Prequel: “Zootopia” (2016)

Minor spoilers from the first Zootopia film are present in this review

Ever since Judy and Nick defeated and imprisoned the corrupt mayor, Mayor (responsible for turning the civilized animal citizens of Zootopia back into their natural, ferocious state), things have been getting better for the dynamic duo. What was once considered a very odd pairing, a bunny and a fox, predator and prey, has now been accepted for what it is and Judy and Mike are hailed as the heroes of Zootopia.

That fame doesn’t last long though. Before you know it, Judy and Nick are sent on boring, lackluster tasks around the city (no more exciting than when Judy was a meter-maid); that is until Judy discovers something in the back of a villain’s van, a piece of snake skin.

Snakes have been banned from Zootopia for at least a hundred years after a tortoise was found murdered (and of course, who do you blame it on? The snakes). Afterwards the snakes had to leave their portion of Zootopia and resettle on an island far away from Zootopia.

Back to our dynamic duo. Judy suspects that this mysterious snake skin is after a journal, a journal that contains the blueprints of the weather wall, which creates different climates in Zootopia so that all types of animals can live there.

Its up to Judy and Nick to find this snake and with any luck be able to help the snake clear it and his family’s name so that they can return to Zootopia and everyone can live “zoogether”

For those who saw the first Zootopia, you might think “typical Disney fare.” Sure, you have two underdogs (or should I say under bunny and under fox? Forget it) who SHOULD be an absolute disaster together, the worst pairing imaginable, and they are told by everyone they’re nothing that their partnership will never work and by golly they defy the odds and save the day!

If you ask me though, the original Zootopia had something magical to it. Sure it tackled some hard issues: acceptance, judgement of others, living up to expectations of others, etc, but these themes came in a light, careful manner. It never took these themes so seriously that parents would have to explain a lot when the film was over. There was, well, magic.

“Zootopia 2” though takes a much different tone, and not one that I found uplifting. It tries to distance itself from its predecessor, slightly, by trying to be more dead-pan serious and contain a touch more gravitas. The results of this change of tone leaves a more dark and, at times, perilous adventure for a franchise that is supposed to be heartwarming and fun. Confused? Let me explain.

In “Zootopia 2,” the violence or even the threat of violence is much larger than in the first film. Characters are killed, or even supposedly killed, off screen. The danger Judy and Nick face carry a more threatening, more frightening presence than the first film ever did. Likewise, the adult content, such as the use of R-rated movies as references (like The Godfather and The Shining), weren’t really appropriate for a PG rated Disney movie. At one point I looked over at my friend who went with me and I whispered, “This is the darkest Disney movie I’ve seen in a while”, and he agreed with me. Additionally, “Zootopia 2” contains a lot of more suggestive sexual content than the first Zootopia film did and that is not okay in a children’s film, period.

To the film’s credit, the performances are still as strong as ever. Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Batman truly do have great on screen chemistry and really give the audience a chance to show how much Judy and Nick have grown over such a short time. Additionally the CGI for this film was really jaw dropping, the details are really brought out, from Judy and Mike’s fur to the beautiful details of the buildings in Zootopia or the breathtaking use of color in some of the regions Judy and Mike visit on their adventure.

Content of Concern

VIOLENCE: One family of lynxes is particularly violent, with members ordering multiple deaths and using their own claws to threaten and fight. We know a member of this family killed someone in the past. Another member attempts to kill three other people (his victims are all narrowly saved).

During a fight, someone swings Gary De’Snake around like a flail, causing one of his venomous fangs to pierce Chief Bogo’s head. Judy removes the dislodged fang, and Gary tells her he carries the antivenom. Before they can administer it, other officers arrive and mistake Gary and Judy for the chief’s attackers, so they’re forced to flee the scene. Later, the mayor mistakenly (and briefly) frightens people into thinking the chief has died, but we learn Bogo survives. Extracted snake venom is used as a weapon elsewhere, nearly killing a couple of other people.

A Zootopia police officer is ordered to kill some suspects. She swaps out her gun’s tranquilizer darts for lethal ones, but then she refuses to pull the trigger. The gun goes off accidentally, and Judy leaps in front of its intended target. A timely interruption protects both her and the would-be victim.

We see animals fighting in several different scenes. High-speed chases result in damaged buildings and personal property. Animals are knocked and smacked around, too. Someone is knocked unconscious. An elephant drops a barbell on his foot. A frying pan is used as a weapon.

A character is warned not to use Marsh Market’s water tubes, since she’ll run out of air. She ignores this warning and hops in. Another character dives after her and narrowly saves her from drowning. Several characters nearly fall to their deaths throughout the film, narrowly escaping each time. When one character does fall from a great height, he survives. Judy is hit with a tranquilizer dart mid-leap, causing her to fall unconscious, but her friends catch her before she hits the ground.

While undercover, one animal wears two casts while his comrades tell someone he hurt his legs and lost his tail in an accident. Someone jokes that a tortoise died a “slow death.” We hear that coins are a choking hazard for sea lions. Someone tries to freeze a snake to death.

A sheep is kept in a glass prison cell, a direct reference to the cell where Hannibal Lecter (a cannibal) was kept in the R-rated Silence of the Lambs. A homicidal lynx staggers through a maze, another direct reference to an R-rated film (The Shining).

SEXUAL/SUGGESTIVE CONTENT: A sheep has its wool shaved to make it appear that it has a six-pack and muscular pecs. However, an accident results in the wool getting shaved to look like a bra. The sheep embraces this change, saying, “Beautiful.”

Several characters mistake Nick and Judy for a couple. The two are not romantic, but when Judy dons a ballgown, Nick seems to find her attractive. Elsewhere, they go undercover as a married couple with a baby. Judy’s grandmother says she hopes Judy will come home and “make babies.”

Animals attend a “Burning Mammal” music festival. There, male and female attendees wear tight leotards and belly-baring tops. Several male characters also wear speedo-like bottoms. They all dance and hop around together. At a concert performance, a singer wears a cropped tank top and shorts. Her dancers (all male tigers) do not wear shirts.

We’re told that Marsh Market (Zootopia’s swamp-like biome) is the only place an animal can get away with wearing a shirt but no pants, and we indeed see a few pants-less animals. One animal there gets a tattoo on its lower back. A walrus giving a river tour has life preservers on his chest, almost like a bra.

When a lizard’s tail pops off, Nick tries in vain to reattach it before the owner realizes. However, when she does, she flirtatiously tells Nick to keep it (she wears shorts and has her shirt tied together under her breasts).

There are pictures of goats kissing in a honeymoon lodge. When the floor collapses, two animals fall onto a bed together, and the fallen blankets make one look as though it is wearing a wedding veil.

The anthropomorphic animals of Zootopia sometimes have exaggerated human-like features (such as female breasts).

DRUGS/ALCOHOL: Animals pop open a bottle of champagne at a party. We see animals drinking what appear to be alcoholic beverages in a few scenes, including at a formal party and a bar—and some background characters even appear to be inebriated. We hear about “piña koalas” several times.

LANGUAGE: God’s name. “What the pork?” “Butthead”

OTHER: Judy and Nick secretly investigate a smuggling case. When they disobey Chief Bogo’s orders to stand down, the smuggler almost gets away. Elsewhere, the pair accidentally releases more than 200 dangerous criminals from prison.

Nick and Judy steal a car to engage in a high-speed chase with a criminal. (They also break and enter.) Nick steals a woman’s necklace but immediately returns it to her, a ruse to trick her into inviting him to join her in the VIP section of a party. Judy sometimes lies to Nick, which is part of the reason for the discord in their relationship.

Officers mock Nick and Judy and play pranks on them. Insults are hurled. Nick admits that he uses humor as a defense mechanism because he had a “traumatic childhood.”

Siblings are rude to their brother. In an attempt to fit in better with his family, a character acts dishonestly. He betrays people who thought he was their friend. And when given the chance to be different from his family, he says he doesn’t want to.

We see the workings of a knockoff purse operation. We learn that the mayor got his political position through dirty deals with a bad guy. He is forced by those people to do some bad things himself to keep his position (though he eventually decides to do the right thing).

Someone uses a poop emoji in a text. A goat coughs up some flowers onto someone’s face. Nick and Judy are tricked into eating grubs, which they gag down.

Many characters, including Nick and Judy, are rude to a beaver who streams her own conspiracy theory channel. Someone hints that she might be crazy from lead poisoning, due to her penchant for gnawing on pencils.

Most Zootopian mammals are prejudiced against reptiles, especially snakes. Over a hundred years ago, one mammal used that prejudice to his advantage, convincing the citizens of Zootopia that snakes were evil. In the present, his descendants believe they are better than everyone else (though they put on a more modest face in public). They continue to propagate a bias against reptiles while secretly plotting to increase their own territory.

Morals

The one major theme that seems to stand out with Zootopia is the dangers of prejudice and acceptance of others as they are. Snakes in Zootopia were thought of as less than because of being falsely accused of something by a very powerful family, this in turns creates hatred, fear and unfounded bias and prejudice against the snakes.

Jesus was very clear that he wasn’t on Earth to help those who already had help, but to the helpless, the lonely, the hated, the forgotten, and the poor. Jesus calls us to love those who appear different than we are. We don’t have to agree with their practices or their lifestyle choices (particularly those lifestyles that go directly against God and his Word, such as homosexuality or transexuality), but we are supposed to show them love and respect and pray for them nonetheless. James says this…

“My brothers, [a] show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him… If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. —James 2: 1-5, 8-9

And Jesus himself said…

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye, ’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” —Matthew 7:1-5

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” —John 7:24

Closing Thoughts

It’s weird that I’m the only one not completely praising “Zootopia 2” as a cinematic marvel, as some other reviewers have done. Indeed, many praise “Zootopia 2” for expanding the franchise in a positive direction and that it has the same heart as the first. To them I say, “Maybe.”

At this moment, I feel like Judy or Nick, trying to stand out apart from the majority, trying to look at “Zootopia 2” in a different way, just not the way other reviewers would expect me to. Perhaps, I do this because, unlike most secular reviewers, Christ is at the forefront of my mind and my fellow believers and their families remain the people I want to help lead in their moviemaking decisions

As such, “Zootopia 2” is far darker, far more depressing than the first film was. I was disappointed in Disney for sure. Films should have heart, yes, but not at the risk of taking itself TOO seriously. Films should have messages, yes, but messages of hope, and sometimes messages that don’t necessarily have to deal with more adult-like situations: prejudice, bias, the like.

Apart from this, there is much more violent and suggestive sexual content to recommend “Zootopia 2” to Christian families. Ultimately it is up to you to decide whether you want to spend time “Zoogether” watching “Zootopia 2”.

• Violence: Heavy
• Wokeism: Moderate
• Nudity: Moderate
• Sex: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
• Profane language: Minor
• Vulgar/Crude language: Minor
• Occult: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.