Zootropolis 2

It’s somewhat surprising that it’s taken nine years to come up with a sequel to a billion-dollar breakout success about an animal city and its overstretched police department. Judging by this belated release, the heart, humour and characters for the follow-up were never the sticking point. The story, however, might have been a harder nut to crack, because the plot here smacks less of fox-like cunning and more of rabbit in the headlights.

The titular city is still a multi-species paradise that may spark lingering questions for adults about the economics of its scale (how can the same economy feed elephants and mice for knowledge-work without widespread economic injustice? Wouldn’t the pachyderms, with their greater physical requirements, be a permanent underclass while the mice built generational wealth?) but that offers dazzling opportunities for animated invention. From innovative water-based transport systems to pun-based pop-culture riffs, Disney Animation’s visual world-building is richly detailed and often hilarious.

A lively day out in the city.

We learn now that reptiles have been exiled from this harmony for a century. Novice police officers Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a type-A energised bunny, and her ex-con-fox partner, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), suspect that one has returned to Zootropolis and set out to find him, only to discover that Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan) has allegations that may rock the whole city. Cue some complicated conspiracies and a whole lot of travelling around looking for clues.

A subplot sees Judy and Nick try to manage their partnership, with her tendency towards perfectionism contrasted with his unfailing cynicism; it doesn’t entirely work, because there isn’t enough character-development for either. Directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush — a writer on the first movie — seem more enchanted with the city itself than with their two leads. One fun couples-therapy scene is a poor swap for a last-act exchange of therapy-speak that’s mildly exhausting, and surely baffling for the children among the target audience.

Still, the chases, sleuthing and action are all delightful, and there are inspired visual gags in every other frame. Ke Huy Quan’s Gary, and Andy Samberg’s underachieving rich kid Pawbert Lynxley, make strong new additions, and the Hopps and Wilde pairing creates warm and fuzzy feelings, when they’re actually centred. More often, however, you have to settle for the pleasures of a lively day out in the city.