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My Sloppy Zootopia 2 Rant
Jan. 12th, 2026 04:10 pmI keep telling myself I'll make a dedicated Tumblr post about my thoughts and critiques of Zootopia 2 with gifs and screenshots but it just seems too ambitious with too little reward. So I'm gonna rant about it here instead with whatever pics I can find! Yay!
I did enjoy the movie overall but there were definitely points about it that bugged me. So, here they are.
CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ZOOTOPIA 2 OBVIOUSLY, read on to your own discretion.
This is a very opinionated review and I acknowledge what I don't like =/= bad writing
First few minutes into the movie and we already have a problem; why is Judy able to happily kick open a door when she was injured and literally stated she couldn't walk??
Moving on...
The heavy heavy heavy focus on Nick and Judy as "partners".
It's obvious why the directors did this, they know just how obsessed the fandom is about the pairing. I liked their chemistry in the initial movie and am not against them being a couple or just friends. But boy did the sequel go to new lengths to make me not want to ship them.
"Happy Anniversary."
I liked it in the therapy session trailer. But then it's repeated two more times. Not necessary, started to get grating. What saved it was the walrus interrupting them and putting on the "anniversary lights".
Their "overshare" scene could have been done SO much better! That scene in the original movie where Judy apologises to Nick? I still get teary listening to the amazing voice acting there. It was clean, delivered emotionally and sincerely. Chef's kiss.
The "confession" in the sequel. Ohhhh boy. It started off okay, Nick finally telling Judy how he really felt about them being partners. But as soon as they started rambling at the end? It felt like it was an attempt at downgrading an emotional scene to make it comedic. I felt so uncomfortable during that. They even had Nibbles call them out on it. It didn't make it better. I really didn't care for it but that's just my opinion.
The post credit scene. Very unlikely for someone in a platonic relationship to repeatedly play an audio clip that says "Love you, partner." Someone could argue that they replay audio messages from their loved ones who have passed on but Judy is not in this situation. Very much forcing it down our throats.
I wasn't against the earlier scene with them posing as a couple for the anteater arrest but Nick's performance there made me cringe. His "fake acting" in the original was convincing and the right tone. I can see they mirrored a deleted scene for this one with his "over-acting" and they should have realised the decision to cut that applied here too.
That brings me to Nick's character, specifically his jokes.
You can argue that because of his insecurities he mentioned in the sequel, it was a result of that. But his jokes in the first movie were fine? They weren't in such bad taste? Some here were fine too but the yo mama joke? Really? And the "slow death" one. He knows better. They make him look so bad in the sequel, I feel sorry for him. :(
PAWBERT. SUCH a good build up of a character full of potential...SUCH a disappointment with what they decided to do with him.
He is literally Hans from Frozen minus the romance. He's in a rich family as a runt and isn't noticed, he leaves Gary out in the SNOW to die, he lies that Judy didn't make it to Nick in the snow (Anna and Elsa parallel), he gets beat up by said person who was left to die.
Also, he says a line that appears to be something his siblings would have said to him at one point, had it drilled into him so he repeats it to the protagonists, same as that Hans fanart I saw once.
Hans said, "If only there was someone who loved you."
Pawbert said, "You think anyone's going to believe you over us? We've always been better than you and we always will be."
Had they just continued with the good guy route it would have been very refreshing.
The forced reference with The Shining was...not necessary? I know Zootopia is all about references but they're usually done quite well and it flows with the story. For The Shining reference they just randomly had a hedge maze in the middle of nowhere for no reason at all. It literally existed for the reference. Why.
GOOD THINGS.
The plot was intriguing and the fan's fears of it being given away just by the trailers was proven incorrect, which is great. Gary's design and his unique voice, character, sincerity were all great. New locations were well designed. Throwbacks to the original were well done without being too forced like other movies tend to do. (Loved the Fru Fru scene and "RAYMOND! And is that Ke-) The small quickies of the original locations and little OST nods were awesome as well. The Lynxleys!! LOVED them being the villains. I did a literal lol in theatres at Hoggbottom's bit with the Babe reference. I did like the fact that she was against Judy and Nick up until she was asked to eliminate them too, that made me appreciate her a lot. (especially being victim to the Yo mama joke, poor gurl)
Imma end this on a more positive note with my Miniso Judy doll~
The face plate fell off unfortunately so I have an elastic around it to keep it in place.
I dressed it up in my labubu clothes haha
I wanted the images side by side but they're piling in a heap.
Thanks for reading!
I did enjoy the movie overall but there were definitely points about it that bugged me. So, here they are.
CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ZOOTOPIA 2 OBVIOUSLY, read on to your own discretion.
This is a very opinionated review and I acknowledge what I don't like =/= bad writing
First few minutes into the movie and we already have a problem; why is Judy able to happily kick open a door when she was injured and literally stated she couldn't walk??
Moving on...
The heavy heavy heavy focus on Nick and Judy as "partners".
It's obvious why the directors did this, they know just how obsessed the fandom is about the pairing. I liked their chemistry in the initial movie and am not against them being a couple or just friends. But boy did the sequel go to new lengths to make me not want to ship them.
"Happy Anniversary."
I liked it in the therapy session trailer. But then it's repeated two more times. Not necessary, started to get grating. What saved it was the walrus interrupting them and putting on the "anniversary lights".
Their "overshare" scene could have been done SO much better! That scene in the original movie where Judy apologises to Nick? I still get teary listening to the amazing voice acting there. It was clean, delivered emotionally and sincerely. Chef's kiss.
The "confession" in the sequel. Ohhhh boy. It started off okay, Nick finally telling Judy how he really felt about them being partners. But as soon as they started rambling at the end? It felt like it was an attempt at downgrading an emotional scene to make it comedic. I felt so uncomfortable during that. They even had Nibbles call them out on it. It didn't make it better. I really didn't care for it but that's just my opinion.
The post credit scene. Very unlikely for someone in a platonic relationship to repeatedly play an audio clip that says "Love you, partner." Someone could argue that they replay audio messages from their loved ones who have passed on but Judy is not in this situation. Very much forcing it down our throats.
I wasn't against the earlier scene with them posing as a couple for the anteater arrest but Nick's performance there made me cringe. His "fake acting" in the original was convincing and the right tone. I can see they mirrored a deleted scene for this one with his "over-acting" and they should have realised the decision to cut that applied here too.
That brings me to Nick's character, specifically his jokes.
You can argue that because of his insecurities he mentioned in the sequel, it was a result of that. But his jokes in the first movie were fine? They weren't in such bad taste? Some here were fine too but the yo mama joke? Really? And the "slow death" one. He knows better. They make him look so bad in the sequel, I feel sorry for him. :(
PAWBERT. SUCH a good build up of a character full of potential...SUCH a disappointment with what they decided to do with him.
He is literally Hans from Frozen minus the romance. He's in a rich family as a runt and isn't noticed, he leaves Gary out in the SNOW to die, he lies that Judy didn't make it to Nick in the snow (Anna and Elsa parallel), he gets beat up by said person who was left to die.
Also, he says a line that appears to be something his siblings would have said to him at one point, had it drilled into him so he repeats it to the protagonists, same as that Hans fanart I saw once.
Hans said, "If only there was someone who loved you."
Pawbert said, "You think anyone's going to believe you over us? We've always been better than you and we always will be."
Had they just continued with the good guy route it would have been very refreshing.
The forced reference with The Shining was...not necessary? I know Zootopia is all about references but they're usually done quite well and it flows with the story. For The Shining reference they just randomly had a hedge maze in the middle of nowhere for no reason at all. It literally existed for the reference. Why.
GOOD THINGS.
The plot was intriguing and the fan's fears of it being given away just by the trailers was proven incorrect, which is great. Gary's design and his unique voice, character, sincerity were all great. New locations were well designed. Throwbacks to the original were well done without being too forced like other movies tend to do. (Loved the Fru Fru scene and "RAYMOND! And is that Ke-) The small quickies of the original locations and little OST nods were awesome as well. The Lynxleys!! LOVED them being the villains. I did a literal lol in theatres at Hoggbottom's bit with the Babe reference. I did like the fact that she was against Judy and Nick up until she was asked to eliminate them too, that made me appreciate her a lot. (especially being victim to the Yo mama joke, poor gurl)
Imma end this on a more positive note with my Miniso Judy doll~
The face plate fell off unfortunately so I have an elastic around it to keep it in place.
I dressed it up in my labubu clothes haha
I wanted the images side by side but they're piling in a heap.
Thanks for reading!
