Zootopia is one of my favorite childhood movies with its funny jokes, crazy plot twists, and amazing soundtrack. So now, seeing that a second one has come out, I knew it had to be just as great, or maybe better. I was too excited to find out and watch it, so I instantly went with my boyfriend, a fellow Zootopia lover. This is what I have to say about the movie:
When the movie first starts, we get a recap of the first Zootopia and how Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps solve the case of one of Zootopia’s biggest secrets, which was that Dawn Bellwether, the assistant Mayor, was injecting animals with a toxic plant (Night Howler) that makes them revert into their old predatory ways. Wilde and Hopps were then awarded for cracking the case, and Wilde decides to join the police force. Now, moving to the beginning of Zootopia 2, we see Hopps with the same energetic spirit and excited to be working with the same partner she solved her first big case with now that he is actually a police officer. I enjoyed seeing that the character didn’t change at all and made it promising that this movie will be just as great as the first.
Further in to the movie, we see Hopps and Wilde in a police meeting about a new case and, before Chief Bogo can even finish his sentence, Hopps and Wilde have already left the room to tackle this new case. They get to the scene undercover but were soon discovered as police and end up having to chase the criminal before they get away. While doing so, they end up tearing up the whole city making messes everywhere and even breaking the city’s statue. However, in the getaway car the criminal was driving, Judy finds a piece of snake skin. Mind you there aren’t supposed to be any reptiles in Zootopia, only mammals. This had me sitting up in my seat because I just knew this was going to become something so much bigger, and I was excited to see it.
Hopps starts looking into what this snake skin can mean, doing research and getting help from a podcaster named Nibbles who’s been doing research on where reptiles have been. Chief Bogo tells her to leave it alone since she wasn’t supposed to be on the case in the first place, but Hopps doesn’t listen. She finds out that a book called “The Lynxly Journal” has the map of Zootopia and where reptiles lived. What was even more interesting was that the snake, Gary, wasn’t a bad guy and needed the journal to find his family and the answers to all his problems. However, the business cats, that are the descendents of the so-called owner of the journal, turn out to be criminals trying to kill the snake for wanting the book. They do this because their grandfather isn’t the actual owner; the owner of the journal is Gary’s grandmother, and she was killed for the journal which left the cats’ great grandfather to take all the credit. This was the very first plot twist, and I can say that I was completely shocked. I don’t know why, but I just assumed the snake was bad. Turns out, he was actually so sweet and lonely; I felt terrible.
To make matters worse, as Hopps tries helping Gary and stop the cats from helping, Chief Bogo comes rushing in and accidentally running right into Gary’s fangs and is knocked unconscious from the poison. As Hopps goes to yank the fang out his face quickly before the damage gets worse, the rest of the police force catches her in the act and it looks like she is hurting him. This causes her and Wilde to have to run away before they get in trouble. While doing so, Judy meets Pawbert, a sibling of the cat criminals, but he claims to be different, and not evil, and is actually helping Gary. However, Wilde was caught by the police force with help from Nibbles, and this separates him from Hopps. At this point I was so scared. I didn’t want them to get in trouble for something they didn’t do nor did I like that Wilde and Hopps were separated and not on good terms. However, I was glad Gary, Hopps, and Pawbert all had each other. So basically the movie just had my emotions on a roller coaster ride. One second I was happy, the next second a plot twist came and messed everything up, which scared me.
We soon reached the end and thought victory was ours then, of course, the worst happened. Just like the first Zootopia, the sweetest person, that was even helping, was actually the villain all along! As soon as Gary and Hopps were close to finding the hidden town for reptiles, Pawbert injects her with snake poison and throws Gary into the snow. Let me tell you, I gasped so loud my boyfriend had to cover my mouth and half the theater was laughing at how shocked I was. You don’t understand, I was building a bond with him for being better and different then his evil family members, then he pulls this! Like, you have to be kidding! Plus Wilde is nowhere around to help and, with Gary having no fur in the snow, he can’t move to help Hopps. I almost cried I felt so bad because they put so much trust in Pawbert. But, thankfully, Wilde comes along fighting off Pawbert and bringing the antidote to Hopps. One of my favorite parts was when Gary hugged Hopps for warmth; it was the sweetest thing ever! I love their friendship, including Nibbles. So, in the end, they saved the day creating friendships with all reptiles, big and large, and cracked the case even though everyone doubted them.
So, I would absolutely recommend that everyone watch this movie, whether it’s in theaters or at home. It’s just so heart warming and thrilling with its plot twists. Shakira also wrote a song for the movie that was beautiful, and it’s just as great as the first one. She has a beautiful voice. If I were to rate this movie, I would give it a 12/10, it was just that good! Also, I love the fact it can be enjoyed by all ages.
