Zootopia 2 (2025)

Zootopia 2 runs like it chugged a pot of espresso, and the mystery under all that noise rhymes with the first movie so closely that you’ll call a few turns early. Too much of it also happens away from the big city. The idea at its center is a good one, though. Snakes haven’t been seen in Zootopia for a hundred years, and the story asks who quietly wrote them out of the history books. Judy and Nick carry the rest. Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman have that squabbling-partners rhythm down cold, and a fight that snaps their shared carrot pen in half lands harder than it has any right to. Ke Huy Quan voices Gary De’Snake, a nervous pit viper who just wants his family’s name cleared, and he’s lovely. Fortune Feimster’s conspiracy-minded beaver, Nibbles, is a riot. It made $1.87 billion worldwide on a reported $150M. A 7.8 because the partnership is gold even when the mystery runs on autopilot. $4,061 says you break a cheap pen this week and feel a tiny, ridiculous pang about it.

What works: Judy and Nick’s squabbling partnership is as charming as ever, and Gary De’Snake and Nibbles are terrific new additions.

What doesn’t: The pace is relentlessly loud, and the mystery follows the first movie’s blueprint so closely that the big turns are easy to predict.

Who it’s for: Fans of the first film, and kids who like their cartoons with a real mystery to chew on.