Zootopia 2 feels like it was made just for you

We all know not all kids movies are created equal.

Flashing bright colours and fast edits might be enough for kids under 12, but spare a thought for the poor parents who had to suffer through the seizure-inducing Trolls World Tour.

Zootopia 2 is not only a family film that caters to all ages, but its jokes are so clever, it will make you feel as if the filmmakers wrote it just for you, and that no one else could possibly have gotten as much out of it as you did.

That’s a special feeling, and it’s a unique talent to evoke that from the audience.

So, yes, go ahead, go and see Zootopia 2, even without any kids in tow. You don’t need the cover, because you’ll have a fabulous and entertaining time discovering all the verbal and visual gags, and all the references most children wouldn’t pick up (The Shining, for one). This one is for you.

It’s also surprisingly political for a Disney movie with strident anti-colonialist and pluralist values. Love to see it.

This sequel lives up to the fun-filled hijinks of the first film, and deepens the characters in whom we’re already invested.

That’s Judy Hopps (Ginnfer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a bunny and a fox who should, in theory, be poorly matched.

She’s an enthusiastic go-getter with a sunny disposition and out to prove that she shouldn’t be underestimated. He’s a wily operator with a lifetime as a con artist living on the edges of polite society.

After coming together as unlikely friends to foil a complex conspiracy in the first film, Judy and Nick are now officially partners on the Zootopia police force, where no one takes them seriously.

Judy is determined to establish them as real detectives, and that their first adventure wasn’t some fluke, so when she sniffs something iffy about an upcoming black tie gala, she can’t leave it alone.

It’s the 100th anniversary of the founding of Zootopia, a city where all mammals live together in harmony, separated only by the weather walls that keep the climate exactly attuned to different needs.

To celebrate, weather wall inventor Ebeneezer Lynxley’s journal will be on display, an acknowledgment of the great achievement and the Lynxley family’s (David Strathairn, Andy Samberg, Macauley Culkin) continued prominence.

But it also serves as an explanation of why there are no snakes in Zootopia, after the whole species was banished following a deadly incident a century earlier in which a viper fanged a tortoise. Not surprisingly, the smuggling of a snake (Ke Huy Quan) into Zootopia rings alarms.

There’s more to that story, and Zootopia uses a zany crime caper to explore the lies told throughout history for the purpose of power and wealth, in which colonisers usurp the truth to demonise “the other” and steal their land, even denying, to an extent, their existence in the first place.

Sound familiar?

Threaded throughout the wider story is the emotional core of the film, which is the friendship between Judy and Nick, who, by their very natures, are resoundingly different, leading to a clash of life values.

But, it’s a kids movie, so we know they will find a way to resolve the conflict, not just by emphasising the things that make them similar, but by acknowledging their differences and how they complement each other.

In between all the feel-good vibes, Zootopia 2 is crammed full of jokes that will tickle you fuchsia, bubblegum and cerise – every shade of pink. Just as one example, Judy’s phone has an icon on its back of a carrot with a bite taken out of it.

There is so much witty wordplay and sight gags that you could probably watch this film five times and still miss half of them.

What a treat.

Rating: 4/5

Zootopia is in cinemas from Thursday, November 27