- 2 days ago
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00:00Zootopia 2. I forgot this was coming out since Wicked For Good kinda buried it in the marketing department.
00:07Well, since this is the sequel to my favorite of the big three Disney movies I've talked way too much about in the past for twist villain related reasons,
00:14I might as well see what's been happening with Nick and Judy ever since they got the abortion in the comic that takes place in between these two films.
00:21Literally not even ten minutes into this one and they're talking about their baby and how they lost the previous one in the accident,
00:28which I guess is Disney's way of not mentioning abortion in the kids' film.
00:32I just, I can't believe they greenlit that official comic.
00:36The Nick and Judy abortion comic is canon.
00:39Hehehehe. Me when I spread misinformation on the internet.
00:43Nah, but for real, what's shaking with this film? Was it good?
00:47Um, well, it's no surprise that Disney has not had a good track record since Encanto.
00:52Three pretty bad films in a row, and their track record with direct sequels is somehow even worse.
01:00I didn't like The Rescuers Down Under, Ralph Breaks the Internet is Satan,
01:04Frozen 2 could not be more mid if it tried,
01:07and Moana 2 is three shorts and a trench coat pretending to be grown up enough to get into the movie theater.
01:12There is extremely little precedent for me to enjoy Zootopia 2,
01:17since this studio has never made a good sequel, and also forgot how to make movies in general.
01:24But I'm gonna be honest, you guys, they finally learned how to do it.
01:28This is an actual, honest-to-goodness, good movie, and good follow-up to the original film.
01:36I wasn't necessarily blown away by it,
01:39but I am kind of blown away by the fact that I enjoyed a Disney animated film again.
01:44And it's a sequel to Zootopia.
01:47Now, this is a movie that kind of fell in my estimation over the years.
01:51I just don't like the way it handles its message and metaphors about prey versus predator.
01:56It's not only messy when you try and apply it to the real world, as the movie seems to want you to,
02:01but it's heavy-handed.
02:03Almost every damn line out of these characters' mouths is about not giving in to stereotypes about a certain animal.
02:10They do not let you forget what this movie's greater ambitions and messages are about at any point.
02:18Which is why I'm happy to say that they actually toned that down in the sequel without removing it entirely.
02:24I like the idea of introducing kids to these sort of themes in easy-to-understand ways.
02:29And I think the central metaphor at the heart of this film is a lot simpler and less problematic
02:34if you try and pick at what the movie is saying.
02:37It kind of has a lot of overlap with Wicked for Good, actually, but I thought it was done better here.
02:42It's a pretty interesting story about exploitation, demonization, and oppression of a certain type of animal.
02:48But they don't play into the whole stereotype trap that made the first film kind of questionable in some aspects.
02:54Nor do they beat you over the head with it.
02:56So much of the dialogue in this film is just normal now,
03:00compared to the first film where every other line was some sort of prey versus predator think piece.
03:05It allows the central focus of the film to just be Nick and Judy's dynamic,
03:10showing how they fundamentally differ as partners in a way that makes perfect sense.
03:15Of course their ideals would clash.
03:17Of course Judy would be more invested in solving this case and helping someone,
03:22while Nick would just want the two of them to stay alive.
03:25They have a falling out in this film that actually works and doesn't feel cliche,
03:29like so many kids movie falling outs do.
03:32Speaking of which, there is something in this film that I've complained about a lot with Disney movies
03:39that actually worked for me here.
03:42I'm not going to go into great detail about it,
03:44but you can peep my spoiler Letterboxd review if you want a glimpse at what I'm talking about.
03:49I'll probably go into more detail in the future,
03:51but suffice to say, I was honestly really impressed with something this film does.
03:56One element of the film that didn't really work for me was this new snake we keep seeing in the marketing,
04:01Gary, voiced by Kei Hui Kwan.
04:04I don't know, I think he was kind of wasted here.
04:07This character isn't along for the journey as much as I was expecting.
04:10He kind of does his own thing for a bit off screen, while Nick and Judy do their own thing.
04:15It makes it so you don't really get to know him that well,
04:18especially when there's other characters taking up screen time that could be going to fleshing him out.
04:23Like, there's this lynx dude, played by Andy Samberg,
04:26who I will soon be talking about often in the f***ing Adam Sandler ranking, kill me!
04:30And there's this crazy beaver podcaster lady, who's around a lot longer than I expected.
04:35And I honestly enjoyed those characters a lot, I think they were very fun additions.
04:39But they weirdly feel better fleshed out than the snake we're supposed to sympathize with
04:44in some of the film's more theoretically heartwarming moments.
04:47I don't know, I really didn't buy it when he said Judy was his best friend in a pivotal moment,
04:52because they barely know each other.
04:55It takes forever for Nick to even meet him.
04:57I just feel like if you want the emotional moments with him to land,
05:01he probably should have joined the group after the set piece at the gala.
05:04The beaver was fun though.
05:05She's giving character who was only supposed to be around for one scene,
05:09but the creators liked so much that they just made her one of the major characters.
05:13I'm also glad they didn't milk any of the supporting characters from the first film too much.
05:17Like they bring back Flash, and the donut loving cop, and the Shakira gazelle, and the godfather mole,
05:23but in moments that actually make sense for the story, that don't take away from the main plot.
05:28And like I said, the main plot is pretty interesting, and I like seeing how all of it unraveled.
05:34I was worried there would be a bunch of scenes where Chief Bogo doesn't believe Nick and Judy,
05:38despite the goodwill they naturally should have earned from him after the first film.
05:42But they smartly take him out of the picture for a bit, so they don't have to deal with that whole
05:46cliché sequel that puts the characters in the exact same spot they were in the first film nonsense.
05:51There's a new Patrick Warburton horse mayor, who's very clearly meant to be an Arnold Schwarzenegger parody.
05:57I guess they probably tried to get him for this character, but he said no.
06:00But whatever, it's kind of fun hearing Warburton in a Disney movie again, 25 years after Kronk.
06:06It has been 25 damn years since the Emperor's New Groove. Oh my god.
06:12Anyway, I like what they do with this character. It's something different.
06:15In general, I like a lot of the choices this movie made.
06:19It feels like they make much smarter decisions than a lot of kids' movies and previous Disney films,
06:24which frequently fall into pitfalls and clichés.
06:27That's not me saying I was head over heels in love with this film.
06:30It's definitely not a Moana or Encanto.
06:32But it is certainly better than everything else they've released in the past 10 years.
06:39Hey, Zootopia 1 was 9 years ago. Does that mean?
06:44Yes, yes, I actually think I liked this better than Zootopia 1.
06:50It's just a cleaner narrative, and I think it deepens Nick and Judy's relationship,
06:55even beyond what the first film accomplished.
06:57It doesn't have an annoying, smug, twist villain whose personality flips on a dime
07:02with only five minutes to be evil in the climax.
07:05Though, they do bring Bellwether back for fun little cameos in a few scenes,
07:08and I thought they were kind of amusing.
07:10There's a cute Ratatouille homage, but a much more blink-and-you'll-miss-it fun verbal reference
07:15to Boundin, of all things.
07:18Or, maybe it was a reference to Jackalopes in general,
07:20but I like to think it was a direct Boundin reference.
07:23They even poke fun at Disney live-action remakes in one scene,
07:26which, you could say, where do they get the gall?
07:29But I don't know, there are real human artists behind these movies,
07:33and Disney Animation Studio is not the exact same as the corporation pumping these shit-ass remakes out.
07:40So I thought that was cute.
07:41Overall, yeah, this movie made me surprisingly happy.
07:45I had fun with it, and if you liked the first film, I'm sure you will too.
07:48It's definitely much more of an Inside Out 2 kind of sequel than a Moana 2.
07:53Kind of sucks, the Disney movie I love got the janky bullshit sequel,
07:57while the one I'm kind of mixed on got the good sequel.
08:00But beggars can't be choosers at this point with Walt Disney Animation Studios.
08:04I liked one of their movies again.
08:07This is the second Disney animated film this decade that I can confidently say is good.
08:13That's great.
08:14I'm giving Zootopia 2 a nice, solid 7 out of 10.
08:19It's not gonna change your life, it's not extremely funny or anything,
08:23but it has some good character work, a nice story, it's just a pretty good time overall.
08:28Feel free to check it out, but fair warning,
08:31J.K. Simmons is not in this one like he was in the first film.
08:34A tragedy.
08:36But if you want an animated film that does have J.K. Simmons in the English dub,
08:40check out April and the Extraordinary World.
08:42It's a dystopian film, and not just because it's French.
08:46It takes place in an alternate history where all the world's scientists have mysteriously vanished,
08:51and technology has never progressed past the Steam Age.
08:55The main character April is trying to recreate a serum her parents and grandfather were working on
08:59before they disappeared.
09:01But some mysterious villains, as well as a goofy Javert-like inspector, are after her,
09:06forcing her to team up with a thief boy and her trusty talking cat,
09:09in order to evade capture and figure out what happened to her family.
09:13The movie has a lot of surprises in store that I wouldn't dare spoil.
09:17It just goes in so many creative and cool directions.
09:20It's pretty exposition-heavy at the start,
09:22but it's not too long before the movie lets these likable and entertaining characters
09:26take the reign as they uncover more and more of this crazy cool conspiracy.
09:30Actually, the main two characters are a lot like Nick and Judy, in a way.
09:34And the whole conspiracy angle is a lot like Zootopia, where they're solving cases.
09:38I didn't even, like, think of that when I paired this recommendation
09:40and the original movie this video was about together.
09:43I was just like, hey, let's throw them in there.
09:46But, yeah, that works thematically.
09:48Anyway, the art style is simple, yet very effective,
09:51with some of the backgrounds, especially in the second half, being real marvels on the eyes.
09:55It's a movie with so many cool ideas that just keep coming right up until the very last scene.
10:01Plus, the dub was distributed by G-Kids,
10:03so you get some well-known names in this, like Paul Giamatti and the aforementioned J.K. Simmons.
10:08They fit the characters super well.
10:10Overall, this is a marvelous film that I feel like most people will enjoy.
10:15And I won't say too much more, because it pays to go in blind here.
10:18Please give it a watch.
10:20You know, I really still do want to make that one big video with a bunch of obscure animated recommendations.
10:27The problem is, every time I watch a new movie for that video,
10:30I end up talking about that movie at the end of a mainstream animated film video.
10:34My bad!
10:35Next year for sure.
10:37Maybe.
10:37Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
10:41Honestly, I liked them both better than Wicked for Good.
10:44Good night, Zootopia!
10:45Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:05Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:06Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:07Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:08Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:09Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:10Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:11Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
11:12Go watch Zootopia 2 and April in the Extraordinary World.
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