In a mile of animals: the cartoon "Zveropolis 2" was released in Russia

Russian multiplexes have launched a demonstration of one of the most anticipated animated films of the year, Zootopia 2. Most of the time, the film is shown before the Russian short film "How Much does a Cloud Weigh?" and that's the name on the tickets. The cartoon has already collected almost a billion dollars at the global box office and entered the top 5 highest-grossing releases of the year, with almost half of this amount coming from Chinese rentals. Izvestia tells us how the film turned out and whether it is worth buying a movie ticket immediately.

What was the first "Zveropolis" like

To answer very briefly, no, of course, it is not necessary to buy a ticket and go to the cinema.

Now that most of the readers have closed the page and gone to the next session, let's try to tell you what Zootopia 2 is, the most successful animated film of the year after the Chinese Ne Zhi, the long-awaited sequel to the beloved animated blockbuster, the object of desire of almost all children in the world.

But first, let's recall the first part, which was released in some other universe in 2016. And, to be honest, she was already a complete disappointment, as the author of these lines wrote even then. It wasn't about the technical features of the Disney hit, although it didn't make much of an impression even in IMAX compared to Pixar's "neighbors." The reason was lost opportunities. The local plot about Judy the hare and her unwitting partner Nick the fox was at odds with the fact that the authors had created an amazing, dimensionless (or rather, "rubbery") universe of a megalopolis divided into climatic zones, but united, communicating, alive. After a hundred minutes of the cartoon, there was a feeling that we were shown too small a piece of this world, but we wanted more, and it was more interesting than a detective story intertwined with the theme of xenophobia.

Each encounter with new and new characters made you expect something incredible, promised new details, but the characters were already rushing on. For some reason, we didn't remember the adventures of the main characters, which were rather banal, but the ultra-brained sloth, the narcissistic artiodactyl mayor Zlatogriva, or the tiny local Don Corleone in the person of a charming but dangerous rodent. I wanted spin-offs, TV series, and most of all, perhaps, a large-scale video game where I could finally walk around Zootopia to my heart's content. Yes, that "Zootopia" got the Oscar, but still the aftertaste from it was much more pleasant than the impressions from the actual viewing.

How will it be returned: what do film industry experts say about the new film "Pinocchio"

The professionals were shown a fairy tale, which will be released only in 2026.

What is Zootopia 2 praised for?

Zooopolis 2 satisfies our curiosity in many ways. Realizing how many corners of the city we have long dreamed of visiting, the authors have increased the pace so that we seem to be watching everything on fast-forward. Now it's a sin to complain — the trip turned out well. Moreover, there was probably no such detailed rendering as here in animation before, "Disney" has surpassed itself in this sense. Every interior, every plant, every object is written out so that we remember them somewhere in the subconscious, because we simply won't have time to consider them properly: the action will already take us further, to the next locations, different weather conditions, and new attractions. Perhaps you even get a little tired of it, but when you've been waiting for details for nine years, you still accept such a geography of action with gratitude. You won't be able to view the cartoon on a small screen, it requires exactly what IMAX does.

We are, perhaps a little obsessively, brought back to almost all the characters who appeared in the first part. It's not always justified, but for the most part it's done wittily. Especially the sloth, which has almost turned into Mad Max here. Of course, if the cartoon has become a franchise, then the sloth has become as much its symbol as the saber-toothed squirrel Scrat for the "Ice Age".

Judy and Nick now communicate on a deeper level and solve problems that concern not only children. For example, one of the main conflicts is that they have different ideas about the business they are engaged in. If for Judy this is a mission, a service, the meaning of life, then Nick can ask quite harshly why he should die at this job. And since both are right, then the necessary dramatic tension arises. Moreover, without pedaling this question, we are shown as a married couple who have been married for a long time and during this time have managed to accumulate a certain number of suppressed resentments against each other. There is a wonderful dialogue parodying the technique of a family psychologist. And it works for the movie.

The theme of intolerance remained, as in the first film, in the first place. Racial and gender-based xenophobia has been supplemented by class-based xenophobia. Among the main characters of the second part is the aristocratic Rysevich family, who actually rule Zveropolis, appoint governors, and adjust the laws for themselves. One of the most interesting characters is an outsider, the prodigal son of the Rysevich family, who immediately becomes attached to Judy and works against the dynasty. One of the film's wittiest jokes is also connected with it — a quote from Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining", be sure to review it before going to the cinema.

But one of the weak points of the film is the image of a thieving viper that triggers the action of the film. This character should be one of the most striking, because he is responsible for restoring historical justice here, but perhaps they deliberately show us that fighters and revolutionaries can sometimes be petty and vulgar, which does not negate the nobility of the cause they serve.

The main problem with Zootopia 2 is that it has an idea, a theme, characters and a setting, and everything except a normal plot. I absolutely do not want to follow the stolen artifact, all plot twists are predicted even by the child strongly in advance, the finale generally looks like it was randomly pulled out of a pile with other equally dubious options at the last moment. Because of this, again, the aftertaste is much better than the viewing itself, although…

We started the text by saying that you don't have to go to the cinema to see a movie. This is, of course, a trick: what else can you go to in December with your family, if not to "Zootopia 2" and the new "Avatar". And both of these releases will look absolutely terrible at home, they are purely theatrical spectacles. Let's consider this just a trick so that you read the review and then go to the movie. And his message that there are few more vile things in the world than intolerance, arrogance and self-confidence would justify a less bright and thoughtful product than the really very cute "Zootopia 2".