Zootopia+ Review: This Return to the Mammal Metropolis Is an Underwhelming Affair (LatestLY Exclusive)

Zootopia+ Review: With Zootopia being a massive success, here we are six years later returning to that same world with Zootopia+ - and let’s just say things do get crazy here. Business-wise it makes sense that, in the absolute massive catalogue that Disney+ has been building, they have decided to go back to one of their biggest hits and bring about an anthology series that doesn’t really feel necessary for fans. Sure, it packs in some of that magic of the mammal metropolis that we fell in love with, yet there is nothing to carry it here that made it seem really interesting.  Cars on the Road Review: Owen Wilson’s Lightning McQueen Returns In A Feel-Good, Brief Cross-Country Adventure (LatestLY Exclusive).

Directed by the duo of Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad, Zootopia+ is an anthological six-episode series that fleshes out the side characters of the mammal metropolis and bring about a series of vignettes that riff on some huge pop culture outings of our time. For example, an episode titled “The Real Rodents of a Little Rodentia” is a parody of The Real Housewives. So, in the same vein, we get other episodes that parody some heavy-hitters like The Godfather and more as well.

The best thing about Zootopia+ is that the entire voice cast from the previous film returns. You have some huge names like Idris Elba and Alan Tudyk, who play Bogo and Duke Weaselton in over here, their personalities are retained the same way as shown in the movie and that makes us reconnect with these characters. The animation is top notch, and the city of Zootopia looks as beautiful as ever.

The episodes themselves really provide for some fun concepts too, which sadly doesn’t have much time given to them. With all the episodes just being around seven to eight minutes long – by the time you’re truly into some of them, they just end and you’re left feeling underwhelmed. The worst offender is the third one which features a musical from Duke Weaselton and the episode never really goes anywhere. It focuses on him getting out jail and trying to convince himself that he isn’t just a “smalltime” guy which leads into a musical and it feels just inconsequential.

Watch the Trailer:

However, it's not to say the show doesn't become fun though. The episode riffing on The Real Housewives was a personal favourite of mine while the episode focusing on Flash the Sloth (Raymond S Persi), that see a server wait on the “fastest” sloth alive brought some good laughs. The first episode that saw Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) hop on a train only for her parents Stu (Don Lake) and Bonnie (Bonnie Hunt) to realise that their youngest is unknowingly on it as well, a car chase occurred that made for an exciting watch.

Yet the main issue of Zootopia+ lies in is how unnecessary it ends up feeling. It adds a bit to the characters of Zootopia, sure, but it ends up feeling like extras that you would end up receiving during the end credits of a film, or a YouTube short. Baymax! Series Review: ‘Big Hero 6’ Spinoff Is a Fluffy Short Series Filled With Warmth and Sweetness! (LatestLY Exclusive).

Comparing it to other Disney+ outings in the similar vein like Cars on the Road or Baymax, this particularly ends up feeling way more of a project that’s just there to extend the streaming catalogue, rather than a worthwhile story within its own universe.

Yay!

Animation

Fun Concepts

Nay!

Can Feel Unnecessary

Not Enough Time to Flesh Out Concepts

Final Thoughts

Zootopia+ is a series that doesn’t really do much with the concepts it has on hand. Often feeling like unnecessary watch, the show can’t validate its own existence and it creates for a viewing that never really picks up. Zootopia+ is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 09, 2022 07:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).