Zootopia+ (2022)
★★½ — Zootopia+ (2022)
When Zootopia arrived in 2016, it landed as one of the more confident Disney animated features in years, blending a buddy-cop mystery with a surprisingly earnest examination of prejudice and assumption. The film followed Judy Hopps, a rabbit from the rural sticks who becomes the first of her kind to join the Zootopia Police Department, and her reluctant partnership with small-time con artist fox Nick Wilde as they work to crack a missing persons case with city-wide implications. It was polished but purposeful, funny but not frivolous, and it found a substantial audience as a result. Zootopia+ arrived on Disney+ in November 2022 as a bridge between that original film and its theatrical follow-up, taking the form of a short-film anthology that revisits the world and its wider cast of characters. At 109 minutes across its episodes, it represents a reasonably substantial return to the setting, even if the format is rather different from a traditional feature.
The project sits squarely within Walt Disney Animation Studios' recent willingness to expand its properties through streaming content, a pattern that has become familiar in the Disney ecosystem over the past few years. Both Byron Howard and Rich Moore return to direct, maintaining continuity with the original feature. Howard, who also helmed Tangled and more recently Encanto, is a reliable hand at Disney animation with a particular feel for character-driven warmth. The anthology format here is an interesting structural choice, one that allows the production to shine a light on supporting players who were necessarily kept to the margins of the original film's plot. The premise is loose by design: rather than a single sustained story, each short takes a different corner of Zootopia as its subject, giving the creative team room to experiment with tone and focus, at least in theory.
The voice cast returns in full, with Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman reprising their roles as Judy and Nick respectively. Goodwin, whose screen work spans everything from period drama to, rather differently, Walk the Line, brings the same bright, slightly wound-up energy to Judy that made the character work first time around. Bateman's dry, slightly weary delivery continues to complement her perfectly. Beyond the leads, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, and Nate Torrence all return as part of the ensemble, with the anthology format theoretically giving characters like Clawhauser and the DMV sloths room they never quite had in the feature. Whether the format makes the most of that opportunity is, of course, the question worth asking.
Zootopia+ is the streaming equivalent of a comfortable side dish. Pleasant, competently made, and perfectly serviceable, but unlikely to leave a lasting impression. This collection of shorts bridges the gap between the original film and its sequel, offering bite-sized glimpses into the lives of Judy, Nick, and the wider menagerie of Zootopia. The animation remains sharp, the voice cast retains its charm, and there are occasional flashes of the franchise's trademark wit. A few moments land with genuine warmth or cleverness, particularly those expanding on secondary characters like Clawhauser or the sloths at the DMV. But "decent" is the operative word here. None of the shorts truly distinguish themselves. There's no standout entry that demands rewatching, no bold experiment with form or tone, no narrative risk that elevates it beyond pleasant filler. They feel like deleted scenes padded to six minutes rather than fully realised stories. As companions to the main films, they're harmless enough; as standalone entertainment, they're forgettable. A perfectly adequate diversion for fans hungry for more time in Zootopia's world. It's nice to visit these characters again, but you won't miss much if you skip it. Sometimes "good enough" is exactly that, no more, no less.
I'll admit that going in I had hoped the anthology structure might allow for a bit more creative looseness than a feature film can afford, the sort of thing that works well when studios let their animators off the leash a little. That didn't quite materialise here. If you're a fan of the original and you've got a spare afternoon, it's worth a watch, but I wouldn't clear the diary for it. And if you are keen to see where the story goes next, you're probably better off heading straight to Zootopia 2. This one sits comfortably in the background. Which, I suppose, is exactly where background material belongs.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2022 | Watched: 2026-03-29
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Zootopia+ (2022) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · fuboTV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Byron Howard: Encanto (2021) · Zootopia 2 (2025) · Zootopia (2016) · Tangled (2010)
More with Ginnifer Goodwin: Zootopia 2 (2025) · Zootopia (2016) · Walk the Line (2005)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
