The artists behind the blockbuster Zootopia 2 already had an established world to build out, but the sequel expands on it in a way that requires extensive research and a lot of discussion.
In Zootopia, which he co-directed and co-wrote, Jared Bush, who co-wrote and directed Zootopia 2 with director Byron Howard, said, “We talked a lot about prejudice and stereotypes, and I wanted to be able to continue that discussion with this story. And I think what’s really important as we move towards this story, which is centered around the relationship between the fox and the rabbit, is the differences between them, and how easily those differences can make us feel uneasy and uncomfortable.” It felt insurmountably important. ”
The sequel introduces new characters: Gary de Snake (the reptile), the Lynxleys (the lynx), and Nibbles Maplestick (the beaver). There are also new environments like the Marsh Market, which is home to a secret world of many marine mammals and reptiles.
And while studies were found to show that mammals are inherently biased against reptiles, animators still had to depict mammals as part of Zootopia’s world. “It’s not easy with snakes, because it turns out you can’t really put clothes on a snake,” said Bush, who is also chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios. So Gary’s snake grandma shows up wearing old-fashioned glasses and a Victorian collar.
The houses of the snake village were long, undulating, interconnected, and there were no walls separating them. “We wanted to lean into the idea that it was a small, close-knit community that felt cozy and felt welcome and felt special. In fact, it was primarily inspired by the architecture of (Antoni) Gaudi in Spain,” Busch said.
fancy zoo gala design
Making the lynx the villain was also intentional. “Reptiles need warmth, right?” he says. “We wanted to create a cold-loving animal, so the lynx is a mammal that tolerates cold climates. Lynx are covered in fur. They can actually walk on snow,” he added, adding that in some snow scenes, Pobert (a bi-crossed lynx voiced by Andy Samberg) leaves no footprints.
“In nature, 90 percent of a lynx’s diet is rabbit,” Busch said. Therefore, it was important for Rabbit Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) to confront her natural enemy, the animal. Lynx is a member of the feline family, while Nick (Jason Bateman) is a canine member of the fox family. “And we liked cats better than dogs.” Lynx is also an opportunistic hunter, echoing what the Lynxley family was doing in Zootopia, and its size makes it less intimidating.
“In terms of scale, we wanted them to be a little bit bigger than Nick and Judy, so they feel intimidating but not overwhelming like a bear,” Busch says. “So for us, the lynx, not only is it a beautiful animal, but it just felt like it fit the bill. But again, it took months and months of research to figure out if the lynx was the right animal for it.”
A new character with a Courant twist is Nibbles Maplestick (voiced by Fortune Feimster), a conspiracy-loving internet star. She navigates all the worlds of Zootopia with ease.
Crime-fighting friends and partners Nick and Judy leave. New character Nibbles Maplestick, right, Bieber, who has a large social media presence
“Everyone knows Bieber is a conspiracy theorist,” Bush says with a laugh. “They’re great planners. They’re incredibly smart. And we wanted Nibbles to start off as a bit of a terrible character, but then flip that trope and end up being incredibly smart and insightful.”
Unlike Judy and Nick, beavers are comfortable both in water and on land. “A lot of this movie is about pushing Judy and Nick out of their comfort zones and putting them in an environment where they’re strangers to each other,” Bush says. So they had to take them to areas they had never been to and were not suitable for. Nibbles leading them through the Marsh Market turned out to be the right place. “Marsh markets are for semi-aquatic animals. They’re for marine mammals,” Bush said, adding that beavers, which are familiar with water and land, would be a very comfortable place.
Additionally, “I think what I like most is that beavers have scales on their tails, so beavers are, oddly enough, one of the mammals closest to reptiles,” Bush says. Nibbles is certainly friendly towards “outlaw” reptiles.
Judy and Nick are completely outside of their comfort zone in the harsher, working class environment of the Marsh Market, which serves to introduce a layer of socio-economic class dynamics into the film. “Nick and Judy go to the fanciest party in town early on. This is a group that they’re never around. That’s intentional. We wanted to say that this is the fanciest of fantasies and there’s a marsh market on the other side.”
Director Busch said the animators took inspiration from the Louisiana bayou, “but we also really looked at floating markets in Southeast Asia. That’s a big part of it, because we’re talking about coastal communities in general.”
Creating an environment for the Marsh Market’s animals (walruses, manatees, seals, sea lions, turtles, etc.) was “a lot of fun to think about, because it’s a completely different environment than the one created by humans. It’s designed to exist both above and below water at the same time.” That means they don’t want railings on the docks, because they need them to get in and out of the water. There were no conveyor belts to get large animals like walruses and elephant seals and sea lions in and out of the water.
There are places on the surface of the water where animals can hang out and congregate, unencumbered by boats, the human means of transportation. And even the habits of aquatic mammals are foreign to land mammals Nick and Judy. “The movements of seals and walruses are very different from what we see in bipedal mammals. We spent a lot of time understanding the ratio of animal-like to human-like qualities. We actually changed that ratio with seals and sea lions because when they move around, it actually feels weird. So it was important to understand those dynamics.”
World building requires research and patience. “What I always tell people is that it’s all intentional,” Bush says. “Literally everything you see is intentional. Someone had to build it. A lot of people had to have an opinion on everything you see on screen. That goes down to the grain of the chair, which you don’t even notice, but it matters.”
