OK, for background: there’s a bunch of stuff in this video that’s of interest.
Basically, when they first started to make Zootopia Disney had this concept where all the predator species were required to wear shock collars in order to control their supposed vicious instincts. In this version Nick was the primary hero, and it was made clear from the start that the collars were unnecessary – and that they’d all eventually need to come off. Of course, this would take an entire movie, but great concept, right?
Actually, yes… for anything except a Disney kids’ flick. The problem was that Nick hated the collar, for good reasons; and because he hated the collar all of that negativity bled into his interactions with the larger society. Which meant that you ended up hating the society, too. Which is good, because you’re not a monster – but we’re now back at the problem that this was a Disney kids’ flick. The Zootopia folks worked forever on how to make the situation cute and innocuous – but, try as they might, Disney simply could not put a smiley face on involuntary shock collars.
:pause:
This is a remarkably reassuring thing to contemplate.
Anyway: they eventually junked the collar thing entirely and then made Judy the viewpoint character: this allowed them to portray Zootopia as something more befitting the name and still touch on the larger concepts of prejudice. Which is cool, because it’s a great flick… but the original idea that Disney grappled with is still there, and could stand to be its own flick.
So: bring in the shock collars for the sequel. I personally prefer ‘dimensional portal’ or ‘time travel accident’ (my wife thinks that either concept wouldn’t fit in with that particular universe, but I don’t care); the idea is to put Nick in a situation where he’s forced to wear a shock collar that constrains his behavior – but this time he knows that there’s a better way to do things. And so does the audience – so now the movie is about Setting Things Back To The Way That They Should be, rather than This Entire ‘Zootopia’ Thing Is An Totalitarian Lie. You could even maybe make it kind of kid friendly.
Anyway, that’s my idea.
Well, the alternative universe is where Bellwether plot is not thwarted and we’ll also get predators are segregated into predator’s neighborhood because they cause distress by their very presence amongst the preys.
Yeah, the original POV character is Nick and he already hated the city and the society (and this is true even in the release version, he’s already jaded and become a conman because that’s what this society expected of him). That makes the story flow a bit one dimensional. With Judy’s clearly rose tinted view of the city the first time she gets there until her interaction with Bellwether’s plot to her reconciliation with Nick, that’s a more interesting plot.