I remember how I felt watching “Zootopia” in 2016: This offering from Walt Disney Animation Studios, while colorful, clever and boasting appealing characters, is far too slow for a movie aimed at children.

(It didn’t help that the filmmakers leaned into this, let’s say, relaxed pacing with a sequence involving a sa-loooooowwwww-moving sloth working at the bureau of motor vehicles. It was meant to be funny, of course, but I found it flat and frustrating.)

Well, I thought, this will be one of those Disney movies that comes and goes without making much of an impact.

“Zootopia” made more than $1 billion at the global box office.

As a result, I was surprised that several years came and went without a big-screen “Zootopia” sequel. We finally are getting that endeavor with “Zootopia 2,” zipping into theaters this week.

And I do mean “zipping.”

“Zootopia 2” keeps what worked about its predecessor while telling a rather ambitious story at a brisk clip.

A buddy-cop comedy at heart, it’s another tale centered around rookie bunny officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a former con-artist fox who’s trying to go straight and make it work as Judy’s partner in anti-crime in the sprawling animal metropolis that is Zootopia.

Set soon after the events of the first flick, “2” sees Judy and Nick working to earn respect in the police department, with Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) assigning them to merely observe as other officers investigate a crooked customs inspector. Well, he would have given them that order, had they not already bolted to the port to try to get the goods on the animal suspect.

Judy and Nick soon are on extremely thin ice with Bogo because the ensuing chase — an elaborate few minutes of dazzling animation — leads to a lot of city damage.

Judy and Nick are also trying to figure out how to work better together, attending a Partners in Crisis support group meeting and each taking home a copy of the book “Partnerships for Dummies.” (Nick uses his to balance an imperfect coffee table in his messy apartment.)

Of course, Judy can’t just sit on the sidelines, roping Nick into following a trail of clues leading to the grand Zootennial gala. Evidence of wrongdoing points to the wealthy and influential Lynxley family, led by patriarch Milton (David Strathairn).

Fortunately for Judy, she’s already befriended Pawbert Lynxley (Andy Samberg), a family outcast. He’s working with a pit viper, Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan), to try to expose a dark Lynxley secret, one that would make it better for all snakes — unwelcome in Zootopia for decades.

Judy wants to help Gary at all costs, but Nick has more of a the-world-is-what-it-is attitude and believes no case is worth their lives. This is one of the stronger sources of conflict for a pair of cartoon characters, and it’s part of what makes “Zootopia 2” such a rich experience.

Written by the returning Jared Bush — who co-directs with another “Zootopia” veteran, Byron Howard — “Zootopia 2” also explores adult themes, none larger than racism, which is laudable. Importantly, though, it does so in a way that doesn’t feel preachy, and the romp still offers plenty for younger kids, who need not be thinking about such things yet.

Take, for instance, the expectations-defying way they use our old sloth friend in this go-round. I won’t spoil the fun, but it’s inventive.

And then there’s another new ferociously friendly character, Nibbles Maplestick (a colorful Fortune Feimster), a busy beaver with a true-crime podcast who proves to be an ally to Judy and Nick, who helps them get in touch with the underground reptile world. En route, she introduces them to the wet-and-wild environment that’s home to seals, sea lions and walruses. It’s a blast.

As for the voice work as a whole, Goodwin (“Once Upon a Time”) and Bateman (“Black Rabbit”) deliver more fine work, effectively selling the emotional impact of the growing rift between Judy and Nick.

And, as you’d guess, Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) infuses the venomous but otherwise harmless Gary with a specific brand of earnestness that only he can.

I wish the movie featured a bit more of the returning Elba (“Knuckles”), as the frustrated top-cop buffalo, and newcomer Patrick Warburton, who voices Brian Winddancer, a horse who’s transitioned from acting to politics and continues to adore being in front of cameras as Zootopia’s new mayor.

I guess Disney will just have to make a third “Zootopia” — not exactly something I thought I’d be rooting for before seeing the second.

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‘ZOOTOPIA 2’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG (for action/violence and rude humor)

Running time: 1:48

How to watch: In theaters Nov. 26

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