The Ringer-Verse - 'Zootopia 2' and Disney Sequels | Mint Edition
Episode Date: November 28, 2025Spoilers ahead! Jomi, Steve, and Jess dive into the long-awaited 'Zootopia 2,' sharing their full review and exploring how the sequel expands the world of the original. They discuss the franchise’s ...cultural impact and what Disney got right (and wrong) this time around and look ahead to a potential 'Zootopia 3,' discussing where Judy, Nick, and the rest of the city could go next. Finally, they zoom out for a broader conversation on Disney sequels, the hurdles they’ve faced, why some manage to shine, and why others fall short. Intro (0:00)'Zootopia 2' review (4:43)Disney sequels: hits, misses, and challenges (27:57)Outro (52:44) Hosts: Jomi Adeniran and Steve AhlmanGuest: Jessica ClemonsProducer: Devon RenaldoAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hi, everyone, it's Amy Polar, and I'm launching a new podcast called Good Hang.
In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and give me some advice.
Just be yourself, and the guests will come.
Don't be the celebrity that this is their, like, sixth thing they're doing.
I love two crime and cooking podcasts. Is there any way you could combine the two?
Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast.
So, join me for Good Hang. It's rough out there. We're just trying to lighten it up a little.
For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.
Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.
Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks,
followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks.
If your doctor decides that you can self-inject trumphia, proper training is required.
Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active cronthes.
disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions,
increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before
treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection,
flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia
today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfairadio.com.
This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business.
Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business.
And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business.
They keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services,
plus 24-7 U.S.-based support.
Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum Business.
So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more.
Restrictions apply.
Services not available in all areas.
Hello and welcome into.
the ring or verse your nexus feed for all things fandom.
I'm Steve Alman.
I'm jumping dinner on.
And welcome again to Mint Edition.
The once in a very long while podcast about all of the latest fandom that you just can't live without.
And today is a very special day.
We are joined by one of our favorites.
Our favorite.
Probably like the best in the world.
It's a two-sum to do some, but it's a three-sum to be-sum.
Jessica Clemens.
Hi.
I feel like I'm Judy hops in a way.
You are?
I feel like I'm Judy hops.
What's the most Judy hops-ish thing about you?
I'm, oh, I take over projects.
Oh, okay.
So you're all right, all right.
I am definitely, I run over people.
I will be like, no, just give it to me.
And I'll just handle it.
Okay.
That's the bad part.
Are you, are you in any way in love with the fox?
You can call them that.
Oh, silver fox.
Wow, silver.
Sorry, this whole podcast was a trap.
Who did you like the most in the Predator movie? Go.
Oh, my God.
Who else would you think?
Honestly, if you know me, you already know who my favorite.
Most datable youches, go.
The dad, right?
The dad?
Because he's the bigger one.
He killed his son.
Okay, well, we don't know those people.
We don't know how to...
I don't know that, man.
And we don't know their customs and their religions.
Right.
Okay.
He might have been innocent.
I saw the son put a gun to him first.
Exactly.
I'm not here to question to man's culture.
You heard, Jomey, he's going to be my lawyer in court one day.
All right.
No, I hope not.
You gotta lose.
Jomi, please, I need you.
We're joined with Jessica Clemens today
to talk about Zootopia 2.
The long-awaited, actually,
and surprisingly, shockingly amazing sequel
from Disney Animated Studios.
Before we get into all of that,
we're going to be talking to you
about what's going to be coming up
on the ringerverse feed.
But before we do that,
Jomey at Dineron,
where can people find the ringerverse on the internet?
They can find us on the internet on Twitter and on Facebook and on TikTok and on Instagram and on YouTube.
At Ring averse.
We're everywhere.
We are everywhere and nowhere, but except the nowhere is the internet.
You should be there.
You should subscribe.
You should follow.
You should like everything.
Next week, the Midnight Boys are going to be giving you their rare mailbag episode.
So get those questions in, get those answers in, voicemails, et cetera.
On Tuesday, the House of ours is going to be continuing their stranger things deep dive.
and later on button match is going to be back
with Metroid Prime 4 and Marvel
Cosmic Invasion. Jesse
playing any fun games lately? I did play Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
It's very fun. I know.
My only like situation
with Cosmic Invasion is just like
you think you're going to play forever.
You know what I'm saying? And it's just like a fun little
30 minute. Sit down. But then it's like oh
how are we going to invest this long term? You know what I'm saying? You're going to
have to make me a lot of things. Sometimes you just jump onto a video game
you have a nice little one hour balance. You don't think you'll get tired of that
You don't think you get tired of that one?
I mean, I probably would, but we get tired of everything.
Eventually, all things will end.
A beautiful thing isn't beautiful because it lasts vision.
That's true.
What do you say?
Side scrolling, beat them up in 2025.
Now don't, all right, Jomi, don't start that.
My problem isn't that necessarily.
It's just like when you go back and look at turtles in time and the X-Men one,
it's like, yeah, it's great at an arcade.
A great nostalgia trip.
A great nostalgia.
But in my home with my friends, I'll play through the five maps there are.
I'll play the 15 characters and then what?
And it'll take me only three days.
That's all right.
But I spent like $30.
Well, you can get a lot more utility out of that
than maybe some other games
but we won't mention that.
But we could look forward to button match
talking more about Metro Prime Foreign Cosmic Invasion
from Marvel.
It's going to be a great time.
Guys, should we get to it or are we going to
or should we talk more open?
Let's talk about Tozu Tootopia, man.
Tozu Bumafu Topia.
Respect my guys.
Chris and Martin.
I do.
They're fine.
I love Coldplay.
Coldplay.
I think it's one of the best bands that we have in our modern era.
Today we're gathered to talk to Jessica Clemens and Jomey at Denneron and me about Disney's animated fair Zootopia 2.
Spoilers for Zootopia.
Before we get into that, we're just going to blanket recommend this movie for you to see this holiday weekend.
Yes?
Yes, 100%.
I've been recommending it immediately to people.
Yeah.
Like, this is incredible.
You have to go watch it.
It is a fantastic time of the theater.
We laughed, we cried.
The entire theater was just like having a blast.
I was shocked at some things that were said.
You know, I mean, we'll get into that.
But realistically, like, the movie, it has, like, an already, like, an enormous fan base.
And so, like, it's already going to make.
We'll talk about how much money it's going to make over the first weekend.
It's going to go crazy.
But if you're on the fence about it, I'm telling you, go see this movie in theater.
It's really great to laugh with the group of people have that feeling in the theater.
just like everybody's had a great time.
So go to the theater, watch this movie.
You're going to love it.
You're going to have a blast.
This is a really big family weekend or last two weeks, right?
Because we got Wicked last week and now we're getting Zootopia this week.
Exactly.
It's like they're just like they're purposely.
They planned this.
They planned them with these family movies out in theaters during Thanksgiving.
It's almost like this was on a calendar five years ago.
Do you think?
To be like, we need to put this movie out right then and there.
Is there any kind of source that says that they were like Black Friday worked really well for theaters as well?
I would imagine.
I'm just going to send my kid to go see.
Spy Kids 3D while I'm crushing Target.
Yeah, while I'm running people down for a goddamn vacuum cleaner.
Remember when people used to go in person for Black Friday?
Dude.
The Harry Potter DVDs at Target were like $3 each or $2.
And I remember that was like I would be alive for anyone.
This is when Doorbusters used to mean something.
All right.
We actually talk about busting doors.
Now we're just like, all right, sit online, maybe wait for Prime Day to have 10% off a PS5.
And then that's it.
I was just talking, we're going to get back to Zootopia.
I swear to God.
But I was just talking to someone about how one of their brothers,
their job was standing in line during Black Friday to hold their spot line.
Like a line sitter?
Yeah, line sitter.
And I forgot that people, it was such a long time ago.
I forgot that people got paid to just stand there in line outside of Best Buy to get that TV for someone.
And then when they show up, you go switch.
Damn.
So with all the things that we have in Los Angeles,
with all those cues that are like a limited edition water bottle or something,
what are we sending somebody in line for that you don't want to wait in, like,
Arrowon?
I don't want anything.
I don't think I want anything that bad.
I want anything that bad.
There's nothing I want that.
Nothing on like a Supreme drop or something like that.
I'm only thinking of stuff that's in L.A.
No, I'm not paying someone to stand in line for,
there's, I don't know, it would have to be like to save my mom or something.
Like, to save your mom?
The extreme.
I'm going to, y'all going to community goods to go wait for the matcha?
You know what I'm saying?
No, exactly.
Those overrated bagels from wherever the hell?
Yeah, like, I'm not doing that.
I'm trying, I truly am trying to think.
And the worst thing I've done this year that I had to wait for was getting,
The people that make the
The dolls, not Barbie.
I think it might be the Brats company or whoever.
They now made an alien one.
A Brat's alien?
Yeah, and she has a big, giant black head.
And it's limited, I bet.
And it is.
And I spent a lot of money.
Oh, God.
And you waited a long time in line for it.
Well, it was digital, so I literally just went.
Yeah.
Wait, an NFT?
You just bought it.
You waited online for an NFT?
It wasn't an NFT.
I will show you this later.
People are listening.
You can look it up.
It's a great little buy.
For those listening at home, her current algorithm is Oakley's and messed up aliens.
We got more show left.
Let me show you this in a second.
Get back to Zootopia and then we're going to turn it into Alien.
Spoilers for Zootopia 2 and all things Zootopia.
Nuts and Bolts for Zootopia 2, directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard.
So between the two of them, these guys have worked on a bunch of stuff.
Zootopia 2, of course, Bolt in Canto, scores of other projects.
Shout out to Bolt, by the way.
I love Bull.
Love Bold.
Wait, you didn't see Bolt?
I said under, no, I saw it.
During seventh grade, a homeroom when the eighth graders were graduating,
they stuck us in like the room for, like, how many hours.
That's so funny.
Bolt is crazy underrated.
Is that Miley Cyrus?
Right.
That's right.
Yeah, the dog.
Not as the dog.
There was Miley Cyrus and the dog.
She didn't voice the dog.
She got the dog in her?
Not the dog, the bounty hunter.
What?
Keep going.
This is why we have you, Jeff.
Starring Jennifer Goodwin, Jason,
Keehoi Kwan, Fortune Femster, Andy Sandberg,
and don't forget Patrick Warburn.
You can't forget him.
You cannot forget Patrick Warburne.
The crazy part is we know that the top,
like Jennifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman are like top top.
And then it's like, hey, let's get every great celebrity
that you love in this movie specifically.
You also kept Shakira off the list.
First of all, okay, and interest album.
When you go, yes, of course, again, there's a lot of people
in this cast and others.
The two musicians, you left the two musicians
off the list.
And others.
Listen, if you Google Zutopia,
be a cast, the first thing that comes up is Shakira.
So I can't. She's got the algorithm on her
side. All right.
McCulley Colkin?
Winter Brunson? He was...
Winter Brunson was the little hamster
Michael J. Fox is in it? Yeah, he was
Katrick Linsky.
Oh, the brother? Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Who were that family? I think the
dad was someone, too. Disney loves
doing this when they did the animated feature.
They're like, oh, I'm going to put out a hundred famous
celebrities. This is great because the stunt
casting in animated films is actually
the ceiling is so high for it
because you can just shove a microphone
in somebody's face.
Not even so much when they're on the street,
but if you want to come in for like a half hour
and just like have a meeting with so-and-so
and then you're like, hey, you want to be in Zootopia?
We'll like throw you a credit in here
and there's like say a couple lines.
Well, I can't imagine, again,
like I know voice acting is a lot of hard work.
Of course.
Not to not a downplay.
Yeah.
It's, I'm not going to see here
in acting like it's super easy at all.
But these are very talented actors.
You can get them in the booth for like,
what, two hours, bang out their lines
and that's like, that's it.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
But they cost like triple them.
I mean, but that's the thing.
That's probably right, right?
You know what I'm saying?
But at this point, you're like,
we're already making like an animated movie
already costs so much money.
Might as well get like the top of the top talent
to make it to make it happen.
That's Super Mario.
You're like, I didn't really need Charlie Day
to be the voice of Luigi,
but I don't mind it.
Now I see it.
Jack Black, put him in everything.
We got a bunch of new characters.
We got a crazy new plot,
but this movie's tracking to actually have,
at the time of this,
recording. We're reporting this a little bit early because it's the holidays.
But we're tracking for a massive weekend for this movie because apparently a lot of people
are very excited about it. Before we get to like just our impressions about it, I think that the
big takeaway is I was very not lackluster coming into this, but I'm like, all right, we got a Disney
sequel. We had a couple of like last lackluster showings from the Pixar's of the world and stuff
like that. I'll kick it off with this, Jess. What did you think of Zootopia 2 going into the fact that
Like, this is just going to be another Disney sequel.
I just assumed it was going to be
Zootopia.
Yeah.
I thought I was like, I think the first Utopia movie, I think genuinely,
they went in thinking they weren't going to get a second one
because it was so big and it was such a spectacle for what it was that I was like,
how are you going to get grounded from that?
And the way that they did in this movie, I think was very telling to just expand more
on like, oh, the lore of a billionaire that owns a lot of property and land within Zootopia.
I was like, oh, where do you go from this?
Because the whole appeal was that it was.
like, ooh, this girl that trained so hard
to be a cop, she's an underdog.
And then she wins at the end.
How do we go higher from that?
I was like, you're going to have to throw her in space.
So I think, you got to throw her in, she's an astronaut.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I was not expecting.
I was just like, oh, she's going to solve another
case, and then they're going to make her look kind of bad, maybe.
I had no intention on seeing this movie at all.
And I really liked the first one when I was in college.
But then you were like, hey, the thing about talking about this podcast.
Just you want to come?
I was like, I got about it.
and I was kicking and screaming
I was kicking and screaming I was bad
Jomi showed up very late
Damn why did you have to
That is an insane straight
First of all I made the movie
Don't let her do that
I got there the dude was still playing the piano
Don't act like I made the movie
Okay
He was going into the ground
God traffic is bad
You know what I'm saying
I live far away
What do you want to do?
The parking lot in front of the Elcaps
You want me leave a madhouse?
Yes Joe
No
I wanted to sit next to Jomey and I couldn't
because Jomey showed up during the starting credits.
Now I get astray.
No, I'm joking.
Well, technically, I don't know if you guys were next to the child that was in your lap,
but I was next to the child that was in my lap.
That was not my child during the movie.
A lot of kids in the movies, they had a great time.
The kids were having.
Anytime there was a chase, a car sequence chase,
they're like, this child would give in and shake the chair.
And that's when I went, this is who the movie's for.
It's not for us.
The kids had a great time.
Now, the movie is outstanding.
I had a real blast watching the movie.
I think the first one,
I think I had to catch the first one.
I almost said on VHS.
I'm old.
I caught the first one, like, I think, I want to say, like, on Disney.
Does he plus even exist?
No, no.
The first one came out in 2016.
2016, but I didn't watch any theaters.
I just, like, maybe, like, watched it somewhere.
And I was like, oh, this is really fun.
Like, man, this is really deep for a Disney movie.
They're talking about, like, racism and stuff.
Oh, my gosh.
This is, wow.
And so, like, I kind of, yeah, I was kind of like, oh, my gosh, this is.
We make this movie.
That was 2016.
We were still woke back then.
After 2020, you know, after 2024, we lost the unwokening.
Right.
And so coming to this movie, I was kind of like, I didn't think the movie would have
like a strong message.
And I don't think it did, at least overtly.
But there was, it was funny.
It was entertaining.
It was engaging.
There was so much things happening on screen.
Not like they were just like flashing.
But there were a lot of like gags in the background if you're paying attention.
One, like, the one in particular that it still makes me laugh is when they're doing the chasing through the house and you have the chef.
And then the hat comes off.
There's a little ratatooie.
He's making ratatooey and you're like, oh, that's a fun nod.
And then the hat comes off and it is a little rat on top.
Yeah.
And like, that's, like, that's, it's just like, that's happening all the time.
Yes.
And so at no point, are you bored?
You have just an amazing, amazing, an amazing time at the theater.
I think they really knocked it out of the park with this film.
and I'm really excited to see what people think of the movie
because, again, I just think that it's a success all around.
There's a term that I've learned more often in TV writing
that's like certain shows are joke machines.
This might be the biggest joke machine movie that I have ever seen.
Like, we've used to, like, I think we would coin, like,
the family guys of the world joke machines,
where it's like, it's almost, like, it almost disorients you
to the actual plot of a story where there's this like joke after joke after
joke and if you don't even get one
there's going to be one within 30 seconds
to something for you to laugh at
it's an incredible balance to maintain
a pace like that while also actually
being a propulsive plot
I don't think I really have any
plot concerns with this movie
I think it's just more of like I am
genuinely impressed that Disney went out
for the amount of jokes
and the amount of types of pacing in their kids
movies that go
like this like I don't think like maybe
since Shrek, like Shrek one or two,
where not only the adult skewing humor,
but the sheer like jokes per minute,
gags like per square inch of screen
that you get to see actually happens.
Like I was genuinely reminded of Shrek.
Like, am I crazy to think about this?
No, no, no. But the real magic is it has that,
but it also has immense heart and emotion.
And so the movie balances out so well.
When Gary's telling his story, you feel for Gary.
when Nick and Judy are having like their emotional moments as partners in quotations.
Yes.
I'm like, wow, I really like feel for them and their relationship.
And I want them to connect.
I want them to be brought back together.
Like the whole thing rounds out in a way that I'm not going to say I was surprised
to see because I think they did it well the first time again.
But I was just like really, really like, oh my gosh, we still make movies like this.
Yeah.
Special.
And I think that there's like you can kind of.
always like take a bit of like of a moral or like a surface level lesson from a lot of these
movies obviously it was about like the first one it was about racism and like tolerating
people's differences and like accepting people for who they are and stuff like that this one is
very much about relationships and relationship dynamics and the entirety of this movie is about
judy and nick's actual dynamic being like a bit of an echo chamber through like two thirds of
this movie. And it isn't even actually addressed. And like, I keep seeing ways in which they interact
that like either people in relationships or people that just interact with people. And in a day-to-day
basis, like, I'm like, oh, they actually have like some problems that are very present in how
they're interacting with each other. Man, it's almost like this partnership and quotations is very
much based on like real relationship stuff. I understand. And then we should stop pretending that it's a
partnership when it's really they in love. But, you know,
know it's crazy is that I don't think Disney's afraid to do that.
They are more afraid of doing it in the other Spectrum end.
And I think they would have showcased that if they wanted to.
How so?
If people weren't weird about it.
If people weren't weird about it.
Which I think given the since the first one up until now,
I think the people on the internet have proven that we can get a little weird with it.
To be fair, I also think this is a little bit, we're not going to get too deep into it.
I think it's also a little bit of Disney's fault and they're trying to go back on it because we have the Lion King.
Sure.
And they lean into stuff.
They do.
The Robin Hood stuff.
We have everything.
And then it's like, oh, yeah, we didn't know it was going to grow into this.
We didn't know people were going to like start with this.
So Disney's always going back to.
I think that's the most plausible deniability that you can ever have.
But it's also Disney.
So Disney's not going to take accountability for that situation.
So they're just going to go forward with.
And also still to this day, I mean, I think it's a great thing.
But I think Disney is afraid to try to like showcase what love can look like in different ways.
And I think they're like, friendships better.
Right.
And it's a fine line.
It's a fine line to make.
I think it's worse in this one,
if I'm being completely honest.
I think it's way worse.
Define worse.
So, like, it's more blatant.
Because the first one,
I feel like there was plausible deniability in the first one.
Because they were enemies,
but I think people were still like,
you can't be enemies.
But in this one,
when they're doing,
when they are,
they're in basically couples therapy and partners therapy.
Partners therapy.
They're sneaking into the place.
They've got to change to the suit.
And they look at each other.
And there's like a little,
this is like a little,
but I think,
the scene, like, I think, and it's built
within like the whole, again,
they're fighting as partners coming
together, but the scene
at the end, when they're like
on the snowy hilltop
and they're like essentially
confessing their love for-
They're doing therapy speak.
Nah, man, but I've seen that in
romantic comedies the world over.
I know what that is. I can recognize
that when I see it. Don't lie to me, man.
Jomey the therapist and the lawyer.
Don't lie to me, man. Like, I see what's going
on. And then the movie is when he's like,
I love you and she's like, I'm keeping that forever.
That's a token for me. Wow.
I'm like, guys, guys, come on. I get it.
I understand it. It's a children movie.
We can't get too deep into it. But let's not
pretend this isn't what it is.
You feel me? Like, come on.
And we also have like the like the
foil possible
like other romantic distraction. He got
he got jealousy media. Come on, man.
I've seen this movie before. Why are you
trying to trick me? I know the play.
I've seen it. I've seen the script.
I know how it is.
Don't trick me.
Come on, man.
Come on.
Let's be, let's be for real.
Let's keep it being in between.
Yeah, they're like, yeah, that late 20-year-old man knows what this is.
The children watch it are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, the children are not going to get it.
That's where like I'm not like, this is for me.
I'm not all the way in on like, yeah, man, this rabid and this foxed, they got a, in the sequel, they better have nine kids.
Like, I don't need all that, you know what I'm saying?
But would we not, like, the partnership motif is like, guys.
Jomey, let's get to the bottom of this.
Where is this coming from?
It's just like, one thing about me is you're not going to pull the wool over my eyes.
No, I meant for like you.
Because earlier you said this was like a racist thing, right?
No, no, no, the first movie.
The first movie.
Yeah, it was about it happened.
And then when we saw Elemental, you were like, this is an interracial relationship with a black man.
Absolutely.
Are you, are you in your feelings right now because you see yourself as Nick Fonz?
What is happening right now?
No.
Are you sure?
Yes.
I've seen what it's presented to me.
Sorry, who is the Jomi surrogate in an elemental?
Let's go right now.
Jomey thinks he's the water guy.
I'm definitely not the water guy.
Who would you be in elemental?
I'm the fire shardy.
You are not the fire sharding.
I'm the fire shard.
I'm the fire shard.
Nah, I'm not the water man.
You are the fire shard.
You are the water man.
You are not that angry.
Let's talk about Kehoe Kwan for a second.
He's fantastic in this movie.
I'm curious about his movie output in like since everything everywhere all at once.
he's done a bunch of Disney Fair.
American-born Chinese,
Loki Season 2,
then we have Kung Fu Panda 4,
Love Hurts, the John Wickening
rom-com that is
way too prevalent.
I did not see that.
You saw her? No.
Oh, I thought, well, you like romantic.
Nobody saw it.
And it's not even his fault. I saw
Adriana Du Bois in there and I said, that's enough.
No, no, it's not her fault.
It's not her fault.
It's not her fault.
She did the thing.
No, it's not her fault.
She thought it was good on paper.
She thought a lot of stuff was good on paper.
Well, to be fair, what was the movie with Aaron Taylor Johnson?
You can't remember.
It's the right of a movie.
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Craven.
When they see Gigi at her mouth?
Look, look, look.
Look, look, look.
Some people make mistakes.
Yes, they do.
Some people make mistakes.
I don't think you always made maybe a couple.
Being in the electric state and then Zootopia.
No, but I wouldn't even say it like mistakes because you got to remember.
He was kind of out of Hollywood for him.
Yes, he was.
Right?
And so you come back with everything all I want.
you get an Oscar for that.
You come, you're like, all right, I'm done.
Oh, I'm back at the top.
Now you can just kind of...
To be fair.
Pick and choose, whatever you want to do.
You want to have fun.
You want to do an animated joint.
You want to, like, play Ariana DeVoises love interest.
You can do that.
Like, that makes sense.
And he was probably offered everything and every...
He was offered everything everywhere.
As soon as you get that, because I'm also thinking about the cast of Utopia,
and I'm like, I think he's the only one with an Oscar, right?
All right, all right, all right.
Well, regardless of that, I was very curious about his role in this because I love his
character here because it's it's very much a like mistaken identity i'm trying to do the right thing
this movie felt like it didn't i wouldn't say that it felt long but the this character had a
whole arc that i very much appreciated to think that the snakes and the reptiles were basically
the originators of zootopia and they were a discriminated class that made you got to put the
movie back on.
I never took it off.
I never took it off,
Joe me.
This is a wild.
Brothers and sisters.
It's time.
No.
Also, the,
oh my God,
you pronounced every,
the pronoun that you went,
it's time.
What did you say it like that?
You're scaring me.
You're scaring me.
I apologize for my enunciation.
I apologize for my outburst.
Yes.
But no,
this is like probably the more,
I didn't think that I'd be into
Zootopia lore,
but I want to know,
If there's ever a room for a sequel prequel,
I want to know a like 1800s
like New Orleans style
Zootopia where the reptiles were having a good time
and then we're getting fucked over by the lynxes.
The lynxes. Those lynxes.
Yeah, I wanted to, as soon as I heard that story,
I was like, let me go back to the first one
and make sure there's no reptiles in Zootopia.
Like in the scene when she first gets dropped off
in Zootopia on the bus and there's a million different animals,
I was like, let me go back and check this.
Like it made me want to go look back in the first movie.
Like, kind of nudierres.
I'm like, I see a Komoto dragon.
There definitely weren't any birds.
You know that.
Were there no birds?
There were no birds.
No birds.
There's never any birds.
Not, not.
And now we know for sure because the ending of the movie has a little feather.
Post-cournizant feather.
Like, once in the sky.
I feel like it's a hard thing.
They must have actually thought about that from the beginning because I'm like, you had all these background artists and just making all these cells or making all these different animals.
And you're like, none of them are bird.
none of them are lizard, none of them are reptiles.
Skytopia, baby.
Do turtles?
Yeah, because the turtles were hidden too.
The turtles were hidden too.
So I think, like, to back to Steve's point,
I think the first one is very overt, like what the movie is trying to tell you about,
hey guys, we can all be kumbaya, we could all be together, pray peddlers,
we could all live together.
This one is a little bit.
I think they really push the, like, the partnership thing really heavy.
But the lesson, I guess, like, if we're, like, going to call it that.
Lesson is keep your receipts, actually.
The lesson is always keep the paperwork.
She kept it.
It was that it was hidden.
It was hidden in like a little music box.
Right.
But no, it's like the first one was about like racism.
This one was about like, you know, colonization and things like that.
Like erasing the history of the people.
And you go like, man, they really got this off, huh?
Disney locked this in on.
It made me realize, oh, okay, you got to go so big, children will not understand.
If you go so big, the grand scale of being like, yeah, billioners are calling.
izing the slam.
Yeah.
Erasing history.
The whole nine yards.
I'm like, uh, I went noticing.
I was like, I clocked this immediately.
David, just there and we'll come for you.
Good night and good luck.
The next one, I wonder if Disney's like, okay, we're going to have to pull back a little bit.
But I think, uh, nah, nah, no, Bob Rogers was like, hey, guys, guys, guys.
We doubled down on the mayor.
We doubled down on Patrick Warburton.
Bob, by, because he's, again, the movie disguises the whole thing about like,
with the Judy and Nick.
Right, right, right.
He's like, we got to get back to American values.
Right.
American Valley. I don't know what they're going to look like when the
Hawks and the Eagles are in there.
But Bob I're going to come back and be like, hey, guys, let's
lock back in. We need a... Let's put a white man in the movie.
Will they cast Tray Young as a hawk?
I'm not giving you that. I'm not giving you that.
What they're going to call? Oh, they're going to make Zion a pelican.
We have goat coming out later.
We have goat. We have goat coming out.
It's already happening. Jaila Hertz and Eagle.
Ooh, they're going cast.
I mean, it's a...
They will.
They will.
They're going to.
They're going to. They're going to.
Kyla.
Kala, they're going to.
No, what is...
Hey, man!
Christ, but they're gonna have,
they're gonna have to take Taylor Swift's husband
because they have a deal with Taylor Swift.
Yeah, they're gonna have to take Travis.
You can have a deal with Taylor Swift?
Isn't her movie on Disney?
Errors?
Her eras to work movie?
So they're gonna be...
No, I think they have like an actual...
Oh, you mean Jason Kelsey as an eagle?
Yeah.
Oh, right.
Because Travis as a chief doesn't really make much sense.
Right, yeah.
Bob Iger said maybe, but then everybody said maybe,
and he's like, we'll put that in R&D for a little more.
Like I said, you think they'll bring Michael Vick as a Falcon or no?
I knew that one.
And I went into my own shell.
This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech.
Everyone knows Winter is the MVP and making a mess.
You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer, unless you hit the beach or go camping.
Then you'd want a cargo liner.
Or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips.
Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those WeatherTech seat protectors.
So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer.
You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer.
Visit weathertech.com today.
This episode is brought to by Viori.
When it comes to close, that score high in both comfort and style, Viori is my MVP.
Sunday performance joggers, oh yeah.
They have the perfect.
I could watch a game and then go out to dinner vibe.
And the metapant, that's my number one.
I need to look like I tried option.
Get 20% off your first purchase at viori.com slash Simmons and discover the versatility of Viori clothing.
Exclusions apply, visit the website for full terms and conditions.
This episode is brought to by Nass Energy.
Every ounce of dirt, sweat, and gears, every checkered flag and trophy raised, every lap, every race, every hard fought place.
They're all jammed inside every can of Nass Energy, high performance energy for burning the midnight oil in the garage,
and pedal to the metal human horsepower for the street.
go ahead, crack open a can of Nas energy
and get after it.
All right, I have a big question for you guys.
So, again, we had a bit of animosity
knowing that this was a sequel.
Disney's got a lot of sequels coming out.
That's all they make now a sequence.
That's all anyone makes sense.
Kind of, it's kind of rough.
Again, this is something we've talked about for years now.
I think Hopper's coming out next year.
Yes, that is the one Pixar original
that, outside of Elio.
I'm just talking like Pixar Disney, the whole thing.
Right.
Right.
We take just all of this animation.
We lump them both in together
because at this point,
it's already hard to figure out.
Did you, hey, when did Elio come out?
That came out last year.
This year.
This year.
No, it came out this year.
Elio came out this year.
We forgot.
I'm memory-hold this year.
I'm so sorry.
I memory-hold Elio.
Dude, I had a, we're at Trivio on Sunday.
And they were like the last five picks our movies to come out.
I literally said this to my girlfriend the other day.
Elio never came out of my mouth.
Yeah.
You guys are horrible.
You even think about it.
And my horrible was the movie horrible.
It's not horrible.
I didn't see it.
So I don't have.
So I don't have to speak on it.
You know what I see myself out?
Where's my purse so I can do the Viola Davis?
But no, like, but outside of Hopper, right?
We know Hopper's coming out.
But after that, it's...
Toy Story?
Toy Story, we're getting Incredibles.
Yeah, we're getting another incredible.
We're getting two Frosons.
Yes.
Frozen 2 or Frozen 3 and Frozen 4.
Right?
Maybe Zootopia 3.
Are they making...
I certainly hope Zootopia 3.
But that's what I'm saying is, like, this is not a place
where they make original films anymore.
No, well, also the Disney's...
strategy is you're trying to maximize the
IP. You want temples that you can make into
the parks and you can get merch and you can do ticket
sales for it. But this is the
edict now. Yeah. That is
coming down the pipeline from Disney and
I hate to say that
if it's as good as Zootopia too,
it's going to work. Well, and
Zootopia's already in the parks. As them dressed up
they can't really put a lot to
Zootopia, unfortunately. Actually, no, they have a
Zootopia show. It replaced the bugs life.
Yeah. Also, they are making money off. Cocoa
2. Cocoa 2. Oh yeah, Cocoa 2's
Can't forget about live action Coco and live action Moana.
Live action.
Are we still waiting for the live act?
Yeah, the live action, it just came out pieces of it, right?
The photos or the trailer for Moana is out.
That's all.
Y'all got it.
Oh.
Oh.
What did you say like that?
You don't like Moana?
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
2026, hexed.
I don't know what that is.
Talk to us about it, Joe.
But that is a, it's a film directed by Josie Trinidad and Jason Hand.
That's on the schedule.
I believe.
We don't know anything about this.
But we don't know nothing about it, but that's supposed to be coming out.
So that's the one.
After Hoppers, it's hexed.
And that's all we have in terms of original.
Unfortunately, looking back at Disney's entire thing for this year,
Elio is the only original thing, other than the roses,
if you want to count the roses.
Because we had Snow White.
You mean the Benedict Cumberbatch?
Yeah, the Benedict Cumberbatch.
Disney had Snow White, right?
They had the Thunderbolts, which I wouldn't count as...
I mean, the roses is just a remake of War of the Roses.
There I am.
Prutter Killer of Killers.
Elio, Lilo, and.
Stitch, the Fantastic Four
First Steps, Freakure Friday, Tron Ares.
Yep. Zootopia 2 and Avatar Fire
and Ash. And again, it's IP all the time
and even so when we
have in jokes in Zootopia 2
like looking at like the
Hulu screen. Disney said
we'll do a shared universe. Right.
But Marble won't.
But it's entangled to the entangling.
What were the bootlake DVDs my guy
was selling in this movie? It was
tangled and then something else? Yeah,
tangled. It wasn't Hamilton, was it?
Hamilton was one of the ones he was watching.
Yeah.
It was, I mean, again, those guys were funny.
I think it was Hamilton and it was just a ham.
Like a pick.
No problem with it would piss me off because I didn't get a chance to look at all the other names
because I was so focused on the fact that they didn't change the name.
And I was like, it's just Hamilton.
But it's just the alien poster.
Well, it's Hamilton, but he's a ham.
That's what I was an idiot?
I was like, what's the pun?
I was looking so hard.
And then it changed and I went, he's a ham.
He's a ham.
I mean, look, you own all the IP.
You might as well put his good use.
You might as well put it to good use.
And they say the industry is dying.
Yeah.
But it's not.
But it's not, right?
So we have, what, two original films from, like, the animation studios at Disney, and then they're all sequels.
It's just sequels now.
And that's the thing.
Like, as good as this movie was, do you feel like somewhere deep down in your heart of
hearts that it's taking away a spot for something that could be a bit more creative, a bit more risky?
And is that more of an indictment?
Because when we get the LEOs of the world that don't.
really set the world on fire
do they just come running
back to the safe IPs that we knew were hits
100% I would say yes
if the movies were bad
right that's the problem
is that there's a there's a level of quality
let me let me let me calm down
because Moana 2 wasn't as good as
it was not it wasn't right
we were all here from
we were all here from one to let's let's keep it a bean in it in between
they fucked up that movie they chopped it up right
but
this movie deserves to be like
put on the same level as the first one, right?
When you talk about Incredibles, too, I think that the first Incredibles is like, I was,
I literally just rewatched it a couple, couple of nights ago.
Perfect movie.
Perfect movie.
Perfect movie.
The second one, not like, perfect.
Good, but it's there.
It's good.
It's right there.
It's really, really, really good.
And so if you're going to continue to make movies that are like, are continually, like, on a high level,
then, like, yeah, I guess.
Like, I mean, you, I don't want to say, like, new stuff, but it's going to make good movies.
We're going to watch good movies.
That's ultimately what it comes down to, right?
So if they continue to make, like, Cocoa 2 just as good as the first Coco,
or Zootopia 3 is good as Zootopia 1 and 2, you kind of got to be like, ah.
You got to put your hands and be like, well, they made a good movie.
They made good movies, man, I'm there.
I'm sorry.
Like, they're cooking.
I don't know what else to say.
That's a hard formula to try to feed into of like, oh, let's try to get,
let's make a movie that lowers their expectations and then we immediately surpass it.
Because you don't want to come out the gate was just like a, like, oh, it was okay.
Because Utopia 1, I think.
was good, but it wasn't Incredibles one.
It wasn't Coco one.
I mean, it was their Pixar movies to be fair.
I enjoyed the first one a lot.
I thought it was really, really good.
But it wasn't groundbreaking.
And I think for me, I mean,
I think nostalgia runs into a lot of Pixar movies for fans,
but I do think with like Coco,
I was like, this was remarkable.
I think this was a beautiful tale.
And I think they did a really good job in every corner of it.
Zootopia 1.
I'm like, yeah, it's just a fun ball.
I'm having a good time.
So I'm like, yeah, those ones,
it's hard to like,
I don't think they can make another's utopia
because it doesn't require that
as much need and care as like those Pixar movies did.
Interesting.
I, I, I want to talk to think of all the Disney movies.
Because this is a different flavor than I think the Coco's or the, like, we have the
upper echelons of those Pixar and Disney animated fair that are incredibly heartfelt and a big,
and like a bit grander of an adventure when I liken this to something like either a, not so
much a spiderverse. But again, like along the lines
of Shrek where it's like a solid adventure,
but the amount of things that this movie
can do, not only
visually, because this is
gorgeously animated, by the way, with humor
with like a sort of like all-inclusive
family package that
is like four quadrants
all around amazing.
I'd watch, I'd rewatched Utopia 2
way earlier than I would rewatch
a cocoa. No, I would think you can rewatch it
a million times. You can turn it on
and fold laundry. I think you can do
anything was Utopia. I think that's also
the equivalent of like Frozen. You put it on to have your
kids like just watch it and be entertained. Same on Moana.
But I think it's just like, so now we're saying
like as a critic or reviewer we have to
attempt to like chop them up
differently, our reviews if that makes sense.
Like I feel like, because we're like, yeah, the Pixar ones come with
heart. These ones are just fun. And I'm like,
but I want to be able to review them both on
the same plane. Exactly. And that's not to like
discredit either one of those.
I think that there's a lot, there's a big
we're, in my opinion, I see
a bit more of a respectable leap
when I see something like a Zootopia 2
because of the fact that
you see so many spinning plates
in a movie like this,
that it almost feels like it's ready
to fall apart at the scenes.
Yeah.
It feels like the pacing of this movie,
like, wow, we spend a lot of time
like in this like reptile haven
with like the Bob bin and stuff like that,
but it never outstays it's welcome.
And then we go into the boat scene
that's basically a canteeno
with all these reptiles.
And it's got a lot of bits
and a lot of like world building stuff.
Never really outstays it's welcome.
So here's the thing, first of all, no, people don't, I mean, I like Coco, but I'm not rewatching it because it's going to make me cry out of Tom.
Yeah.
I can't, I can't do that.
It's an emotional wallet.
Right.
It's pretty heavy.
But in terms of this movie in particular is Zootop you, too, no, man, this is going to go crazy.
This is going to set the streets on fire.
To your point, like, movie continually keeps a movie and continually keeps showing you something new.
You have first-hand count, Jess.
The kid, every time they had a chase scene, was just like shaking in his chair going crazy.
I think ultimately, like, when me look back at this movie, it's going to be.
one of the ones that
that's constantly being referenced
in people's rewatches and how much they enjoy
how much they love it because the movie
just the movie rips
movie rips and I agree I completely agree
I think I am stunned
at the amount of
like jokes and humor
that this movie gets away with let alone
can deliver on a
on a consistent level
a for some to bust your dorsum is might be the most
outrageous thing that I've ever heard
in a children's movie after
crazy. As she
busts down a door
like Jack from the Shining.
No pause on that? Like that was crazy.
You just say that in a children's movie?
That was wow.
By the way, that's my favorite new character
in this entire movie by the way.
You like that podcaster? The podcast
Beaver that has a conspiracy theory
podcast and the only comment
on her video is from eight years ago
that says let's get the conversation going.
I loved it
because like
she only had like three listeners.
Yeah.
And she makes her own comment.
Jomi, tell me that's not real shit.
You being in the Reddit on your burner and being like, yeah, man, love the podcast.
It was so great.
But she don't even need to burn it.
She just doing it to assess themselves.
All right, Jess, give us your favorite characters and then we'll get out of here.
I was looking up Jared Bush as the writer for this movie because he has a lot of television
credits and I'm like, that's probably why the jokes are immediately.
Yeah, no, it's a very punchy TV.
atmosphere. And all his TV writing credits
are like early 2000s where it was just
like Golden Girls like as
where it's like joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke.
Yeah, it makes sense.
Favorite characters. I love Gary.
I started out really like in the Lynx family.
I'm a cat girl. So links were like,
anytime there's a cat on screen, I'm in it.
I'm like, that's my girl.
It'd be all homes. Yeah.
I think the godfather bit still kills me.
Oh, I love the family came through too.
And then they're making like Gucci bags.
I was like, oh yeah.
Uchi bag.
100% legitimate business.
On the truck.
I love her.
I love her.
Yeah,
I love that they brought a little baby
that just looks exactly like the mom.
Yeah,
I love Gary.
I love the family.
Yeah,
there's not a single character I hate.
I really like Bob.
I love the joke
between the sea lion
and a normal,
like.
You're missing one that
absolutely sent you insane.
And it was the iguana
when he's running around the water.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
And he's supposed to like,
and you're like,
oh, he's going to help him.
And he's like,
And it's my favorite national geographic photos and videos ever are the lizard.
Because their legs completely out to the sides.
And they're sprinting on top of water.
They're so light and so fast, they are Jesus.
And so I think it's so funny to see that scene play.
They played the bits of their animals so well.
Yeah.
And I, like, because he was so stoic.
He didn't eat the worms.
He was just like, I trust you, Judy.
And then it's good.
very end during burning mammal.
During burning mammal
he was running on top of the crowds. And I was like
I, and it's also, was it Danny Trejo?
It was Danny Trejo, yes.
That's, like, with the cowboy have being like,
you're our only ho.
By the way, I didn't realize this until just now.
CM Punk is one of the
Zebrose.
Oh, no, it is him and Roman Reams. Yeah.
He's one of the zebras. Oh, no, it is him and Roman reins.
Yeah. Yes, it's him and Roman Reigns. I forgot.
I clocked Danny Trejo
immediately. Yeah, it was an easy, easy.
There were, there were somewhere I was like,
to lose it.
Key Kwan, I did not know.
That's my, it's my, my heaven is like just listening to a celebrity voice and be like,
that's David Strasner.
You're good at it.
That should be a trivia, honestly.
I'm watching the Ken Burns American Revolution documentary, and I'm like, that's Merrill Streep.
You're annoying.
Yeah.
Paul Jimani is John Adams.
It's cinema.
The Linkleys was, we're tough, but that's McCulley Coker and Brenda's song.
Annie Sandberg, obviously.
Who is the dad?
I know who.
The dad is.
I thought it was Charlie Cox for a minute.
And then I was like, that's not Charlie.
That would have been, that would have been his vibe.
It could have.
I bet they went out to him.
Succession vibe.
Charlie Cox is probably so expensive at this point now.
No, he's got the McDonald's money.
How expensive is he?
I guess McDonald's got the bag on them.
Shut out the bag.
I mean, that would be the only way.
Yeah.
They were great.
I love the lynxies.
It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful surprise this movie.
I can't, I can't recommend this enough because I was gobsmacked at how fun this movie is.
What animals do you think you guys?
What animals do I think?
It has to be the character too.
It can't just be a random animal.
You can't be like I'm a giraffe.
I want to be one of the Skira Tiger Dances.
The Skira Tiger dances.
And they were so good.
And I love that.
We get the sexy little ones and then we get Clawhouser.
Yeah.
Clouser with his little donuts.
I have a Cloudhouser.
I have like two Clawhouser dolls.
I'm probably somebody at the DMV.
Not a sloth, but like, no, sorry, not the DMV.
I'm at the precinct.
Like, I'm a pencil pusher.
I'm like, I'm at, I'm an IT.
I'm doing that.
I'm the, no, I'm the little, like, gopher that Judy Hopps, like, throws a soda can into
on accident.
You guys are choosing joke ones.
You're the mayor.
No, I'm a, I'm a guy that's working.
I'm the horse mayor?
Yeah, you're the horse mayor.
I think you're the horse mayor.
You think I'm mad?
You're the lynxie.
You're the lynxie?
You got to prove yourself?
What a twist, by the way.
No, I saw that.
I literally leaned into you, Jess, and I'm like, he's the villain.
Steve immediately.
I said, I love him.
As soon as I saw him, I said, I love this character.
Once I see if it's a possible romantic foil.
for Judy, I'm like, no, this is going to be a heel turn.
He's going to, he's going to betray it.
Interesting.
Interesting. Say that again.
Say that one more time.
If it's a romantic, if it's a possible romantic interest for Judy, then it's going
to be a heel turn and she, and he's going to betray her.
Ah, interesting.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Interesting.
Noticing.
Noticing.
It's a trope that's just, it's a honey, it's a honey pot.
Honeypot.
A honey pot. James Bond does all the time.
And he's not in love with anybody.
Yeah.
Like the Cardi B song.
As soon as Andy Samberg showed up, I was like, that's the bad guy.
No, wait, did you?
Or no, just Joe.
No, it was Steve literally did as soon as he came on that damn screen.
I said, no, he's not.
And then when he, and then also the thing, because I'm an idiot, I was like,
Andy Samberg doesn't play the villain.
Andy Samberg doesn't play the villain.
He doesn't play the villain.
He sounds like even the Hotel Transylvania in it.
Like, he's just like, I'm silly and stupid.
And I was like, oh, he's not going to be the worst.
No, they're never the bad guys.
I was going to do a thing of like, man, what was.
the best era in Disney animation.
We all know. No, no, no. No, no.
Brother. I'm saying 2003
to 2006. Whoa.
So, okay. Let me just go through, like,
the first couple, the first movie they ever
dropped, Snow White and the Seven Dwarce.
Okay, well, that was in 1925?
I'm good. 1937.
Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi.
Saludos, amigos, the three caballegos.
Make my music. Front.
Platon free. You kind of like get into
the weeds a little bit between, like,
also, you're discounting. You're not, you're not
including Pixar.
I'm not including Pixar.
I'm just animation.
Now let's do.
Then 1950,
Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland,
Peter Pan,
Lady in the Tramps, Sleeping Beauty.
That's a good one.
That's a good era.
The sword and the stone,
the jungle book,
the aristocrats,
Robin Hood.
These are 30-minute movies.
The many adventures of Winnie,
Winnie the Pooh.
Are we in the 70s?
The rescuers.
Fox of the Hounds,
the black culture.
Now you get to like the officially
Walt Disney feature animation.
And then,
no, man.
You know,
then you get,
then you get November,
then you get November,
1989, the Little Mermaid,
rescuers down under,
Bean, the Beast, Aladdin,
the Lion King, Pocahontas,
the hunchback of Notre Dame,
Hercules, Mouinan, Tarzan, Fantasia.
Settle down.
You can't touch that.
No, that's the best year.
I was thinking really quick before everyone
eats me alive, I was thinking we're talking
about Pixar included, because I was like,
Finding Nemo Monsters and Incredibles are way better
than these white bread movies that Steve's yelling for.
But then you kind of follow,
I mean, I even I would argue,
because you have Fantasia, Dinosaur, Empress New Groove, and Atlantis.
There are soft spots for three of those four movies.
I'll let you guess which one is the one.
We all know.
It's Fantasia.
Oh, okay.
So, so we read you like a book.
You love Fantasia?
I do.
I love Fantasia.
It's 2,000 rips.
No, that's for y'all.
You like that Fantasia?
I love that Fantasia.
Of course.
The singer is good.
She's a great scene.
She's great.
Leal Stish, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, Chicken Little.
You kind of, Beat the Robin's.
You kind of Beat the Robbins.
I like Beat the Robin's.
I love me the wrong.
I like bonus.
It's not the same.
Prison of the frog hits,
tangled, winning the poo,
Wrecking Ralph.
Then you have like
Rekin Ralph Frozen,
Utopia, Moana,
Ralph breaks internet,
Frozen 2,
Ray Loddragging.
It's kind of...
It's not easy to compare these
because also,
I'm waiting for the younger generation
that understands
like how to critique movies
because I'm like...
You're waiting for media literacy
to hit the young ins?
I get so tired of nostalgia
running people's like
credibility on things.
I'm like,
oh yeah, this was the...
As a horror fan,
this hits me a lot.
when they're like, these are the best horror movies
because they're the first ones from the 70s
and 60s. Okay, but you can't actually say
that Disney didn't peak
in the 90s. I think they did because I was in love
with it. I was in love with it. Why wouldn't
like, I love a lot. I think the musical
theater, yeah, because
like let's look back at the animated features
that came out in the 90s that weren't Disney movies.
And so like, I'm like, I think they're
great. I think they're amazing. I also think
a lot of people our age are blinded by the nostalgia
of how great it was in that time
because they're comparing it to today. It's like how we
see Lilo and Stitch. It's like, yeah, of course.
Even if they made a live action that was good, I'm going to still
ride for the 2001 one, 2002 one or whatever year.
I'm like, yeah, that's just how it goes.
Like, I think The Incredibles was great, but I'm still, and I know
that the first one is better, but I'm like, my, even if the second one was just as good
as the first one, I'm still going to say the first one.
I was, that was when, like, my imagination was, like, perfectly flawless
for myself.
Now I'm an adult as Jaded.
Okay, so if you're, you guys are both going 90s, right?
90s for me.
90s for both of you.
So then how does that compare?
with the Pixar run.
Toy Story,
a bug's life,
Toy Story 2,
Moss's Inc.,
Finding Nemo, The Incredibles,
Cars,
Raditoui, Wally,
up, Toy Story 3,
Cars 2.
Inside Out.
Now, we stop at Cars 2.
Was that 10?
I like the first cars.
Are you a Cars' boy?
I was Cars' because my little brother
was a Car's in a car.
It's a near unimpeachable run.
Cars 2 is a tough sell.
But then you kind of like,
you get one every couple years,
that's a banger.
And we did this tier list before.
Yeah, you get,
I'm just talking about like errors, though.
We want to talk about,
If you get from, so from 95 to 2010, right, let's give them those, 10 years to what, 15 years?
And then the 90s, like, Hercules, Lion King, where are you going?
Right.
What's like, I'm choosing Pixar's the, well, the new Pixar.
The new Pixar?
Well, you said Disney 90s Pixar.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If we talk the best era of Pixar versus the best era of Disney.
Of Disney.
Yeah, those early 2000s.
Yeah, I would say Pixar probably has.
I'm sorry.
Finding Nemo is one of the greatest movies.
I would probably say that Pixar Hatt.
It's not, it's tough.
It is.
That's a hard sell for me to say.
So go watch the Topia 2.
It's amazing.
I had a blast watching it.
I,
I don't think that I,
like,
I think it's definitely the best anime
a movie of the year.
It's definitely in my top 10 of this year.
Okay.
It is.
I think it's,
oh, no, no, no, yeah.
I think it's my number two.
My first one is K-Pop Demon Hundreds.
I love
Calm down
I said well
It's again
We forget the considerations here
I gotta run that back
I gotta run Kpop back
Listen we're not gonna beat you
For the K-pop demon hunter bias
All right we understand that
All right bro, come on
Let's be for real
Don't act like
Steve here loves Moana too
Okay stop all right that's enough
We're out of here
That's enough
Steve was like actually
I thought I thought Elio was better
than Kpop Demon Hunters
Stop.
All right.
You got some news for the people, Steve?
Yeah.
Some unfortunate news for you guys.
This will be the last episode of Mint Edition.
And we are really grateful and thankful and appreciative for every single one of you that
listened to us.
It is really important to me and Jomi that Jess was here for this last episode because as
our one-time co-host and probably one of the best people that we've ever gotten
pod with on this show.
It means a lot to both of us that
you were here for this.
Jomi and I, I'm going to just speak for myself here.
I feel very lucky and appreciative
to have gotten to do this show
with everybody in this room.
Never in my wildest dreams thought
that we could host a show
on the ringer, let alone for
three plus years.
It's something that I am immensely
proud of and something
that I think
we're going to be looking back on fondly.
I will, at the very least.
And this is going to be a change,
but it actually isn't going to change a whole lot.
Jomi and I are still on the Midnight Boys.
We will be seeing you guys next week on that show.
And there's going to be a lot of great things
that the ringerverse and the rest of the ringer
is going to be offering you.
And I am eternally grateful for everybody
that gave us a shot on this show,
to everybody that came out and saw us,
to everybody that said hi
and to say that they loved this show
and loved the time that they spent with us,
thank you from the bottom of my heart.
And I have nothing but love and appreciation
for everybody that's put eyes and ears on this show forever.
I mean, no, you said it pretty good, man.
I want to give some specific thank yous.
I want to say thank you, first of all, to Mal and Arjuna
for shepherding us these last couple of years.
I know they were large and in charge,
and so I wouldn't have the show without them.
So I want to say thank you to them.
I want to give an enormous thank you as well to Dev,
and it's time for the caramulator.
It's time for the curmulator.
It's time for the calumulator.
For being our producers over these three plus years,
You know, we've put them through the ringer, pun not intended.
But, you know, we be getting goofy up in here.
So for them to, like, you know, make a listenable episode is truly, it's truly...
Those are the real MVP's.
Right?
Truly, truly an art.
So you got to give them things.
And, yeah, like you said, it was important to have Jess on because, you know,
just is what probably the guests to be we've had on the most.
And so if we're going to, like, end it with anybody, it'd have to be Jess.
But I also want to give a shout out to, you know, pretty much everybody else who has come on.
All of the guests that we've had on, Matt Jane.
James, D.C., Ben Lindberg, Rob Mahoney.
Jack Quaid, Alan Siegel.
Yeah, Jack Quaid, Stephen Yudd,
Julian Jacobs, Jason Manzuchus.
Yeah, no, everybody who, you know,
sat in the third and fourth chairs and wrap up us for a little bit,
you know, like, that means the world.
So thank you to them.
And thank you to you guys for listening for all this time.
Again, we couldn't have done it without you guys,
and you made it worth it every single time.
we put the headphones on and we watched something and we talked about it.
We don't have enough time to get into it because Dev is already looking at me like,
hey, we got to wrap up.
So I can't get into all the emotions I'm feeling.
But I do want to stress that.
I know Thanksgiving was yesterday, but we want to give thanks to you all for listening
over these last three years.
It meant the world and then some.
And so while this show will not be continuing.
We're not going nowhere.
We didn't die.
You can still hear our thoughts on the midnight boys.
All right.
So if you're like,
yo man,
we miss the Mint Boys.
We're not going nowhere,
Gangor.
Just make sure to tune in to the Midnight Boys.
Make sure you like and subscribe on YouTube
and on the socials and everywhere.
Please.
But seriously,
thank you guys so much for everything that you've given us all listening
and interacting with us.
It means everything.
And so,
yeah,
you know,
the show's ending,
but we're not going nowhere.
So it's not a goodbye.
We need to see it next time.
On another show somewhere else.
Not this one.
Junior,
Mints Forever.
Junior Mints for...
Let's get a tattoo.
Thank you so much, Dev,
for producing this final episode,
Mint Edition.
Thank you, Junior Mints for listening.
And we'll see you around.
What's the difference between butter
and butter made from real California dairy?
It's the real California farm families behind it.
Real people.
Real care.
Real intention.
Why?
Because real matters.
So whether you're pouring milk, melting cheese,
or just grabbing one more spoonful of yogurt,
keep it real. Look for the seal.
Real California milk by Real California Farm Families.
Summer is here, and Ralph's is your destination for hot savings.
Find unique items at low prices with a wide assortment of products from our exclusive brands.
Fire up the grill with cookout classics like burgers and brats,
and don't forget, delicious produce like fresh melons.
or beat the heat with frozen treats while chilling poolside.
Whatever your summer plans, Ralphs makes it easy to enjoy high-quality, fresh food at affordable prices.
Ralph's, serving SoCal for over 150 years.
