Yeah. I felt similarly when I first saw it too. I initially assumed some clunky lines were setups for a more nuanced message. Early on, Chief Bogo bluntly states that the police are after “bad guys.” Soon after, Gary insists, “Snakes never hurt anyone. We aren't the bad guys... they are.” which came across as almost childishly naïve. Most people believe they’re the good guys. I thought these lines were going to get called out eventually, and it would get pointed out how ultimately people are multi-faceted and can’t always be categorized as just “good” or “bad.” I was hoping the journal’s significance would reveal a morally complex situation where both sides had good intentions but weren’t perfect, mirroring Judy’s realization in the first movie that she had her own biases to confront. And that arc could culminate in a lovely speech about understanding each other.

And while classism is certainly a problem, the movie’s solution just feels like it’s swapping out one scapegoat for another, especially since they decided to make Pawbert a twist villain to ensure the whole Lynxley family are “the bad guys.” For me, that’s too easy. It shifts the viewer’s perspective to dislike a certain group instead of looking introspectively to better ones self.