The Bad Guys – Movie Review
100 Minutes, Rated PG
Written by Eton Cohen, based on the books by Aaron Blabey
Directed by Pierre Perifel
Synopsis:
Several reformed yet misunderstood criminal animals attempt to become good, with some disastrous results along the way.
Longer synopsis (Courtesy of Dreamworks):
Never have there been five friends as infamous as The Bad Guys—dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf (Academy Award® winner Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), seen-it-all safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron, GLOW), chill master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson, Hot Tub Time Machine franchise), short-fused “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) and sharp-tongued expert hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians), aka “Webs.”
But when, after years of countless heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal (that he has no intention of keeping) to save them all from prison: The Bad Guys will go good.
Under the tutelage of their mentor Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade, Paddington 2), an arrogant (but adorable!) guinea pig, The Bad Guys set out to fool the world that they’ve been transformed. Along the way, though, Mr. Wolf begins to suspect that doing good for real may give him what he’s always secretly longed for: acceptance. So when a new villain threatens the city, can Mr. Wolf persuade the rest of the gang to become … The Good Guys?
Man, it is always exciting when an animated film lives up to the promise of the medium.
The Bad Guys does just that. One of the better Dreamworks productions, The Bad Guys employs a mixture of CGI and conventional animation, with hints of “dark-line” rotoscope-adjacent accents.
At least to my eye; I’m not an art scholar. But I know what I like.
And I like it. A lot.
Nothing will ruin the enjoyment of an animated movie faster than an unappealing visual style.
So let’s talk about the story, shall we?
It’s a classic “can-bad-guys-go-good?” scenario, with a couple of background plots to keep things interesting, including a mysterious never-captured thief and a My Fair Lady-esque self-improvement aspect for good measure.
Is badness inherent, or is it learned? And can it be unlearned?
The real joy here, though, is the voice cast. I’d just like to go on record as saying that there is apparently nothing Sam Rockwell cannot do. He does drama, he does musicals, and he does animation.
The rest of the voice cast isn’t riding his coat-tails, either. Everyone pulls there weight and nobody takes us out of the movie. Not even Awkwafina, who has a very distinctive voice. She’s just Tarantula.
This movie may be the best “family film” we’ve seen so far in 2022. Easily has more wide appeal than Sonic 2 (not that Sonic is bad, by any stretch), and not nearly as dark as Fantastic Beasts 3.
Truly, The Bad Guys is an easy recommend.
The Bad Guys hits theaters everywhere on April 22 and stars Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh and Alex Borstein.
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