Barring a How to Train Your Dragon or Shrek, Dreamworks is the little brother of the animated world to the Disney behemoth. Some of this isn’t their fault: Disney’s made pretty much every type of animated film so any studio that makes one will inevitably be compared to one of Disney’s movies. Take The Bad Guys: on the surface, this was a delightful, mildly charming story on its own. But it’s also very similar to Wreck It Ralph and Zootopia, two incredible animated films that it’s not really in league with but inevitably draws comparisons to. So if you’re looking for the next great animated masterpiece, The Bad Guys isn’t that, but if you need a 2 hour diversion for your kids, Dreamworks latest is totally winning!
When you’re a wolf (Sam Rockwell), tarantula (Awkwafina), snake (Marc Maron), shark (Craig Robinson), and piranha (Anthony Ramos), being a bad guy is almost determined by birth. Naturally feared by everyone, these 5 eventually found one another, and became the most fearsome heist posse in Los Angeles. High on their own supply, the Bad Guys eventually get in over their heads and get arrested. Instead of going right to jail, Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) convinces mayor Foxington (Zazie Beetz) to check the bad guys into good guy rehab, where they learn to get past their exteriors to find the good within. Wolf convinces the others to do this to stay out of prison, though he might be more into the good guy lessons than he lets on.
The Bad Guys fits right into Dreamworks demographic, a 4-5 year old child, and only that. That’s because for Dreamworks every point their movie is trying to make is put right there on the screen: only text, no subtext. So for any adults watching The Bad Guys, its obvious from minute 1 what’s going to happen, including the plot “twists” the movie spells out right away. What’s most frustrating for the parents is the movie flirts with real daring story choices only to let the story machine veer right back into safe and happy zone as expected. But, hey, at least your kid learns that being good is a better way of life, right? You can also expect 4 and 5 year old humor everywhere here too. Bring on the butts and farts! I will say, at least The Bad Guys has more fun with those jokes: there’s a great runner with the piranha only seeing something as a butt and it infuriating Marmalade which works every time, and a fart is used as a legit plot device here, not just a punch line. The biggest adult amusement here is the subtle homages to heist movies, as The Bad Guys is basically one heist after another, plus Sam Rockwell as wolf narrating the heist oozes that Ocean’s Clooneyness that keeps the movie breezy and fun.
And there you have it! Butts, heists, and being good in an hour 40. The Bad Guys will be a wonderful intro to heists and stories for a 5 year old you’re trying to get into movies. Then when they hit 6/7, you can hit them with Zootopia, and blow their mind again. By then parents will have gotten bored of The Bad Guys, and their kids asking to play Billy Eilish’s Bad Guy. Don’t worry, you’re only a few years away from showing them Ocean’s 11 at 11…