The Bad Guys Review

 

The Bad Guys is a 3D animated comedy crime film loosely based on Aaron Blabey's children's book series of the same name. The movie is produced by DreamWorks Animation Studios and Scholastic Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The Bad Guys is written by Etan Cohen and directed by Pierre Perifel.

The story is Mr. Wolf and his gang have just been caught after their latest heist went wrong. The gang pretends that they want to go over to the good side, but the leader Mr. Wolf truly does want to go straight. While the gang is arguing amongst themselves about Wolf's sudden change, a new villain arrives and has their own plans.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to see this was because going by the trailer it looked fun. From the animation to ads I saw on YouTube, it seemed like it was going to be a very entertaining movie.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

Now I'll fully admit, that yes, the movie does have a predictability issue but, given a lot of the good aspects of this movie, I can kind of let it slide just a little bit.

Pros

Speaking of good aspects, let's get into those. One of them being the performances. Two of the best being Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf and Marc Maron as Mr. Snake. Rockwell really made Mr. Wolf sound every bit of charming and smooth, while Maron just owns the role. I mean it, he disappears so much into his character, that nobody would've guessed it was him. Then we have the humor. It's pretty good. Not all of it works, but for the most part it does well. One of the many great humorous moments is the fact that Mr. Shark is the group's master of disguise, despite A) clearly being a shark and B) having the most generic costumes you'll ever see. And the humor also comes from the dialogue. One of my favorites being "Look at that, 4pm, now we know the exact moment our friendship died". What I also liked about The Bad Guys was the animation. What I loved about it so much was how lively it was. It very much had a lot of energy going about it. Whether the scene was humorous, action, emotional, somewhere in between, the animation was just amazing. I especially give props where even though it's 3D, the animators did use a lot 2D animation effects as well. I also went to give credit for how chaotic the movie can be. At first it starts off with a diner scene that almost felt like it could've been in a Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie film, if those actually made a kid's movie, then it quickly turns into a car chase that would've perfect for a Looney Tunes episode. Now I'm going to give credit to the director, Pierre Perifel. For a guy who just made his directoral debut, he sure didn't make it seem like this was his first time directing. Cause just going by the diner scene, not only did it give off that Tarantino and Ritchie vibe I mentioned earlier, but it's one great looking one-shot scene. That scene alone really does draw you in. Nicely done Mr. Perifel. Nicely done.

The Bad Guys is definitely a film I can see families enjoying. It's got good performances, good humor, great animation, can be quite chaotic (in a good way), and Perifel's directing was on point. Sure, it can be predictable, but you still get a very entertaining movie.

My final rating is Good.

Okay, I'm all finished here. Come back on Monday, Apr 25th for my review of the brand new Nicolas Cage film, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.