Ocean’s Eleven meets Zootopia and Despicable Me in DreamWorks’s The Bad Guys, a fresh and interesting spin on the heist film genre overflowing with fun action, nonstop humor, and visual pizzazz.
Overall Score: 9/10
Image: DreamWorks Animation / Universal Pictures
Have you ever noticed how certain animals are used as symbols of or are embodiments of evil in books, movies, and other types of media? Well, DreamWorks and the team behind The Bad Guys certainly recognized this trend, and therefore set out to tell an animated tale about redemption and acceptance starring a wolf, a snake, a tarantula, a shark, and a piranha.
But while redemption and acceptance are some of its core themes, the film is really more of a crazy heist comedy that’s full of fun sequences and hilarious gags. Also, it just so happens that it takes place in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist. Imagine if Ocean’s Eleven and Zootopia had a baby that also happened to be descended from Despicable Me. That’s basically how I’d describe The Bad Guys, which is not at all what I’d expected from DreamWorks after having grown up with some of their more serious and mature movies (The Prince of Egypt, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, The Croods, etc.).
The plot is pretty simple: Bad guys attempt to steal something, bad guys get caught, bad guys pretend to become good guys, bad guys learn that being good is not so bad after all, yada yada yada. But even in its simplicity, the execution overall is gleefully over-the-top, making the film one of this year’s most exhilarating cinematic outputs so far.
The Bad Guys also features a stellar voice cast, with Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos playing the titular gang of thieves. Other notable members include Richard Ayoade as the ever so annoying Professor Marmalade, Zazie Beetz as the cool Governor Diane Foxington, and Alex Borstein as the short-tempered chief of police. And while, with a cast of this caliber, it’s easy for viewers to pick a favorite, it’s undeniable that every actor brings their A game and imbues their characters with charm, likeableness, and a high level of energy, making it difficult to not instantly fall in love with each and every one of them.
Aside from the excellent voice acting, one of the movie’s biggest selling points is its animation. Much different from all of the past DreamWorks films, The Bad Guys takes direct inspiration from Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, utilizing a similar style of animation that gives off a unique and beautiful comic book-like feel. Couple that with Daniel Pemberton’s score — which is also appropriately fun, loud, and jazzy — and you get a highly stylized animated adventure with an incredible taste in music.
On another note, however, while the film is awesome and very nearly perfect, there are two things that hold it back for me. The first issue I have is that although the film is called The Bad Guys, it only really focuses on two members of its eponymous group. The second is that it may have one too many twists up its sleeve, which ultimately takes away from some of the characters and their development within the story. But then again, considering how much fun the rest of the movie is, these are very minor flaws that can easily be overlooked — and, truth be told, I’d be nitpicking if I were to dwell on them.
In summary, The Bad Guys is a thrilling ride from start to finish. And while it certainly is crazy, it’s surprisingly smart, touching, and thought-provoking. In other words, while it is very much a heist film, it’s also one about friendship, acceptance, giving people a chance, and not judging a book by its cover. Add all that up and what you get is a highly entertaining and delightfully meaningful movie that’s fun for the whole family.
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