The Bad Guys

The Bad Guys (2022) movie review

The Bad Guys is an animated film based on the Australian book series by Aaron Blabey. The film follows a crew of criminals who are given the chance to go good and prove that they are more than society thinks of them. While that sounds deep, after two weeks at the top of the box office and still holding second place, it’s more Oceans 11 (2001) for kids.

So yeah this is a bit late, but we didn’t expect this film to be as big as it was. Sure the competition completely canceled each other our on The Bad Guys’ opening weekend and it makes sense on hindsight- What I’m trying to say is, not that the film is still playing in theaters AND on video on demand services, we thought we’d finally talk about it! Why? Because it’s a solid movie, that’s why!

First and foremost, I LOVE the animation style on this movie. The sleek, comic look with the heavy shadows and sharp colors! It’s an awesome looking movie! And while I’ve picked on a few scores this year, Daniel Pemberton yet again delivers a fresh and fun score with plenty of obvious inspirations repurposed perfectly for the story and style. Honestly, one of the best scores of the year so far.

The pacing was also solid! There are some great jokes, fun action sequences, and drama that totally works! There is rarely a dull moment unless you were that 5 year old girl three seats to my right. She couldn’t sit (or stand) still. I don’t know if that’s a commentary on parenting or what, but maybe super young kids will find the characters and story hard to get into. That said, what a positive theme for this movie to tackle! The Bad Guys is first and foremost- okay it’s actually about the friendship between Wolf and Snake… But after that, it’s about appearances and proving to others your inner worth and standing above what people say you are. Which, yeah it’s awesome!

Now having said that, this film really hits its stride when it focuses on the core dynamic between Sam Rockwell’s Mr. Wolf and Marc Maron’s Mr. Snake. While all the characters in the crew are solid characters brought to life through committed voicework, Rockwell and Maron really steal the show, as the characters really carry the weight of the film. I don’t want to get too far into spoiler trerritory, but I really loved how the aforementioned themes to a head between the two characters. I know of all the things to talk about in a kids movie, I’ve spent two paragraphs on the themes. Okay let’s move on…

There is some humor in here for younger kids that I more or less rolled by eyes at, but it IS just as much for kids as it is adults. And in that, I appreciated how many jokes I laughed at that kids didn’t. That said, the aspect of the film I never got behind was the antagonist. If you didn’t guess by the trailer, you’ll get it like 15 minutes into this movie. It’s where the writing is both obvious and surprisingly underdeveloped. I’m not saying that the choice of villain is terrible, just that this film almost didn’t need external conflict. We’ve seen a few animated films of late (Encanto, 2021) to name one) get away without a, well, bad guy. Ironically, this film’s bad guy is the worst part of the movie.

Having said that, I had a good time with this! It’s a ton of fun for the whole family, and in the end I walked out with a smile on my face. Do you need to rush out to see it if you haven’t? If you want to yeah! Or catch or on VOD or when it comes to RedBox. Regardless, I’d watch this again when it comes out! Solid 7/10.

So The Bad Guys? Did you see it? What did you think? Be sure to leave a like or a comment below and let us know! Thanks for reading!

-review by Ryan Prince