The Bad Guys Review

Dreamworks’ latest film The Bad Guys is based on a graphic novel by Aaron Blabey. This animated crime caper asks the question of whether stereotypes should dictate someone’s role in society.

Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell) is the leader of the Bad Guys gang. After the governor, Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) makes a personal attack against the gang, Wolf plans to steal the Golden Dolphin trophy during the Good Guy Awards. When the heist goes wrong Wolf and the gang get a chance at rehabilitation when Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) offers to teach them how to be good guys.

Dreamworks Animation has a high-volume approach to filmmaking. This has resulted in their work ranging from animated classics like the How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda franchises to lesser efforts like Bee Movie and The Boss Baby. Fortunately, The Bad Guys was one of the better films by Dreamworks.

The Bad Guys shared a theme with films like Wreck-It Ralph, Megamind, Despicable Me, and most importantly Zootopia. In those films the main characters were stereotyped and pigeonholed into the role society designed for them. Foxes were sneaky and untrustworthy (Zootopia), Ralph wanted to be more than a villain in a video game (Wreck-It Ralph) and Megamind was raised in a prison, so learned to be a villain.

In The Bad Guys, Mr. Wolf’s crew was made up of animals who are usually portrayed as villains or seen are scary. Wolf points out at the beginning of the film that wolves are portrayed as villains so he may as well play the role. Despite his willingness to rob banks and commit heists, there was goodness in Wolf because he chose to stop an old lady from falling down the stairs and he went up a tree to save a cat. He gets a tingly feeling when he does good deeds.

The Bad Guys choose the right films to reference. All the aforementioned films were excellent and they have a strong moral for children. It’s a story template that clearly works for critics and audiences.

The Bad Guys acted as a family-friendly version of the Oceans movies. Wolf was the leader of a crew who committed crimes and heists. Like in Oceans films, Wolf would narrate the plan whilst the actions were shown on screen. Also, like the Oceans films, The Bad Guys used flashbacks to reveal new information and the hidden agendas of other characters. Everyone was playing everyone else in this film, so it made all the actions and plans a complex set of interconnected cogs.

Wolf did act like George Clooney in the Oceans films. Both were smart, cunning leaders who were charming and well-dressed. It led me to think was Clooney originally offered the role but was unavailable so Rockwell was approached. Not a complaint since Rockwell is a great actor and did give an excellent voice performance because he could turn on the charm but also had sensitive moments like when he reassured the cat.

Friendship was another aspect of the film. Wolf and his crew were incredibly close. They were a family who was loyal to each other. They were shown to be a likeable bunch. Wolf and Mr. Snake (Marc Maron) were the most fleshed out with them being shown to be long-time friends and Wolf was trying to break through Snake’s tough exterior. All the crew had a set of skills, Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) was the hot-headed muscle who had a talent for singing, Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) was a hacker who was the most mature member of the crew, and Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson) was a master of disguise and a big softy.

One of the most unique features of The Bad Guys was the animation. The filmmakers were clearly influenced by Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse. The movements and motions of the characters in The Bad Guys were similar to the actions in the comic book film. The Bad Guys’ action scenes particularly resembled Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse because they were fast and energetic, yet there were some deliberately jarring cuts at times. There were plenty of well-crafted action sequences and visual gags in the film and it did look like the animators brought comic book pages to life.

The Bad Guys was first and foremost a family film so there were jokes catering to younger audiences. There were a few fart and butt jokes for the youngsters, but there was enough in the film to please all ages. There was plenty of slapstick humour that will appeal to all ages. Some jokes I liked were when the crew had to face the security system at the Good Guy awards and the crew tried to encourage the cat down the tree. Alex Borstein (Lois Griffin in Family Guy) was a comic delight as chief of police with an anger issue and was determined to arrest Wolf and his crew.

The big question I had during the film was how did this world work? It was a world that was populated by humans and anthropomorphic animals, but it also had animals who had no sentience. The cat in the film acted like a real cat and Professor Marmalade was a guinea pig who he sent Wolf and his crew to save a load of guinea pigs who were used in animal testing. It reminded me of the Bojack Horseman episode “Chickens” which gave a darkly hilarious explanation of how chickens could be citizens and food.

The Bad Guys was a film that can please all ages. It worked as a family-friendly crime film, a story about friendship, and a wider look at not being defined by stereotypes. It was one of Dreamworks’ most visually and thematic distinct films in a long time.