The Bad Guys is an Incredible Heist Movie for the Entire Family
Ever since I saw the trailer, I was hyped for Dreamwork’s new animated feature The Bad Guys. I finally got a chance to the movie and wow! It did not disappoint.
The Bad Guys is a heist comedy that centers around a group of criminals. Led by Mr. Wolf, the team consists of Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Ms. Tarantula, and Mr. Piranha. Because the humans of this world only see these anthropomorphic characters as their beastly selves, the group has embraced this to justify their life of crime. When they’re caught, Wolf pitches to the mayor, a fox named Diane, that the Bad Guys can be reformed. It’s all a scheme to get their names cleared. They’re given to guinea pig humanitarian Professor Marmalade for good guy training. But Mr. Wolf starts to realize that he actually likes being good.
I’m not surprised to see that The Bad Guys is often compared to Zootopia. Both films are set up around a premise of preconceived notions about people based on their appearances AKA being predators. Both use the word “predators” in their coding to justify someone as “bad.” Where the two movies differ from each other comes down to what each movie is trying to say and how it functions. Pixar specifically set out to make a statement about racism and structured Zootopia around breaking those biases. While The Bad Guys does use this kind of story as its premise and it is one of the themes of the film, it’s not the point of the movie. At its core, The Bad Guys is a heist movie that focuses on the relationships of this friend group. It’s more about what happens when a character, Mr. Wolf, changes his priorities and life goals that break away from his friends. It’s a paradigm shift for him that puts him in conflict. Does he pursue this new path or stay with the people he loves? The entire thing is structured in the framework of a heist.
This allows for The Bad Guys to take a tried-and-true story and do its own twist to it. On the surface, this story is nothing new. It’s how the film elevates the style of animation, uses well-written characters, turns animation tropes on their head, and has that banger soundtrack that really makes The Bad Guys stand on its own two feet and wag its tail.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t some clever jokes slid in there. I died laughing during the entire “Save the Cat” bit as Professor Marmalade is trying to rehab them. Based on a how-to-write screenplays book by Blake Snyder called Save the Cat, the idea behind saving a small animal is letting a hero do something noble in the opening minutes like, for example, saving a cat from a tree to show they’re the good guy. It dates back to the trope of firefighters rescuing the furry critters from trees. Professor Marmalade literally tries to get the Bad Guys to save a cat from a palm tree, jabbing fun at this idea. This is just one of many jokes slid into a very funny and tight script.
They also take commonly used storytelling mechanics in all-ages films and elevate them. For example, a staple in a lot of these films is something like the fart joke. Fart jokes are normally gags for kids to get a cheap laugh. The Bad Guys does have an ongoing fart joke in the movie. The difference is that they not only make it part of a character which is from the original source material of The Bad Guys books by Aaron Blabey, but they make it part of the plot as well. It’s not just a gag to be there. It’s part of the story which makes it much better writing, even for a fart joke.
The characters absolutely carry this movie from start to finish. Every single person is just so charming. They quickly establish in the opening minutes the love that Mr. Wolf and Mr. Snake have for each other in Dreamwork’s longest one-shot scene to date as an homage to Pulp Fiction. One by one as they pick up their teammates in a stellar action sequence, every person gets a moment to shine and show how they contribute to the group. The relationship these friends have with each other is so palpable. It’s what makes the drama in Act II and III really work as Mr. Wolf’s changing worldview challenges their very way of life. It’s not just about him getting a love interest or wanting to be good. It’s about how he’s torn between a new path and hurting his lifelong friends.
Because of the care they took with each character, the emotional beats resonate. Sure, we don’t know their backstories. We only really get one character’s past being Diane’s and why she became the governor. But unlike Zootopia where seeing Judy’s past does matter, it doesn’t in The Bad Guys. It’s all about what’s happening with these relationships in the present, why they work, and why changing for a different future could destroy the group.
The movie is very well-paced too. Normally when I say it felt longer than the run time, that’s usually a bad thing. But not here. Each scene gets time to breathe. The characters all get their moments to resonate and add to the story. None of the action scenes feel too long while showcasing the brilliant animation. It takes advantage of those well-placed slow-motion moments to punch up the faster scenes. And as a heist movie, the plot never suffers as it really does take its time to lay down all the reveals at the end. Again, this is a very tight script.
And the animation really is beautiful. I love this decade of animation, especially the recent trend of blending 2D and 3D animation. While the style could be compared to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, that’s very much the point. Spider-Verse’s success is a huge reason not only that The Bad Guys could be pitched in this style but it also finally got animation out of the trend for hyper-realistic art. Not that there is a problem with hyper-realistic art (unless it is terrifyingly deep fake quality to it that hits uncanny valley fears in me). It’s just great for the medium to have more variety and styles to push animation forward.
Movies like The Mitchells vs the Machines, Turning Red, Encanto, Luca, and other recent films have all moved away from animating every single realistic flip of clothing or strand of hair. The characters have unique silhouettes. In Encanto, you could recognize Luisa’s form vs Mirabel's if they were just outlines. Even for all of its ups and downs, studios like Illumination have their own unique style. It’s not a race anymore to make it the most deep fake realistic look. This variety truly adds a lot to a story giving focus to characters.
The Bad Guys continues this. Each character is unique in its design. No two of them move the same, a big part of that is embracing the animals they’re based on. Even the characters that are similar animals like Mr. Wolf and Diane or Piranha and Shark have comparable movements but their walk cycles and silhouettes are different enough to make them stand out on their own. The supporting and background characters are a bit more muddled but never to a degree to get in the way of the movie.
The soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton is stellar. The tracks feel like they could be used in any heist film. It truly sounds like a throwback to so many classic movies. Even when they use pop songs, it’s for a purpose. One of the biggest tropes in all-ages animated movies is the dance number by a popular artist at the time for both laughs and to fill time. Also, it’s for promotion because then a big named artist is attached to the movie. This is such a staple in a lot of all-ages movies (looking at you, the entire Hotel Transylvania franchise). It’s also usually the point of a film where I check out for a few minutes.
The Bad Guys, again, elevates this idea. Any songs used are either to showcase the camaraderie of the main characters or to further the narrative. For example, there is a big musical number in the middle of the film. It’s not just a random dance scene for laughs. It’s an original song written for the film sung by Anthony Ramos, the voice of Mr. Piranha. The purpose of the song is to cause a distraction so the Bad Guys can set up their heist. It allows for Mr. Wolf and his love interest Diane to grow closer as they dance, making it harder for Wolf to commit to the Bad Guy path. The creators used real choreography from Susan Misner to help animate the dance. The entire scene exists for both plot and character work. It’s not just some pop song that’s popular at the moment, which usually immediately dates a film. It’s so much better than that. Anthony Ramos crushes the number and it’s truly a high point of the movie.
If there were any gripes, I could say the world-building is a bit flimsy. Compare The Bad Guys to something like Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers from earlier this year. Chip ‘n Dale is fully committed to the rules of their world where animated characters and live-action humans exist. They use this premise for the story. Zootopia structures its world around the animal characters, complimenting the smallest shrew to the tallest giraffe. The Bad Guys’ world doesn’t provide an explanation to why some animals are simply normal animals vs its anthropomorphic leads. There are normal guinea pigs and then there is Professor Marmalade, an anthropomorphic guinea pig. Tiny spoiler, but Mr. Wolf forms a relationship with the cat from the “Save the Cat” scene. And it’s just a cat. It doesn’t talk. It’s not like the main characters. There is nothing extraordinary about it.
But I don’t think it actually matters for The Bad Guys. The focus isn’t on world-building. At no point did the lack of world rules ever take away from my experience watching the film. An explanation of the rules of this world would actually drag down the pace of the movie. This is just how The Bad Guys works in the world it has. It lays down its premise and then lets the characters, action sequences, music, and heist antics carry it the rest of the way. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
Overall, The Bad Guys lived up to the hype for me. It was one of the movies I looked forward to the most this year, and it absolutely delivered everything I wanted it to. There’s something for everyone in this charming and lovable film. I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven’t.
