By: Andrew Wing

The Bad Guys is a 2022 American computer-animated heist comedy film loosely based on the children’s book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey, produced by DreamWorks Animation Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Pierre Perifel (in his feature directorial debut), written by Etan Cohen (wrote the scripts for Tropic Thunder and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa), and stars the voices of Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile, Vice), Marc Maron (GLOW, Joker), Awkwafina (The Farewell, Raya and the Last Dragon), Craig Robinson (The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine), Anthony Ramos (In the Heights, Hamilton), Richard Ayoade (The Watch, Disenchantment), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta, Deadpool 2), Alex Borstein (Family Guy, Ted), and Lilly Singh (Bad Moms, F the Prom).

It tells the story of a criminal group of anthropomorphic animals who, upon being caught, pretend to attempt to reform themselves as model citizens, only for their leader, Mr. Wolf (Rockwell), to find himself genuinely drawn to changing his ways as a new villain has his own plans.

Work on the film started in 2018; the characters and themes drew inspiration from various crime films and anime series such as the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, Lupin III, Pulp Fiction, and Beastars, while the inspiration for the film’s animation style came from Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Production began at DWA Glendale and some additional production assets were borrowed from Jellyfish Pictures, with voice acting being done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bad Guys was released in several countries beginning March 16, 2022, and in the United States on April 22, in 2D and RealD 3D formats. It has grossed $245 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing animated film of 2022.

THE GOOD

From as far back as I can remember, I have loved watching animated movies. Whether it was Pixar or DreamWorks, I grew up watching their movies literally every night before I went to bed. And while Pixar definitely has the better catalog compared to DreamWorks, DreamWorks still has put out some legendary movies from Shrek to Kung Fu Panda. That said, I was really excited to see their latest film, The Bad Guys. Unfortunately though, with it being released during the last couple weeks of my spring semester, I never got around to seeing it in theaters. Nevertheless, it hit Peacock last month and I checked it out as soon as I could. So without further ado, was The Bad Guys on the level of some of DreamWorks best works like Shrek, or was it more forgettable like their 2013 film, Turbo? Keep reading to find out!

To be honest, it was neither. As much as I liked The Bad Guys, I don’t think it reached the levels of Shrek, because well that’s one of the best animated movies of all time, but it definitely was better than Turbo in my opinion. Why? Well a big reason why was because of the directing we got from Pierre Perifel in his feature directorial debut, and the screenplay we got from Etan Cohen. First with the director, Pierre Perifel, who absolutely crushed it in his directorial debut. I am not often a fan of fast-paced movies, but I really loved how Perifel decided to make this so fast-paced. It worked perfectly with the story because if there’s one thing a heist certainly is, it is fast paced for those involved, and I just thought it made the film work so much better as a whole.

Next with the screenplay we got from Etan Cohen (not one half of the Coen brothers directing duo of Joel and Ethan Coen), was amazing. As I mentioned in the introduction, Cohen drew inspiration from various successful crime films, and the two that I noticed the most in The Bad Guys were the Ocean’s Eleven franchise and a movie I find to be perfect, Pulp Fiction. This isn’t much of a spoiler, but the opening scene takes place in a diner right before “the bad guys” are about to do something bad, and it was just a great nod to Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece. As for where Ocean’s Eleven came in, it soaked through with how awesome and likable all of the characters were. It was just great stuff from Cohen, it was very funny, and I truthfully think the writing was the best part of the film.

Now for the part you all have been waiting for, something that needs to get talked about with everything animated movie, and that would be the voice performances. All of them were amazing, but the best hands down for me was Sam Rockwell in the lead as Mr. Wolf. I love Rockwell. Whether he was playing the bad guy in The Green Mile or former President Bush in Vice, I think he is one of the very best actors working today, and I’m not surprised that he is great at voice acting too. Other voice performances I really enjoyed included Awkwafina, the actress that actually voice the dragon in Raya and the Last Dragon last year, as Ms. Tarantula, Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, and last but not least, Richard Ayoade as the film’s antagonist, Professor Rupert Marmalade IV.

To close the good section of the review, it’s time we talk about the film’s animation. Once I read that those in charge drew the inspiration for the film’s animation style from Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, another film I consider to be perfect, that came out back in 2018, I just knew I was going to love its animation, and I absolutely did. All of the landscapes of Greater Los Angeles were great, and all of the anthropomorphic animals looked flawless. It was right on the level with Pixar when it came to how good the film worked, and I just can’t get enough of animated movies.

THE BAD

I won’t lie, I hate critiquing animated movies. Unless it’s a movie like The Emoji Movie, a movie I thought was an absolute dumpster fire, but we can save that for another day. When it comes to The Bad Guys though, I genuinely had a really good time with it, but there’s just a certain ceiling these films can reach, and I think this movie hit theirs. For starters, the story is just deliberately preposterous, you can tell about halfway through how it’s going to end, and while I liked the film’s pacing, others may find it way too fast. At the end of the day though, I had a good time with it and I would absolutely welcome a sequel!

THE VERDICT

DreamWorks Animation Studio’s The Bad Guys is a fast-paced, funny, and family friendly heist comedy that has a lot of laughs, but also a lot of heart. The voice performances we got here were perfect, especially Sam Rockwell’s, and the film’s sleek animation style kept the energy high from start to finish.

I’d have to say that my favorite aspect of the film was the writing, and a big reason why is because it contained a lot of cool references to other crime films of the past like Pulp Fiction and the Oceans franchise. Other than that, I was just really impressed with this and I would love to see more of these characters in the future if we could be so fortunate.