The Bad Guys is just good enough
Led by Sam Rockwell, DreamWorks’ latest cartoon crew delivers anarchic fun and at least one superfluous musical number
Film Reviews The Bad Guys
They’re literally called The Bad Guys. In a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-like world where anthropomorphized animals coexist with humans, these five creatures are dedicated to selfish villainy, usually in the form of theft. But to save themselves from prison, they’ll have to become… good guys.
Frankly, that premise sounds, well, cartoonishly moralistic. Thankfully, the movie resists the urge to sentimentalize or preach, and retains a classic cartoon sense of anarchy and even a touch of amorality. It doesn’t always work—like so many DreamWorks animated films, The Bad Guys forces in a musical number that’s a painful bore. But what it occasionally misses along the way, it makes up for in a grand finale that involves both clever narrative back-tracking and hordes of possessed guinea pigs.
As unimaginatively named as their gang, The Bad Guys consist of Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina). Like the Furious Five of the Kung Fu Panda films, they all have skills mostly tailored to their individual animal physiologies. The exception, perhaps, being Mr. Shark, who’s somehow a master of disguise; unlike Sylvester Stallone’s very similar King Shark in The Suicide Squad, this one actually can rock a fake mustache. And like the team in Ocean’s Eleven, a specific point of reference, they use their skills to stage heists, which they are generally very good at.
That is, until slick-talking leader Wolf accidentally does a good deed en route to stealing an expensive award, and finds his tail wagging uncontrollably with satisfaction. After botching the main job, he uses his fast-talking ways to convince the authorities that maybe his crew can redeem themselves—a lie that holds more truth than he’ll admit to himself. And so, under the supervision of insufferable philanthropist Rupert Marmalade IV (Richard Ayoade), a guinea pig with an impeccable reputation, the former villains must at least pretend to become good. But sometimes acting a certain way on the outside can effect changes inside as well.
With its emphasis on gadget-enhanced heists, and ability to work them into the story even in the service of virtue rather than vice, The Bad Guys recalls the villain battles of Despicable Me. With its animal robbers and authority figures—the cops somehow remain all human—it brings Zootopia to mind. Wolf’s adversary/love interest Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), a vixen with a pierced eyebrow, will no doubt find as much favor with the Furry crowd as Judy Hopps before her.
Visually, though, The Bad Guys differs from all of those predecessors. Drawing inspiration from the source books by Aaron Blabey, as well as the not-quite-Los-Angeles of some Grand Theft Auto games, the movie’s landscapes look almost rotoscoped, while many of the main characters feel like stop-motion characters with hand-drawn facial expressions. Rupert Marmalade IV, however, like some of the intentionally cuter characters, would look right at home in an Illumination production. Yet references to the likes of Pulp Fiction, Speed, and World War Z feel calculated to ensure we feel real danger, however temporary. Rockwell’s Clooney-ish vocal stylings help set the tone, with Maron pushing his pipes in a gangster direction as second-in-command Snake. And as the preening Marmalade, Ayoade feels like a purposeful subversion of James Corden’s work with similar characters; he plays it as an annoying person trying to be nice, rather than a theoretically nice character who just comes off annoying.
Unusually for animation, The Bad Guys boasts only one primary credited screenwriter: Etan Cohen, a Mike Judge protégée who usually co-writes with others. “Additional screenplay material” is attributed to Ice Age sequel scribe Yoni Brenner and Community/My Name Is Earl alumnus Hilary Winston. The confusing credits may explain the uneven nature of the story overall, which suffers from pacing issues—about an hour in, for example, it feels like we’re already headed for the big climax. Instead, there’s a time-wasting song.
But once the possessed guinea pigs come along, it’s impossible to be too mad at The Bad Guys. Unless, perhaps, the film’s relatively neutral stance on animal testing vis-a-vis said guinea pigs is a trigger. And following that… did you really just see a twist that was not 100 percent predictable? Yes. Yes, you did. And a fart joke that actually serves a plot function? Well played.
Should this film prove a hit, the book series it draws inspiration from offers plenty more to adapt, roping in aliens and extra-dimensional beings. But like the Despicable Me series, The Bad Guys may find ever-diminishing returns once the villain protagonists no longer qualify as despicable or bad. For now, at least, that mixed morality is not just part of the fun, but the primary selling point.
31 Comments
Not knowing anything about the movie other than its title prior to this, I had visions of it being a sequel to 2016’s Russell Crowe/Ryan Gosling action comedy The Nice Guys. Which I for one would have preferred at least.
Loved that movie. This seems targeted a bit, um, younger, and includes no porn.
There’s always X to scratch that itch instead. The 70s!
I’ve been waiting for an excuse to play my Wah-Wah again!
I hated that movie’s indifference towards gun violence. People getting shot left and right? No biggity.
Even if this isn’t any good, I at least give them credit for a unique visual style.
especially for dreamworks, usually their house style is so dull and unimaginiative.
Except for the first Kung Fu Panda. That movie was legitimately beautiful.
These guys also gave us How To Train Your Dragon!
My kids really loved this book series, and many’s the time we went through them in before-bedtime reading. Now they’ve apparently aged out, but I’m hoping to convince them that we still need to see the movie anyway because honestly it’s me that kind of wants to see the movie.
Would you ask them how Piranha and Shark survive outside water? How do they breathe and move around?
(If they also have suggestions on how to get out of the greys, that would be appreciated too.)
My kids still love the books and are excited for the movie, but as for me… the more I hear about it, the more worried I get about how far it diverges from the books.
>Etan Cohen-Holmes vs. Watson flashbacks intensify-
-> Eton Beaver
So Bill Murray is in this?
Bill Murray should just keep doing Etan Cohen projects and claim the same excuse.
I love hit and miss careers like this.
Are the Goonies still good enough?
Sam Rockwell? Marc Maron? RICHARD AYOADE? an actualy fun and creative looking animation style? Shit, it’s not like I’ll go to the theatre but I’ll probably give it a spin when it hits home streaming.
Ayoade seems to be doing just about any animated project that comes his way. I guess it’s easier money than hosting game shows about people puzzling their way through obstacle course castles or whatever the hell he does on UK TV.
I think you are literally the first person I’ve ever seen suckered in by these stupid celebrity voice overs. Huh. So you’re the reason voice actors can’t get work these days.
Richard Ayoarde has done lots of voice work – he’s a legit voiceover actor. And it’s not like the person above is gasping over A-listers like Will Smith, Tom Cruise, or Chris Evans doing voice work. This is Marc Maron and Sam Rockwell!
LMAO fuck off
Really coming in hot, there.
I was under the assumption Will Arnett rather than Sam Rockwell was voicing the lead. The ads for it are insufferable either way.
Will Arnett seems to love doing voice work but his voice is so distinct that every time he’s in something I immediately am like “Oh its Will Arnett”. And since he has no trouble collecting a pay check he seems to show up in everything animated lately
Even in Big Mouth, Nick Kroll is doing a spot-on impression of Will Arnett for one of the characters. He’s inescapable!
I don’t know, them trying to get the cat out of the tree was pretty funny.
OK… but how’s the big musical number?
Movie looks like it needs two more passes thru the computer graphics rendering engine to get the detail up to feature movie standards–not Netflix standards.