Animated adaptations of books have become a sizable part of the animation industry, and no one is more experienced with this than DreamWorks. From their irreverent fairy tale parody Shrek to the toilet-filled tirade of Captain Underpants to the Biblical brilliance of The Prince of Egypt, DreamWorks has quite a history of adapting classic stories for the silver screen. Their newest endeavor is The Bad Guys, a heist film based on the children’s series by Aaron Blabey, which was released to theaters in April of this year.
Set in a fictionalized version of Los Angeles, the film centers around the titular Bad Guys, a gang of anthropomorphic animals led by the charming Mister Wolf (voiced by highly accoladed actor Sam Rockwell). After accidentally aiding an elderly lady and botching a heist at an awards show, Wolf decides to round up his merry band of misfits and follow the tutelage of eccentric guinea pig philanthropist Professor Marmalade (voiced by British actor Richard Ayoade) in order to be perceived as “good” by the people who have frowned upon them for so long. Their endeavors to become good are laid with good intentions and lead to some cleverly written twists and turns throughout the film.
From first impressions, the film has a very unique sense of style, both in animation and presentation. The filmmakers have cited multiple sources of inspiration for the uniquely charming art style with the most apparent being Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and the long-running Lupin III franchise. This art style lends itself well to the film’s chaotic, fast-paced and almost comic-book-like action scenes just as easily as some of its slower character-driven moments. Characters often sport cartoonish and exaggerated reactions with small symbols such as sweat drops and tension lines popping up to help sell that Lupin III inspiration.
Even though it does take inspiration from plenty of sources, The Bad Guys stands out on its own through finer details that better reflect the original source material. Little character instincts, such as Wolf’s tail wagging, Snake (voiced by stand-up comedian Marc Maron) going crazy-eyed whenever a hamster or guinea pig is on screen, and Tarantula’s (voiced by Awkwafina in her second major animated role following Raya and the Last Dragon) rapid limb movements, make these animated characters feel much more alive.
Speaking of style and inspiration, The Bad Guys‘ presentation takes heavy influence from Quentin Tarantino’s works. Every small detail snowballs into something saved for later in the film’s plot; every shot has something that stands out; and there are even a few long takes that you would rarely see in an animated film, let alone one made with children in mind. It takes these core elements that make Tarantino’s projects work so well and meshes them together elegantly into the very serviceable, very entertaining final product with just a hint of Ocean’s Eleven mixed in.
That said, however, one of the biggest faults the movie has is its pacing and story. The film clocks in at just over an hour and a half and puts most of its screen time towards showing the Bad Guys in their natural environment: planning, chatting and heisting. The heavily advertised redemption arc, which DreamWorks has an affinity for given the plots of films like Megamind and The Road to El Dorado, ends up being condensed into only a few sparing scenes, which makes the climax and resolution of the film feel like they occur quicker than anticipated. As a result, the twist reveal of the villain and their plot feels very sudden and unexplained, especially given this character showed very little of a villainous side earlier in the film.
This feels odd considering the first part of the movie is fairly well-paced and does a stellar job at setting up the dynamic the Bad Guys have with one another and the small supporting cast of Marmalade, Governor Diane Foxington (voiced by Atlanta‘s Zazie Beetz) and Police Chief Misty Luggins (voiced by Family Guy‘s Alex Borstein). The pacing drags these characters down a bit, which is a shame considering the fun chemistry they all have with one another.
In addition, while the first two acts of the film are commendable in their execution, the third act of the film opens with the unfortunately all too common third act misunderstanding, and a few of the more common animated film tropes from the past decade rear their ugly heads. The story overall is a mixed bag, but it has some salvageable moments thanks to the excellent writing and deliveries from the talented voice cast.
Overall, while it’s certainly no Beastars or Zootopia, The Bad Guys sticks out as a shining gem in DreamWorks’ slightly mixed bag of animated films. It takes concepts from decades’ worth of heist films and more artistic directors and makes something unique and thrilling for animation fans of all ages. While the film is dragged down by its pacing and a few unfortunate animated film clichés, the amount of time and effort that went into creating this animated work easily earns it a solid 8/10 from yours truly. I recommend this film to people looking for a decent heist flick and another interesting mark of DreamWorks’ quality.
The Bad Guys is currently available to stream on VOD and Peacock, as well as on Blu-Ray and DVD. It will leave Peacock and go to Netflix from November 1st.
Photo credit / DreamWorks
