I had many, many questions while watching The Bad Guys. Why are the seven main characters the only ones that are anthropomorphized? Were they the result of some mutagenic transformation? How long have humans and these all singing, all dancing animals lived in peace and harmony? Why is Professor Marmalade the only guinea pig with smarts? Why is Mr. Snake dressed like Johnny Depp from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? I had many, many questions about this movie, and it didn’t matter one bit that none of them were answered. Not when a movie is this much fun.
The Bad Guys, which is branded a Dreamworks “caper,” opens with a Reservoir Dogs-esuqe diner scene in which Mr. Wolf and Mr. Snake are engaged in a debate on what snakes can actually taste, before moving on to a magnificently choreographed car chase that is one part The Blues Brothers and one part The Castle of Cagliostro, all while building character, reinforcing chemistry, and establishing an effortless sense of cool. It is snappy, it moves at a pace, and is laugh out loud funny. It is, in a word, superb.
It’s Good to Be Bad
The Bad Guys in question are, in fact, the perennial bad guys of myth, and fairy tale, and religious doctrine. The wolf, the snake, the shark, the piranha, and the tarantula. Creatures that have been ascribed values based entirely on the fact that they look kinda mean and scary. Relegated as villains, they are only ever described in negative terms. The big bad wolf. The creepy, crawly spider. Snakes are treacherous and insidious, they are bastards and bounders, slimy and cretinous, and responsible for original sin. While sharks and piranhas have been forever tainted by a whole slew of b-movies.
The Bad Guys is based on Aaron Blabey’s incredibly successful series of children’s books of the same name where, like Gregory Maguire and Wicked, he too reimagines these classic characters, not as evil, but rather as misunderstood. They’re trapped in a cycle of recidivism. Tarred by society. Doomed to forever be no greater than the labels that have been placed upon them.
Here, Mr. Wolf and his squad, having embraced their place in society, live out a rather successful life of crime. They are master criminals, always looking for the next big score, and constantly one step ahead of the police. But when one of their heists goes horribly wrong and they get caught, they are presented with both a challenge and an opportunity. If they can learn, if they can prove that all it takes to be good guys is the right guidance and the right environment, then they will be set free.
The message here is simple. Can individuals change? Are they just the sum total of how society perceives them? Can they grow beyond that and become something better? Something greater? The movie is a metaphor for any number of things, from our sometimes misjudged notions of goodness, to the prison system and the way we treat our ex-convicts. And all of it is presented in a way that is percipient and poignant, but never preachy.
“You Son of a Bitch, I’m In!”
There is just so much to love here. The animation is gorgeous, tripping between traditional CGI and the kind of double framing we saw in Into the Spider-Verse. Every action sequence is dynamic, and kinetic, and utterly delightful to behold. The long running joke of Mr. Shark, a master of disguise, being able to convincingly fool anyone with just a hat and a mustache, or a sparkly dress, is perfectly executed every time. The chemistry between the crew. The witty repartee between Sam Rockwell and Marc Maron.
But most of all, The Bad Guys has a clear idea of who kids are, and what they like, want, and relate to. And so what we have is a movie that doesn’t just try to appeal to a specific age group or demographic, but works in drawing out the inner child in all of us.
The Bad Guys is a heist movie, an action adventure, and a superhero origin story all rolled into one. It’s the Ocean’s movies meets The Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s got cool characters and great music. It’s a fantastic time at the cinema. So take your children if you have any, or just go by yourself if you don’t. God knows there aren’t too many movies out there that offer this sort of beautiful escapism.
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