The animated film genre is a hodgepodge. A real up and down in regards to calibre. But reading that back, I presume that the same could be said for all film genres. But somehow people seem to want to rip apart romantic comedies and animation. Why are they held to a higher standard? All that being said, The Bad Guys, a product of Universal Pictures/Dreamworks, is a good film. No matter the standards you hold it to.
Based on the novels by Aaron Blabey, the story (especially at the beginning of the film) will remind all the older watchers of a classic crime film called Pulp Fiction. It is a good one to emulate if you are going to use another film as a jumping off point. Like the aforementioned film, this is all about having fun being bad.
What ensues are laughs and action. A better combination of the two than most live-action films that have attempted the combo. For fans of the books, there will be differences in story points and the characters. Look beyond that as all that truly matters is that the story is well done. Add on top of the fact that the story is solid that the music is fun, the characters are very likable and for the most part, the humour works. Oh year, and the voice actors are fantastic.
Besides Maron, Rockwell, Awkwafina, Robinson, and Ramos the voice cast is filled with plenty of talent (leaning heavily towards the comedic variety) as they are joined by Alex Borstein, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, and Lilly Singh.
Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (voiced by Marc Maron), Mr. Piranha (voiced by Anthony Ramos), Mr. Shark (voiced by Craig Robinson), and Ms. Tarantula (voiced by Awkwafina) are a successful crime gang who have committed robbery after robbery for years. That is until one day they are apprehended. Jail seems inevitable.
That is not the end of the gang, however. Mr. Wolf is trying to negotiate a deal so that the gang does not end up in prison. They just have to make the world believe that they have gone 180. Gone legit. Simple….or is it?
Special Features:
- Maraschino Ruby
- Deleted Scenes
- Devise the Plan: Making The Bad Guys
- Assemble the Crew
- It’s Showtime: Cast Table Read
- Snake’s Frozen Pop Shop
- From The Drawing Room
- Feature Commentary with Director Pierre Perifel, Producer Damon Ross, Head of Story Nelson Yokota, Head of Character Animation JP Sans and Production Designer Luc Desmarchelier
