The Bad Guys is one of the biggest animation hits since 2020 and Dreamworks Animation Studios is looking to build on that success with The Bad Guys 2.  To be fair, the studio has been spinning franchises for decades now, and that train doesn’t look to stop with The Bad Guys 2. While the end of the first movie saw this lovable crew trying to turn over a new leaf, they just keep getting pulled back in! 

Director Pierre Perifel is back in the big chair for the Dreamworks sequel, and there’s a sense of comfort with the concept now. Aaron Blabey’s books provide an ample jumping-off point for The Bad Guys 2. Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell) is ready to ride again and his celebrity co-stars are down for another joy ride. Luckily for all parties involved, The Bad Guys 2 has enough gas left in the tank for the getaway car to still be a thrilling ride.

The Bad Guys 2 sees the crew adjust to their new normal

Bad Guys 2

Yeah, Mr. Fox and the crew are trying to live on the straight and narrow. But, that’s proving to be harder than it sounds for a group of ex-criminals. The outside world hasn’t forgotten their past, and that leaves them banging their heads against the wall. Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos sell that exasperation well. By the time that Danielle Brooks’ Kitty Kat arrives to dangle one last job over them, it’s all she wrote.

It does need to be said that Kitty Kat’s big plan revolves around a substance called “MacGuffinite.” So, that’s the narrative level we’re working on here. Writers Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen are working overtime to craft the single best “entry-level” heist movie for younger audiences. And, on that account, The Bad Guys 2 largely succeeds! There’s riffing on established genre concepts and plenty of fart jokes to cut through the tension for the young ones.

But, at it’s core, The Bad Guys 2 is a story that wonders about how we treat people that society deems beneath us. This little movie also ponders how hard it is to change your lot in life and what an active choice to be good looks like. Positive stuff for a mostly family audience, if a bit surface level because of the need for the small people in the crowd to keep up with all the bright colors and heist hijinks.

Dreamworks crafts another crowd-pleaser with The Bad Guys 2

For years now, Dreamworks Animation has hung their hat on eye-popping visuals and that carries over here. The Bad Guys 2 employs this kind of 3D cutout technique where vehicles and characters burst into the foreground. But, the backgrounds still get tons of love with a sort of hand-drawn backdrop feel. It’s charming and dynamic. Kind of like this film! Style rules the day in a big way during The Bad Guys 2.

This whole movie seeks to up the ante after the first Bad Guys. It definitely accomplishes that goal with the set pieces from The Bad Guys 2. Still, we’re hoping that the next one of these installments thinks about moving Mr. Wolf and his pals forward emotionally too! 

For now, this is a good entry that will entertain the young ones. And, probably ensure that this franchise becomes just that, a franchise that Dreamworks will revisit again. Maria Bakalova’s Pigtail Petrove and Natasha Lyonne’s Doom are great fun and it would be a shame to break up a winning team. Being bad can be a lot of fun after all.

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