The Bad Guys
Released in theaters on April 22, 2022
Released on NetFlix on November 1, 2022
Runtime: 1 Hours 39 Minutes
Rated PG
This movie is basically Ocean’s 11 for kids. They even make a George Clooney joke or two. The main premises is that the Bad Guys are creative thieves that think they have it all. However, soon they discover that being good can be even more fun and bring about a greater reward - joy (or tail wagging)
If you have read the book series this movie is based off of, don’t expect it to be a copy of the books. The book’s charm, humor, and overall theme of scary animals becoming good guys is all there, but there are some changes. There are a few Easter Eggs from the books, but mostly the movie takes pieces of the different books and turns them into a longer, more straightforward narrative. Instead of the Bad Guys trying to be good from the start (like the books) this is more of an origin story about why Wolf has decided his team needs to go good. There are a couple of character changes from the book. The most obvious is Mr. Tarantula is now Ms Tarantula. This wasn’t a big deal to us. The only thing that made him a guy in the book was the “Mr.” in front of his name. Ms Tarantula (voiced by Awkwafina) was actually a lot more of a fun character in the movie than the books.
Themes:
Themes in the movie includes family, morality, stereotypes, thievery, repentance, love between friends, friendship, camaraderie, police, betrayal, sharing, stealing, change, selflessness vs selfishness, and the struggle to put others first.
Language:
This movie has the normal animated movie name calling (stupid, dumb, crazy, etc.). There is a good amount of potty humor (just like the books). Some examples would be that Mr. Piranha is always gassy and there is a running joke about a rock looking like a butt throughout the movie. I laughed every time the butt joke came up, it was well executed. I didn’t catch any curse words, but (as with many animated movies these days) they do use the line, “what the…” and stop before they saying anything else.
Stuff to be aware of:
There is theft, lying, (they are bad guys after all) and lots of slapstick humor. There are some looney tunes moments where characters get hurt, but walk away from the incident fine. There are a few scenes that involve what look like wine glasses. One character orders a tonic water, and the waiter brings it out in a fancy glass with an olive. Outside the potty humor (which doesn’t bother me) this movie was just a fun, feel good family movie.
Overall:
I think the writers took the best things about the book series (stories, plot points, humor, etc.) and improved on them. I really enjoyed it and left the theater with a smile. There are some nice, fun twists. Some may catch them before they happen, but for my kids there were some surprises. Even if you didn’t read the books you can very much enjoy this movie and it has a good lesson to teach. This really felt like a family friendly heist movie with superb voice work, really neat looking animation, and a fun story that proves even bad guys can change. This will likely be one we purchase on Blu-ray.