Although in my heart I will always love classic animation movies, and in more recent years have become a Pixar fan (like almost everyone!), I love when I am pleasantly surprised by a cartoon that has both great animation, characters, witty banter, humor, and a good message! And the new movie “The Bad Guys” had it all! That’s right it did…maybe you should buy your tickets now!
The movie is based on a children’s book and around 4 stereotypical bad guys—A wolf, a snake, a shark, and a piranha. The movie also added a Tarantula to this group (who is not in the novel and made her female. This helped tie in nicely with the other main character, who is also a female and former “bad guy”. The plot seems simple enough—this nefarious group of bad guys who have been robbing and committing crimes for years finally gets caught. Instead of going to jail, they manage to manipulate a deal where the “Good Citizen of the year”, will help them to reform their behavior. Of course, we all know there is going to be a plot twist, but even though it’s expected they still manage to do it with style and even incorporate messages about friendship and relationships that I feel are important for children to see. The action sequences are great and the animation has both 2D and 3D moments where things are layered so it’s very visually pleasing as well. It isn’t just a typical Pixar film. Everything works with the animations and makes the film better. And let’s not count out the cast.
The film has an amazing cast starting with Sam Rockwell and Awkwafina. My kids loved it from start to finish and I found that I wasn’t bored or stuck thinking this was another trite political commentary (such as happened in “Ron’s Gone Wrong”). It is definitely not on the same level as the recent animated musical “Encanto,” but still holds its own for what it is—a funny, feel-good, action-packed story about a group of misfits turned good. There are definitely allusions to “Ocean’s Eleven” for the grown-ups as well. Even the soundtrack is pretty great! I feel that young kids all the way to pre-teens and even teenagers would enjoy this film and have a good time. You can always wait until it is streaming, but it felt a little more exciting on the Big Screen!
