Animation and family entertainment is on a bit of a role lately. Everything from ‘Encanto’ to ‘Sonic 2’ have been big hits at the box office. And more importantly, they have been pretty darn good. This trend continues with ‘The Bad Guys’.
As the title implies, the main characters are not your typical protagonists. They are more typically the antagonists, but this film wants us to see them more like Danny Ocean’s crew of clever thieves. They openly embrace the fact that the world sees them as bad by trying to be the best thieves in the world. But, this would not be a kids movie if they stayed a bunch of bad guys for long.
The opening scene introduces all these characters in a pretty clever way. And it’s really the quality of the voice acting that makes spending time with this duo so much fun. This is especially the case with Sam Rockwell as the Big Bad Wolf and Marc Maron as Snake. Everybody here is having a good time, but Rockwell and Maron chew it up like they are in a live action buddy picture.
Questioning the anti-hero’s allegiance is a pretty normal part of caper pictures and this one plays on that common trope to mostly entertaining effect. The question that the audience is supposed to keep asking themself here is whether the Wolf is playing both sides and I think most parents will see the signs pretty clearly. Still, kids might be surprised by the outcome.
The thing that matters most here is that ‘The Bad Guys’ is a consistently entertaining story of friendship and redemption. It’s filled to the brim with big laughs and has some pretty unique animation. So, if you are not burned out on family films, I suggest you give this one a shot.
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