My favorite sort of animated films are the ones that have jokes for children of all ages and adults to enjoy.
After all, how many adults are stuck as chaperones or guardians of said children and watching some cartoon flick tailored to its target audience?
I’m glad that “The Bad Guys 2” was more than bearable – I actually really enjoyed it!
I think I also liked it more by taking an early showing when most kids were in school.
Still, it’s visually stimulating and the animation is pretty solid overall – brightly saturated with plenty of colors and characters.
The Bad Guys 2 is an American animated heist action comedy film loosely based on the children’s book series The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey and produced by DreamWorks Animation.
The sequel to The Bad Guys (2022), it was directed by Pierre Perifel, co-directed by JP Sans, and written by Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen.
The film stars Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, Richard Ayoade, and Lilly Singh, reprising their roles from the first film, with Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, and Maria Bakalova joining the cast.
Clocking in at 104 minutes long, the movie is rated PG for action/mild violence, rude humor and language.
Following the defeat of Professor Marmalade (Ayoade) and their recent release from prison, the Bad Guys have since reformed, but struggle to fit into society.
Wolf (Rockwell), Shark (Robinson), Piranha (Ramos), and Tarantula (Awkwafina) unsuccessfully apply for jobs while Snake (Maron) is frequently away from home.
Wolf spends his time with Diane (Beetz) and they grow closer, but they cannot start a relationship due to him being an ex-criminal and her being governor.
Inspired by Diane to give people a reason to accept them, Wolf helps Commissioner Luggins (Borstein) track down the Phantom Bandit, a new criminal known for being untraceable.
They soon find evidence leading to the bandit being Snake, only to later realize he was with his new girlfriend, Susan (Lyonne).
In an attempt to expose the Phantom Bandit at a lucha libre wrestling tournament, the Bad Guys are framed by a pig for the Phantom Bandit’s work.
Wolf calls Diane to maintain their innocence and she agrees to help them.
The Bad Guys are later kidnapped by a trio of female criminals: Kitty Kat (Brooks), Pigtail Petrova (Bakalova), and Doom.
Kitty was the Phantom Bandit, Pigtail was the pig who framed the Bad Guys, and Doom used the name “Susan” as an alias and was using Snake to lure the Bad Guys.
Kitty recruits them to help steal the experimental MOON-X rocket, using secret video footage revealing Diane as the Crimson Paw, her former criminal identity, as blackmail, so the Bad Guys reluctantly agree to help.
Meanwhile, Diane visits Marmalade in prison, where he reveals that Kitty plans to use the Multinational Space Station to steal all of the world’s gold with MacGuffinite, a rare metal which can magnetically attract gold.
The group begins their plan by successfully stealing Mr Moon’s (Knights) smart watch at his wedding because it controls the rocket.
Kitty gives Wolf the footage on a flash drive as promised, but traps them after the Bad Guys record her confession.
However, that’s not the end of the Bad Guys and there’s plenty more to see as they continue trying to break free of their past.
Overall, the film seemed faithful to its prequel and still expanded the world that the Bad Guys were part of. So, I definitely enjoyed it.
