As a lover of heist movies and the majority of stuff that DreamWorks has made over the years, The Bad Guys was a movie that really appealed to me. Directed by DreamWorks mainstay, Pierre Perifel from an Ethan Coen script, you have a very witty kids movie that is fun for the whole family to enjoy.
How to Stream or Download The Bad Guys (2022)
You should be able To stream or to download the film from Peacock TV in June 2022. Click on the Download button at the end of this review. Check out also previous DreamWorks Animation titles – The Boss Baby: Family Business, Spirit Untamed, or The Croods: A New Age.
The Movie Review
The whole premise of The Bad Guys is about if people can change who they are. We have a group of “bad guys” that are led by Mr. Wolf. Mr. Wolf is joined by Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Mr. Piranha, and Ms. Tarantula. Each member of the team gets their time to shine and I got a real kick out of how each member of the team would have their own animal-centric special ability.
A huge part of the reason why the team is so appealing is the voice cast. Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, and Awkwafina are the core group. Richard Ayoade as he seems sweet, but is not really a guinea pig, Professor Rupert Marmalade IV is hilarious. I also loved Zazie Beetz in her role as Diane Foxington, seriously, this is one of the best ensemble casts that DreamWorks has put together to date!
The plot is something that I really did enjoy. This group has managed to pull off some of the most epic heists of all time, but Mr. Wolf wants to go straight and leave his life of crime behind him. He has a bit of trouble convincing the rest of the gang that this is going to be a good thing, but they ultimately get on board. Of course, things do not go quite as smoothly as Mr. Wolf had hoped thanks to that pesky guinea pig!
I think what I liked best about the story that The Bad Guys was telling was the way it played on some of the classic heist movies. Reservoir Dogs, Swordfish, and Ocean’s Eleven are referenced here and it is done very well. There are so many fun little nods to many of the tropes that are in heist movies that you will have a smile on your face the whole time.
While that is great, you do not need to be a heist movie aficionado like myself to appreciate this movie. The humor works for both kids and adults and the whole slapstick nature of the comedy reminded me of some of the classic Looney Tunes episodes that I grew up on as a kid. DreamWorks truly are masters at making movies that are appealing to kids and adults and this is another shining example of that.
If you want a fun movie to watch with the whole family you cannot go wrong with The Bad Guys. It is a real shame it is not doing better, critics and families seem to like it, but it does not seem to have been as huge a financial hit as some of DreamWork’s other movies. This is a movie that is very easy to recommend to you guys, it is still in many theatres as I write this so go and see it on the big screen!
