The Bad Guys is a fun story filled with funny jokes. But it is also completely predictable and the standardized moral to the story offers nothing new. While a step above the oh-so-average Croods/Boss Baby/Trolls era of Dreamworks' most recent decade, it just doesn't hit the heights other animation studios are reaching. But it is progress.
Best of all The Bad Guys attempts a rather unique and quite beautiful animation style that mixes an anime inspired surrealism with a heightened focus on the main characters. None of the main characters feel like more than archetypes, and I get that's sort of the point. There is a good message here for the kiddos about how social constructs that prioritize certain classes of people and villinaize others become self-fulfilling prophecies.
But why do the fish have feet? And why is this world populated by humans only to have a very few characters be anthropomorphized animals... again only to have other animals be treated as pets??? There is a lot that doesn't make sense in the world of The Bad Guys. But since Dreamworks' shtick is to milk their franchises for as many sequels as possible I'm sure they'll explore some of these answers in the future.
The Bad Guys
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, Craig Robinson, Marc Maron, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, Lily Singh
Director: Pierre Perifel
Writer: Etan Cohen
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