The Bad Guys (2022)

The Bad Guys (2022)

 

5/10

Starring the voices of

Sam Rockwell

Marc Maron

Awkwafina

Craig Robinson

Anthony Ramos

Richard Ayoade

 

 

Directed by Pierre Perifel

 

After the many good reviews, I am disappointed by what the final animation delivers. I have been spoilt by Disney to expect a good story and not just impressive animation. Based on a children’s book of the same name, I think this should have been a direct-to-video job not a theatrical release, it was not worth more time.

The movie’s initial setup can be confusing, and they did not even make any effort to correct it. Were the animal group being avoided because they were animals or was it because they were predators? I did not know. Because then there was the mayor who was a fox and foxes from what I know are predators and she was liked. So, the initial start had me confused. Because I had this at the back of my mind as the movie developed – I also wondered, “is it because they were known criminals is that why people avoided them in the start?” If that was the case then why are the police hunting for them, when they seem to move about freely at some time. I later gave up that thought and decide to watch the movie hoping to enjoy myself. Here is an animation set in a world where humans and animals live together. The animals are anthropomorphic. The Bad Guys are these group of predator animals who have committed some of the high-end robberies in the town and have always eluded the police.

During a planned heist their leader Mr Wolf, gets a good feeling which messed up his focus and the group got caught. It turns out these bad bunch are all bad because no one has shown them there could also feel good about themselves by being good, which is an idea the movie wanted to pass across.

Here comes philanthropist guinea pig Dr. Marmalade who says he can reform these animals and he ask them to be released into his custody so he can change them. Mr Wolf who initiates this idea had a plan of his own to use this means to steal the Golden Dolphin Trophy award, a heist that has not been done before. The group is released to Marmalade’s custody, and we soon see that for most of them, they were a lost cause. Down the line a big heist is being planed by an unsuspected villain and the group are being arranged to take the fall. How the group fall into this trap and how they managed to escape in the end, and do we get to see them change their ways is what they have planned for you when you see this movie.

As stories go, this movie just falls below what I expected, and I feel they could have done better in the plans and setup.