I’m bad and that’s good – The Bad Guys review

Jumping out from a comic book, The Bad Guys launches on to the big screen. The movie follows the exploits of characters traditionally portrayed as the bad guys – A wolf, a snake, a shark, a piranha and a tarantula.

Typecast always as evil and wrong doers, they have teamed up to pull off some of the biggest capers in town. Mr. Wolf is the mastermind ala Danny Ocean who dreams up the heists the gang later pull-off. The rest of the crew comprises of Mr. Snake, Mr. Wolf’s best friend, Mr. Shark – a master of disguise, Mr. Piranha and Ms. Tarantula – hacker extraordinaire.

After robbing a bank and letting the police on a chase that is only possible in an animated movie, the gang’s joy at cleaning out the bank is broken as they listen to Governor Ms. Foxington call the gang a group on decline. An infuriated Mr. Wolf decides to steal the Golden Dolphin award – the Moby Dick of heist objects.

As a bonus, they also steal from the guests at the ceremony. A seemingly random where Mr. Wolf saves an old lady who tripping down the stairs, triggers a “do-good” nerve in the villain. This resurfaces when they are just about to get away with the Golden Dolphin.

The gang is all but done and looking at a lifetime in prison, Mr. Marmalade, the model citizen and all-round good guy of LA announces that he is going to take in the bad guys and reform them. Mr. Wolf agrees, though he explains to Mr. Snake that this is a ruse to steal from a new fundraiser. The fundraiser brings in millions, which are ultimately safe (Mr. Wolf doesn’t go through with his plan), however, the rare meteor rock is missing. The Bad Guys are innocent this time, so who is the new bad Guy? Not everyone is who they say they are.

While Mr. Snake is upset that his friend didn’t pull of the heist as planned, Mr. Wolf is keen to clear their name ad gets help from an unlikely ally. Will they succeed and restore their good name (even if it was with them for a short while).

You know that the story is going to end well – it is a kid’s movie after all, the journey is interesting. It had a fair share of twists and “will he/won’t he” moments. The other aspect of the movie which I think more animation movies should emulate is that the voice actors aren’t A-listers (popular, but not the biggest names in the industry). The animated characters are also drawn differently like a 2D feature on a 3D face. It was unique and different to see as compared to the typical Pixar characters.

I am familiar with the Bad Guys comic books and I would say the concept has come out well on the big screen. So, if you’re up for animated heists and quirky animal characters, “The Bad Guys” might just be your cup of tea!