Movie Review: The Bad Guys (2022)

Synopsis: After finally being caught by the police, a gang of animal criminals tries to avoid prison by pretending to reform their ways. There's just one problem, their leader, Wolf, really does want to change. This leads to a rift between the friends when they are framed for stealing a famous meteorite.

Who's in it? The animated movie uses voices from Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson and Zazie Beetz.

Review: I came across this film on Netflix a couple days ago and since I knew it was something my daughter wanted to see, saved it for our family movie night last night. Overall, it ended up being an OK movie but not one of my favorite animated films.

I thought the premise of the film was decent albeit a little predictable. The idea of certain animals being judged by what they are is something that has been done before (Zootopia comes to mind) but it still worked, especially when you look at this as purely a movie meant for younger kids. And I'll admit, the various characters on that gang were likable and entertaining.

One of my biggest problems with this movie is the universe it takes place in doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Even my 13-year-old was questioning how you could have certain animals being able to walk around on their hind legs, interacting with humans and being treated like humans (including being elected to a government office) while others, including some in the same species, couldn't do that. 

Or to put it in another way, in what world can humans recognize a guinea pig for his scientific achievements when other guinea pigs are treated as pets or used in science experiments? It kind of felt like there was some sort of explanation that the filmmakers forgot to make.

The movie also does earn its PG rating because there is a surprising amount of violence in it. It's never referred to in any great detail but there are at least two scenes in this movie that involved explosions and had to result in a bunch of innocent humans (or animals) being killed in the process. In fact, my daughter was seriously worried about a cat getting killed in one scene before it inexplicably appeared safe in one of the other character's arms. Just something to be warned about if you have young kids.

Final Opinion: Again, it's an OK film, especially if you have younger kids who won't overthink it or question whether anyone was killed in the explosions. However, there's nothing about it that sets it apart from plenty of other and better films.

My Grade: C+