The Bad Guys 2

SPOILER ALERT

Man, it’s been a while since I last approached anything named ‘The Bad Guys’, huh?

Based on the classic graphic novel series by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys movie had proven itself to be a wild and fun film about a group of anthropomorphic animals - Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula - all of whom were despised, more likely out of infamy, not just as a species, but also for their long standing criminal history. I remembered being completely swept away by the film’s bright colors, fast-paced energy, and clever blend of aspects from the classic Disney films and mafia films from the 20th century.

It turns out, the film was successful enough to warrant a sequel, which makes sense considering the original “Bad Guys” was a long-running book series. And for what this film had going for it, not only is it easily on par with the first film, but it also pulled off some extra elements that might tempt me to place it just slightly above the first film.

Continuing where the last film left off, the Bad Guys, after thwarting Professor Marmalade, have been given another chance to rehabilitate themselves in Los Angeles society and attempt to find jobs, but to no avail, considering their local reputation. One of the destinations where Mr. Wolf applied for a job, for instance, happened to be the same bank that he and Mr. Snake robbed earlier in the last film. Then one day, they noticed on TV a heist taking place at a luchadores match, and it ended up using the same tactics as those the Bad Guys had used before they turned over a new leaf. To prove their innocence, they collaborated with their former archenemy, newly promoted Police Commissioner Misty, to track down the evildoers responsible for this heist. As they dug deeper, the Bad Guys found themselves not only thwarted but made to appear as though they were reverting to their criminal spree all over again. But it turned out the criminals they dealt with were a whole ‘nother kind of criminal gang, for this group was none other than who would generally have been described as the Bad Girls. They consisted of a crafty raven named Doom, an excitable boar named Pigtail, and the gang leader, a snow leopard named Kitty Kat. Talk about cat burglary!

Together, they performed heists inspired by the Bad Guys and spilled the beans on them, revealing that their biggest heist was to rob all the gold in the world. And it all had to do with a unique object called the MacGuffinite, the name of which even the Bad Guys thought was a little cheeky but worked, and also a nearby rocket that’s about to go off called Moon-X. But if that’s not severe enough, the Bad Girls also had collaborated at some point with Professor Marmalade himself and threatened to pull off the unthinkable regarding Governor Diane, or, as we know her, the former Crimson Paw.

So with all the high stakes, the lives on the line, and the clashing of personalities running about, how would the Bad Guys have worked their way out of this mess, especially since they’ve decided to turn good? Were they going to stay good for long? Would they have reverted to their old ways because of the Bad Girls’ influence after they influenced them first? Or would the Bad Guys have had what it took to prove themselves as the Good Guys once and for all, and thwart them in their plans before lives would’ve been changed for the worse?

Like I said, it’s a given that The Bad Guys would have been given a sequel not only because of DreamWorks Animation’s track record of creating high-caliber sequels to already solid films, but also because of the original book series having had a whopping twenty volumes under its name shortly before The Bad Guys 2 came out. As you can imagine, there’s a borderline goldmine of storytelling possibilities that DreamWorks can explore with The Bad Guys, and DreamWorks had already knocked it out of the park with what they started with. And I’m beyond happy to report that this sequel did not disappoint, as it continued to excel at what the first film did so well, partially by adding a few extra elements and side plots to propel it into new territory that only enriches its potential as an animated film.

Since I am still fresh off reviewing Zootopia, I also found The Bad Guys films to be very creative, particularly in the world-building that they established. Despite feeling like an anthropomorphic animal world where humanoid animals roamed, regular human beings also lived among them. So, it made this world feel much more like Warner Bros.’ animated universe, where the Looney Tunes were made up of anthropomorphic animals living and breathing alongside human beings. Now, as to how that would have been consistent with regards to the animal species in this world – for example, how was there a regular cat in The Bad Guys when there’s also a humanoid snow leopard named Kitty Kat? – I think we can all let it slide as part of cartoon logic because everything else about this movie was outstanding.

To start with, the voice acting. Once again, just like in the first film, all the voice actors, especially those who returned from the first film, went all out there in capturing their characters’ instincts, personalities, and even modesties to the nth degree while also having them mesh well with the film’s zany humor and fast-paced energy.

Sam Rockwell still captured some of the crafty undertones and utmost confidence as Mr. Wolf, which, the second time around, still helped set him apart a good deal from Jason Bateman’s portrayal as Nick Wilde in Zootopia. Anthony Ramos continued to delight with his furiously over-the-top exaggerations and desperations that only Mr. Piranha would have conveyed, as well as his fearful nature when he panicked about certain things. Marc Maron still managed to convey his ‘slitheriness’ and consternation as Mr. Snake whenever he had to wrap his head – and body – around some of the various goings-on that he had to put up with. Awkwafina still excelled in capturing Ms. Tarantula’s feistiness, computer-savvy instincts, and sense of perception when she caught on to anything that caught her off guard. And Craig Robinson still managed to convey his slightly childlike instincts in Mr. Shark while hamming it up with his character’s impersonations whenever he slunk into his disguises. Zazie Beetz continued to refine her sense of modesty as Governor Diane, this time with a little more tenderness as Diane started to develop possible feelings for Mr. Wolf.

However, the two remaining actors who returned somehow left an even bigger impression in this movie, thanks to what they did exceptionally well, even compared to the first film.

Let’s start with Alex Borstein as Misty. In the first film, I remember Misty well for her overblown reactions, agile animation, and boastful, demanding voice as she hurled the police officers hot on the Bad Guys’ tail to thwart their next moves. Because of this, Misty stood out to me as feeling like the L.A. equivalent of Razoul from Aladdin, in that she was an over-the-top authority figure hunting down the protagonists, who were no strangers to committing criminal offenses…mainly theft. However, in this film, even though her character had been promoted as the L.A. Commissioner, and while Borstein still held on to everything that made Misty a knockout in the first film, this time I felt a twinge of conflict in her when it came to her willing to put her trust in the band of bandits that she had spent most of her career chasing down. You can tell that as much as Misty wanted to trust the Bad Guys and know they were trying to do the right thing and help her out, there’s still just a part of her that just couldn’t have borne the idea of the #1 criminals she was excited to capture suddenly being on her side instead of being her targets. Even when she was not in her over-the-top, demanding police officer phase, Borstein still expressed enough decency, and not just her uncertainty, in Misty for me to believe that she was a righteous leader willing to do whatever it took to put her faith in her friends, as well as set the law where it was most needed.

While his character’s return was a surprise, I was also surprised by what Richard Ayoade conveyed in Professor Marmalade.

Come to think of it, the third thing I did not expect of Marmalade was to see him so buff. But that’s beside the point.

In the last film, I recall him portraying Professor Marmalade with a range of emotions, from cutesy and adorable to deliberately annoying, and ultimately conniving and crafty. But here, not only do I remember his conniving and crafty undertones more in this picture, but if anything, I cannot help but feel like he may have refined them every time he indulged in his vocal prowess as he played Professor Marmalade. Something about his voice suddenly made him feel more intimidating and off-putting than he was in the last film. Sure, he still held on to some of his cutesy moments, especially when he was being at his most non-threatening, but the moments in the movie where he was deliberately annoying were almost minimal by a long shot. So, everything that Ayoade excelled at in playing with Professor Marmalade, he brought back here with a much more evident and polished state than in the last film.

But now, this leads us to highlight the voice actresses who played the Bad Girls.

First, I enjoyed the actress, Maria Bakalova, who played Pigtail with her excitable energy. Such instincts help portray her as a longtime admirer of the Bad Guys, while Bakalova also snuck in enough aggression in her voice to highlight just how committed she was to pulling off the heists the same way the Bad Guys did. Of course, that kind of lightheartedness in her voice also clued me into exactly what more Pigtail was hiding underneath that she was unwilling to show to her buddies or even the Bad Guys.

I did not anticipate this, but who would have thought that Natasha Lyonne, whom I remember with such respect as Nadia from Russian Doll, would’ve done a cracking job as Doom? While I remember Natasha Lyonne sounding raspy and sarcastic in Russian Doll, here, she managed to sound just as sly in her voice as well. Whenever she played Doom, sometimes she played her social, friendly side, like when Raven got together with Mr. Snake – It’s still a pretty odd pairing, if you ask me – while also sneaking in just enough of an inner dark side that warned me about what all she had up her sleeve.

But the real knockout of these performances would be the actress, Danielle Brooks, who played Kitty Kat. Every time she went in character, she owned her role, lunged forth, and left me feeling like Kitty Kat was in charge of every move the Bad Girls did in secret. Whenever Kitty Kat expressed her commitment to pulling off what she knew had to be pulled off, Brooks’ voice reflected that perfectly as she helped hone Kitty Kat’s general fierceness and devotion to the missions while also highlighting her threatening factor with a slight twinge of unhingedness to her, especially when things started to not go according to plan.

I must honestly give credit to the movie’s story. As I mentioned, it continued where the first film left off, in terms of its homages to Mafia films and Disney classic cartoons, while also allowing the stakes of such situations to sink in.

Before it even continued doing that, we see one of the Bad Guys’ earlier attempts at robbery when they hijacked an aristocratic estate in Cairo, Egypt, with Ms. Tarantula being the group’s newbie. I thought that was a cute touch, considering that the original literary counterpart, Mr. Tarantula – AKA ‘Legs’ – did not join the Bad Guys until book two. So this made a lot of sense.

Of course, for all the movies’ homages to Mafia films and Disney films, it also reminded us just how tricky it would have been for ex-criminals to attempt to renegotiate their lifestyles and be the Good Guys, especially when certain things cropped up here and there that would have either tempted them into reverting to their criminal lifestyles or, worst of all, would have done them in and this time framed them for sure. So, to see the Bad Guys not only attempt to stay good, but also have to work their way around whatever would have reverted them to being bad guys and still stay one step ahead of the Bad Girls threw in many suspenseful twists and turns as you’d want to see the Bad Guys prove themselves as being capable of redemption and try to stop the Bad Girls before they stole all the gold in the world with the Moon-X and the MacGuffinite. As delightfully crazy as the last part of the plot was, the movie excelled in making it feel like a big deal, partially because of the threats and blackmail that the Bad Guys had to go through, especially by the Bad Girls. And when you see just how much of their past lifestyles, especially that of Governor Diane, was brought to the forefront and at a risk of exposing them to the rest of the world, you can feel the gravity of such situations as it started to erupt and challenge who were this time beginning to feel more like heroes as they tried to prove themselves as such.

The story was also very engaging because, like the first film, 70% of the main characters have all been guilty of committing crimes. Even those we consider the closest thing to the good and bad guys in the movie have all had experiences of committing crimes at some point. To have it where the story was basically about bad guys versus bad guys, even if some of them were close to reforming and turning over a new leaf, only contributed to the more engaging aspects of this film, just like in the first one.

And let’s say that, unfortunately, one of the threats that the villains enacted on the Bad Guys in the movie did go through. The Bad Girls and, to a lesser degree, Marmalade lived up to their threat with incriminating evidence in the form of video footage that exposed Diane’s reputation as the Crimson Paw. The video footage showed Diane unmasking herself as the Crimson Paw with the Golden Dolphin still in her hand. Because of that, as soon as it was uploaded online, Governor Diane, when she least expected it, was stripped of her governor title. Meanwhile, Marmalade got out of prison after being framed as the Crimson Paw by the Bad Guys in the last film. However, because the threats, villainy, and performances added extra juiciness to such situations, they surprisingly made it easier to swallow.

And regarding the space climax? Usually, a trip to space would’ve sounded like a huge deal – and in this film, it was – especially since that’s how Regular Show wrapped up in its last season. However, in this case, it didn’t feel too much like foreign territory, because in the previous film, one of the most significant conflicts concerned a heart-shaped meteorite that fell into Los Angeles. So, going from investigating something that came from space to downright resolving something from space sounds like a cool way for the film series to go. It even helped that the original book series would eventually have had the characters travel into space to resolve high-stakes conflicts; it made this narrative transition feel even more appropriate.

That reminds me that the characters are also worthy of mention, and not just the performances.

Like I said about the story, a good chunk of the movie was about nothing but the Bad Guys - Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Piranha and Mr. Shark – all attempting to turn their lives around and try to start over with a fresh new start, even though their reputation as the Bad Guys, especially locally, hindered whatever possibilities they attempted to achieve with the latest chance they were given.

Mr. Snake was still as crafty and hesitant as I remember him. Ms. Tarantula was still the savvy hacker who was known to crack a mean one every once in a while. Mr. Piranha was still a feisty yet fearful guy who carried many Joe Pesci overtones. And Mr. Shark was somewhat of a childlike gang member, with an excellent, yet sometimes obvious, attempt at being a master of disguise. While these characters were not bad individually, they all came alive when they worked together as a team.

And Mr. Wolf? Despite him being the gang leader and the one who’s crafty enough to catch on to when things were about to go astray or when to improvise under the right conditions, he’s probably the most intriguing of the gang because of how conflicted he was in his devotion as a bad guy. Because of this he often pondered whether going back to that lifestyle or leaving it all behind for a much better life and better chances were worth pursuing, especially when he had to weigh all that out with what he considered the needs of his companions.

Of course, the Bad Girls were also very compelling in their uniqueness as a criminal ensemble, even compared to the original Bad Guys, whom they idolized so much.

Doom was a pro at deceiving people like Mr. Snake into thinking that she meant what she said, when she was just playing him and his friends for fools so she could have given herself or her teammates the advantage necessary to pull off their next heist. Pigtail almost seemed like the brawn in the group, similar to what Mr. Shark was to the Bad Guys. However, her excitable nature made her appear less childlike and more sensitive, to a point where she began to second-guess her commitments within the group, much like Mr. Wolf. And, of course, you have Kitty Kat. I don’t know how much she idolized the Bad Guys, but it’s clear that she came across as the no-nonsense type of criminal leader. Whenever she was determined to get the job done, she ensured that she stuck to her plan and that nothing unexpected would have come along to throw a monkey wrench in their plans. And because she was so committed to proving her worth as a viable criminal leader, her intimidation and moments when she carried out some of her most heinous crimes, misdeeds, and threats became far more shocking.

While I still believe a good chunk of it tied back to her voice performances, what Misty grappled with in this movie felt just about as effective as what the Bad Guys had to go through, because she had spent most of her police career chasing down the Bad Guys and making sure that she threw them all behind bars for what they had done before. To see her suddenly grappling with the idea of her number one sought-after criminals suddenly turning good and trying to do the right thing seemed to have thrown her for a loop, despite her promotion as the Commissioner of Los Angeles. And yet, underneath that hardened shell and the topsy-turvy devotion she expressed to the Bad Guys, there was still an inner part of her that was still committed to wanting to not only make the world a better place, starting with Los Angeles, but also put her trust in people who she knew was trying their hardest to set themselves on the right path. So, you can understand her conflicted notions in this movie, despite her willingness to try to be reasonable with the Bad Guys after a long history of ‘law versus crime’ feuds they had.

And the animation, what can I say? It still felt as splashy, colorful, and bright as it was in the last film. Revisiting it, I still think this was a prime example of how to do 2.5D animation, which I’ve decided to call it. Between 2D hand-drawn animation and 3D computer animation, 2.5D animation seemed like the most suitable way to visually convey movies that utilize both 2D and 3D animation to achieve the desired effect. Even Tangled qualified as such, since the film embodied many of the 2D hand-drawn techniques that Disney mastered and translated them into 3D computer animation. It’s just that the Bad Guys movies took a more visually evident approach, making the two animation styles mesh well together. Some parts can be easily seen in a 2D hand-drawn animated film, whereas the rest can be conveyed just as effectively in a computer-animated film. However, by meshing them all together, they created a bright landscape that harmonized the general blending of Disney and Mafia styles and evoked a sort of graphic novel feel, much like what The Bad Guys began with as a book series. And when you have it where such graphic styles are given enough colors to make them pop and enough energy to make them exciting, that’s when you know the animators have hit it out of the park with these films.

I will also admit, looking at the design patterns of Kitty Kat, there’s just something about her that calls me back in some ways to Tai Lung from the first Kung Fu Panda. I shouldn’t be too surprised, since she, too, was a snow leopard. But still…

However, the biggest highlight of this movie lies in its ending. Before and while being exposed as the Crimson Paw, Diane snuck into the rocket with the Bad Girls to put them in their place. But despite being sedated with a tranquilizer dart to her neck, she still joined the Bad Guys in thwarting the Bad Girls’ plans as they hurled Moon-X and its satellite down to Earth. The next thing we know, we see a funeral erected in their memories, as if the Bad Guys have truly died. However, as Misty ultimately revealed to us, it was all a ruse to keep the Bad Guys, and now Diane, undercover, while the world remembered them as having thwarted the Bad Girls’ plan and died as the heroes they meant to be. Because of this, Misty recommended that, as a reward for their valiant efforts, the Bad Guys and Diane be given new jobs as undercover secret agents, which I think was a massive upgrade and a far better fit for Mr. Shark. If he was a master of disguise before then, this job would have been right up his alley. And of course, one of the post-credit scenes showed that because his car happened to be made of gold, Marmalade’s car was taken up into space. At first, it seemed like it was just another random turn of circumstances to give Marmalade what’s coming to him, but it turned out that his car was somehow equipped with rocket features that would have helped him travel through space in his car.

One, it is intriguing to watch Diane become a secret agent with the Bad Guys in this film, considering she was already one all throughout the book series. Two, this all makes me wonder if this is supposed to set up a potential Bad Guys 3 in the near future.

Well, it’s a little too soon to tell, since the movie is still in theaters as I’m writing this. However, much like Inside Out 2, this movie had done so much right with continuing the story of the first film that it left me eagerly open to the possibility of there being a threequel down the line. As I said, with twenty volumes in the original Bad Guys book series, there’s so much storytelling potential for the Bad Guys to take advantage of cinematically as the original books did literarily. What would have happened after the Bad Guys became secret agents would provide just the perfect story threads necessary for DreamWorks to use in a sequel to The Bad Guys. Who knows? Only time will tell, and we’ll see what DreamWorks would have in mind for the Bad Guys 3 if they ever come around to it.

Until then, though, while I’m still holding my breath to see what Zootopia 2 has in store for Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, and the world of Zootopia, I can safely say that what this movie did was just what the Bad Guys deserved for a sequel. The characters were still as zany as ever, the animation perfectly captured the movie’s origins and inspirations, the voice acting struck the right balance between entertaining and dignified, the story was surprisingly weighty, and the circumstances were realistic. I don’t know what the odds are of this movie earning any major nominations down the line, but I can safely tell you that DreamWorks still has what it takes to make great sequels to great animated films. First Shrek, then Kung Fu Panda, then How to Train a Dragon, and soon, The Croods, Trolls, The Wild Robot (soon), and for the time being, The Bad Guys. As long as DreamWorks Animation knows how to provide solid and entertaining continuations, then I’m sure that where The Bad Guys will head off into the future is bound to continue to elevate the Bad Guys franchise into places that will potentially cement it as another one of DreamWorks’ most solid franchises out there. Fingers crossed that they continue to do that with the Bad Guys. 

Much like the Bad Guys in the movie, the movie itself surprised me with what other talents it had hiding underneath its off-putting image.

My Rating

A high B+

Additional Thoughts

— I’ll admit, watching a frustrated driver pass Mr. Wolf by and shout,

Nice carbon footprint, jackass!

…was unexpected, but I found it funny given where it occurred. Not only do I still find it amusing, but in hindsight, I believe this is one of the few recent instances where the PG rating is finally put to its proper use. It doesn’t stand for ‘Parental Guidance’ for nothing. Besides, admit it, you heard this in Disney’s Pinocchio, too. So, what’s the big deal?

– At first glance, I found the spacesuit scenes with Mr. Piranha farting with Mr. Snake inside hilarious, mostly because it felt like an exaggerated version of the famous ‘methane’ scene with Fred Randall and Bill Overbeck from RocketMan. But what makes it even trippier for me was that this occurred in the original book series, too, but with Mr. Wolf in the space suit instead.

– If you’re wondering how I suddenly became so knowledgeable about what went on in the original Bad Guys book series, that’s because, as I wrote this review, I took the liberty of reading the first seven volumes of the book series. You’d be surprised how little time it took me to read just one volume at a time! However, I can tell you that across two films, the collective imagination, hijinks, camaraderie, and escalating conflicts were recreated quite splendidly here. And should a Bad Guys 3 ever come to pass, I might entrust it to bring into film what the book series made a name for itself with.