DreamWorks Animation, ‘The Bad Guys‘ are incredibly good in this animated feature that is heavily inspired by the, ‘Ocean’s 11‘ Franchise.
‘A Look Inside: Meet The Bad Guys‘ Featurette:
Based on the children’s book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey, DreamWorks Animation, ‘The Bad Guys‘ is an incredibly smart, funny and entertaining heist film for the whole family.
Directed by Pierre Perifel, who started in the Animation Department and worked his way all the way up to the top with this production, ‘The Bad Guys‘ could easily spark an entirely new franchise for DreamWorks Animation, following in the tradition of ‘Shrek‘.
I briefly spoke with DreamWorks Animation President, Margie Cohn about the ‘The Bad Guys‘ and she mentioned how excited they were about this feature coming to fruition as everyone who worked on this project has started their career with company.
The premise is quite simple, the main cast of characters are all animals we fear in their natural habitats. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Snake (Marc Maron), Shark (Craig Robinson), Tarantula (Awkwafina) and Piranha (Anthony Ramos) have all accepted their lot in life as the more feared creatures by humanity. Instead of continuously battling their public personas, they lean into it, becoming some of the greatest anthropomorphic thieves society will ever know.
When the ultimate heist presents itself, ‘The Bad Guys‘, set out to steal the Golden Dolphin, an award given out for exemplified citizenship. Once caught, the band of baddies convince Governor Foxington (Zazie Beetz) to give them one last chance at reforming themselves.
Naturally, the winner of the Golden Dolphin, Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) offers to help our crew, but not all is as it seems.
‘The Bad Guys‘ is truly the animated remake of the early 2000s, ‘Ocean’s 11‘, franchise and I am not even the slightest bit upset about that. The only complaint I have at all is that 1969 Camaro has a sunroof, which is suck gearheads right out of the picture for a moment bellowing, “The ’69 didn’t have a sunroof option!” However, beyond that, there is not a single complaint about the feature, even snake being dressed up like Johnny Depp’s Hunter S. Thompson from, ‘Leaving Las Vegas‘, enhanced my enjoyment.
Hopefully, more adaptations of Blabey’s works are in the pipeline for DreamWorks Animation as ‘The Bad Guys‘ sets the bar for all animation films to beat in 2022.
Why they held the embargo for reviews until today, I have zero clue, but I am glad the world will get to see this incredible movie from DreamWorks…even though there is a sunroof on a ’69 Camaro!
‘The Bad Guys‘ comes to theaters on Friday, April 22, 2022.
- Overall Score
Summary
‘The Bad Guys‘ is a homegrown DreamWorks Animation project that brings to life beloved characters from the book series, that will appease the most die-hard of fans.