Are you interested in getting your 7-year-old started loving heist movies, Quentin Tarantino, and the comedic stylings of Craig Robinson? Then do I have the animated movie event for you. Complete with a contemporary theme song in the trailer.
They’re the Bad Guys. Duh
Mr. Big Bad Wolf himself has come to terms with the lot he has in life. Every story ever told has made him out to be the bad guy, and ya know what, what’s so bad about being a bad guy anyway. He’s bad and that’s good. He’ll never be good and that’s not bad. You know the drill.
So in an animated world where every villain has a twist and every main character self-aware, what makes The Bad Guys different? Why try to figure out if you should rush to the theater with your kids or wait for it to get to Netflix, or Prime Video, or the Peacock…wherever the heck it’s going to stream.
We Celebrate Original Ideas
Here at InQua HQ we will never disparage a non-IP movie in 2022. Unless it’s really really dumb. I’ll admit, there are pieces of Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia to be found in the talking animal movie about looks being deceiving. But the lesson at the end is unique and the presentation is wonderful.
The animation style alone is the coolest we’ve had in a mainstream Hollywood production since Mitchells vs. the Machines. It seems like we only get one good looking movie per year, so go enjoy this one. The harsher lines and exaggerated motion fit the story. And when Wolf would break the fourth wall, the “camera” would zoom in and make him the focus in a way that feels unique to animation.
Original But Inspired
The Bad Guys is firmly a family movie, but it uses the movie language of other great films. The opening feels straight out of Reservoir Dogs before the mission begins. Tarantula does some old school film hacking. And heist tropes are everywhere.
The best compliment you can give a kids movie is that adults won’t be bored, and I think Bad Guys meets that requirement. There is enough happening beneath the plot, and it toes the line of not being distracting with references. It’s too rare to see a genuine movie that is funny without feeling the need to point out how funny it’s being.
The Bad Guys have each other and that’s what it’s all about. DreamWorks gave us a cool looking heist movie about the power of friendship to start the summer movie season.
The Bad Guys head to the big screen this weekend. Check out some other animated favorites of ours here.