Producer: Damon Ross Director: Pierre Perifel and JP Sans Screenplay: Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Baklova, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Alex Borstein and Omid Djalili Distributor: Universal Pictures
Grade: C
Aaron Blabey’s series of graphic novels for kids, about a gang of notoriously “bad” animals who try to change their criminal reputations by doing good deeds, has reached twenty volumes since it began in 2015. The movie franchise based on them lags far behind in numerical terms; this is only the first sequel to 2022’s screen introduction of the characters. “The Bad Guys 2” will probably repeat the popularity of its predecessor, despite the fact that, like the first installment, it’s just a middle-grade animated “family” film—and a manic, surprisingly violent one that parents might want to think twice about bringing their youngest kids to.
It’s another heist movie, this time revolving around the heroes—suave leader Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell), lock-picking expert Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), volcanic (and flatulent) Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), goofy master of disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson) and computer whiz Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina)—bumping heads with a gang called the Bad Girls headed by snow leopard Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), who’s become notorious as The Phantom Thief.
The Bad Guys, still under suspicion after being released from prison, are having problems trying to go straight. Unable to find jobs—Mr. Wolf has an amusing, predictably unsuccessful, interview with a honcho at a bank he’d previously robbed—they’re faced with losing their home. Only Mr. Snake, who’s gone mellow after getting a girlfriend, a raven named Susan (Natasha Lyonne), seems unperturbed.
Their solution is to show their reformed colors by catching the Phantom, but the plan goes awry in an altercation at a big wrestling match that leads police commissioner Luggins (Alex Borstein), a human, to turn decisively against them. That allows Kitty to use a threat to unmask Mr. Wolf’s girlfriend Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) as a former criminal to force the now-disgraced crew to help her hijack the MoonX rocket scheduled for liftoff by its tech billionaire owner Mr. Moon (Omid Djalili); doing so necessitates crashing Moon’s big wedding ceremony to steal his smart watch, which brings still more public condemnation of the Bad Guys. But when Foxington learns from jailed Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), the mad guinea pig who was the villain in the first installment, how Kitty plans to use the magnet aboard the rocket, Mr. Wolf and his cohort, helped by Luggins, frantically board the craft during liftoff to foil her scheme; Foxington does as well, though she barely manages to after a knock-down battle with Kitty.
That turns the movie into a prolonged outer-space adventure that’s less “Oceans 11” and more “Mission: Impossible.” Rest assured that the Bad—er, Good Guys—emerge victorious, although one wonders about the injuries that might result when scads of gold rain down on earth from space.
The movie showcases some extraordinary visuals from DreamWorks Animation, especially toward the close, with wide-screen images of gold pieces swirling around the rocket like stars around the center of a galaxy that would grace any big-budget space opera. The work of production designer Luc Desmarchelier and art director Floriane Marchix here is remarkable. Less impressive are the punchy jump cuts during action scenes intended to make the images look like comic-book panels in motion which they, directors Pierre Perifel and JP Sans and editor Jesse Averna have opted for. But Daniel Pemberton’s score adds to an energetic feel.
One might wish that the fight sequences, of which there are many, were shorter and less violent (the hundred minute-plus running time could have stood a bit of trimming). And one can wonder whether in-jokes like references to an element called MacGuffinite will lift viewers’ spirits or cause groans; the same applies to Piranha’s proclivity to fart out noxious green gas when upset, though that’s the sort of stuff that’s expected in family fare nowadays.
Voice work is excellent down the line, with Lyonne particularly engaging and fellow newcomer Maria Bakalova as her comrade-in-arms Pigtail Petrova not far behind. But all the returnees get into the spirit of things as well; only Brooks, whose character never cracks a smile except of condescension, comes across as a spoilsport. But then, she’s the nasty villain—though that didn’t stop Ayoade from being fun last time, or this one (his well-muscled body, buffed-up from prison workouts, is worth a chuckle, too).
“The Bad Guys 2” certainly isn’t bad; it’s merely okay rather than good. The closing twist, which promises a new direction in the inevitable sequel, seems problematic, however. Not all evolution is progress.