SNAPSHOT
In this action comedy from DreamWorks Animation, based on the best-selling book series, a crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws are about to attempt their most challenging con yet—becoming model citizens. Never have there been 5 friends as infamous as The Bad Guys: dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), seen-it-all safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), the chill master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), short-fused “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and the sharp-tongued expert hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), aka “Webs.” But when, after years of countless heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal (that he has no intention of keeping) to save them all from prison: The Bad Guys will go good. The Bad Guys is directed by animation filmmaker Pierre Perifel, making his feature debut after a few shorts previously, and lots of work as an animator at DreamWorks. The screenplay is by Etan Cohen and Hilary Winston, adapted from the Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey. (courtesy First Showing)
If you’re really bad, can you ever go good?
Talk about a loaded gun of an existential question! Bound to keep a bunch of philosophers talking and debating and reasoning for years, but who, philosophers aside, has that kind of time?
Not us, so thankfully, we have The Bad Guys, an animated delight that looks like it’s going to have a huge amount of fun exploring whether bad can actually become good or whether it’s a lots cause.
I have a sneaking film I now where this might land, but having not read the books (a little outside my demo, not that that should ever stop anyone having an enjoyable read) and having watched the trailer, there’s every chance Dreamworks’ latest animated feature might just surprise us.
And we might just learn something – if you don’t stab or sauté it (all suggested by the characters in the film, not me) then what do you do with it?
Save it, of course, but then that’s what good guys do – what will The Bad Guys do?
We’ll find out when The Bad Guys opens in Australia on 31 March, UK on 1 April and USA on 22 April 2022.