The Bad Guys – Movie Review
A fast-paced heist movie with plenty to keep young and old entertained.
by Claire Davill
Fans of Aaron Blabey’s graphic novel series The Bad Guys will love this adaptation for the screen. The group of “scary monster” animals are wonderfully voiced and animated, with standouts being Mr Wolf voiced by Sam Rockwell, channeling a George Clooney-esque suave leader of the pack, and Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade, a delightful guinea pig trying to turn the bad guys into good guys.
“After a lifetime of pulling legendary heists, five notorious bad guys—Mr. Wolf, Mr Snake, Mr Piranha, Mr Shark and Ms Tarantula—attempt their most challenging job yet…going good. Nobody has ever failed so hard at trying to be good as ‘The Bad Guys’, an all-new animated feature film from DreamWorks Animation.”
The movie is full of nods to classic heist movies such as Ocean’s Eleven and often feels like a Tarantino film, but in a totally child-friendly manner while still keeping the adults entertained. The movie is fast-paced with lots of action, car chases, high-tech spy gadgets and a couple of big twists that even the adults didn’t see coming. There’s plenty of slapstick humour that the younger kids will love.
The plot is quite detailed, which is refreshing for a movie aimed at kids – it doesn’t dumb things down for them, but as a result younger kids might have trouble following along. Our six year old managed just fine. A general guide would be that if your child is old enough to enjoy the books, they’ll have no trouble staying engaged with the movie (but having familiarity with the books is absolutely not a requirement to enjoy the movie).
While the movie is pretty jam-packed, it is on the longer side for a kids movie at 100 minutes and might be too long for very young kids. It’s very dialogue-heavy in some sections, but there’s always some action to balance that out. Highlights for us included Mr Shark eating Mr Snake in retaliation for not sharing an icecream, the hordes of cute yet creepy mind-controlled guinea pigs, and Mr Snake eating the guinea pigs he was supposed to be rescuing.
Watch the official trailer below:
The Bad Guys opens in Cinemas on Thursday 31 March 2022
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Universal Pictures Australia website
What: The Bad Guys – Review
When: In Cinemas Thursday 31 March 2022
Where: Cinemas everywhere (check your local guide)
Who: Rated PG-13 (for mild themes, animated violence and crude humour)
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently.
Image Source: Universal Pictures and Play & Go Adelaide
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