Film Review: The Bad Guys
Images courtesy of Universal Pictures Australia.
Remember how Shrek flipped fairytale conventions on their head? Or how Kung Fu Panda twisted kung fu tropes? Enter The Bad Guys, Dreamworks’ latest animated family film, attempting to do the same to the heist genre. In Pierre Perifel’s feature directorial debut, we follow the titular Bad Guys, a crew of thieving animals including Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), the group’s smooth-talking leader, Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), the second-in-command who frequently butts heads with Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), the muscle, Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), a master of disguise, and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), the hacker, as they attempt to convince the world that they can be good, despite their appearances.
One thing that surprised me about this film is how unique its art style was. Rather than trying to look as close to reality as possible, it instead opts for exaggerated character proportions and simplified but readable features. The surface gloss doesn’t stop there, I found myself appreciating the toned down colour palette consisting largely of muted oranges, browns and greens. Compared to the usual approach of animated films to make everything as bright and colourful as possible, these choices really helped to give The Bad Guys an identity all of its own, and it’s here that Perifel’s experience working on films like Curious George and Kung Fu Panda 2 really shows, even if The Bad Guys is not quite as experimental as the graphic novels the film is based on.
Another element that worked surprisingly well here were the emotional beats. The turning point for the film occurs in the midst of an attempted heist on the coveted Golden Dolphin, when Mr. Wolf is trying to steal an old woman’s purse and he instead ends up saving her from falling, and while this scene ends up being weakened by a reveal later on, in that moment you really feel his change of heart. Similarly, a tender moment between Mr. Wolf and a kitten stuck up a tree is so adorable that it led to a collective “awww” from much of the audience, myself included. However, the emotion of that scene is quickly dampened by the reveal that it was being recorded and has, of course, gone viral, leading to my main qualm with the film: the writing.
At its core the narrative is great on paper: the idea of taking traditionally villainous criminals and attempting to redeem them is ripe with potential, potential reaped by films like last year’s The Suicide Squad, and even Dreamworks’ own Megamind, but it’s the tropes it ends up using to get there that make it feel like it’s largely re-treading familiar ground. Elements like the double cross, the twist villain, the love interest who’s secretly a badass, and then another, final double-double cross all feel telegraphed miles ahead. The original source material from Aaron Blabey is largely boiled down to its most basic parts, and as a result the film wanders into familiar territory. It’s solid family fun, but doesn’t come close to the classic status of Dreamworks’ other genre-benders.
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The Bad Guys is screening in cinemas nationwide from Thursday March 31st. For tickets and more info, click here.