The Bad Guys 2
The Bad Guys attempt to go straight and have to clear their name in DreamWorks’ frenzied, overblown sequel.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation.
It was good to be bad. However, times change and the incorrigible quintet has changed its ways. But of course, in the movies, goodness doesn’t pay. The Bad Guys are now the Good Guys and the career criminals are finding that their notoriety is getting in the way of pinning down a new job. “Sometimes you have to give up the thing you love in order to do better,” explains Mr Wolf, unconvincingly.
Opening with a gravity-defying heist in Cairo, Egypt – in which Mr Wolf, Mr Snake, Mr Piranha, Ms Tarantula and Mr Shark make off with a priceless prototype car – the film cuts to the present day, in Los Angeles. Now Mr Wolf is driving a banger on its last wheels and is inundated with unpaid bills and eviction notices. He applies for a job at a bank, only to be reminded that he had robbed it three times, while the others are no more successful at finding a reputable place in society. Meanwhile, a series of audacious robberies are taking place across the city and the Bad Guys are the prime suspects, so it falls to them to unmask the real identity of the ‘Phantom Bandit’ in order to clear their name…
Everything that was cool and sophisticated about the first movie – which took Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven as its template – has now been jettisoned in the name of ADHD deferment. Every new scene is bigger, crazier and louder than the last, leading to sensory overkill and a mass migraine. Tracks by Rag’n’Bone Man, Busta Rhymes and George Thorogood & The Destroyers are played at ear-splitting volume over outlandish action set pieces, tapping more into Tom & Jerry than George & Brad. Sam Rockwell does his best to carry the torch for George Clooney, and Danielle Brooks is a welcome addition as Kitty Kat, a snow leopard and Machiavellian match for Mr Wolf.
There are numerous movie allusions for older audiences, which become rather predictable, although the slogan on the police commissioner’s coffee mug does raise a smile (‘I See Guilty People’). However, much of the dialogue is lazy (“now it’s personal, “one last job”, “that’s very specific”), and the plot eventually spirals out of control to ludicrous lengths (cf. Moonraker, Fast & Furious 9), even for a cartoon. What seemed fresh and novel in the first film (adapted from Aaron Blabey’s picture books), is now so much more OTT and, well, just hyper-haywire.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova, Alex Borstein, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, Omid Djalili, Katherine Ryan.
Dir Pierre Perifel, Pro Damon Ross and Rebecca Huntley, Ex Pro Aaron Blabey and Patrick Hughes, Screenplay Yoni Brenner, Etan Cohen and Aaron Blabey, Pro Des Luc Desmarchelier, Ed Jesse Averna, Music Daniel Pemberton, Sound Ken McGill.
DreamWorks Animation-Universal Pictures.
103 mins. USA. 2025. UK Rel: 25 July 2025. US Rel: 1 August 2025. Cert. PG.
