Movie: The Bad Guys 2 (2025)
Production Companies: Dreamworks Animation
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Producer(s): Damon Ross
Directed by: Pierre Perifel & JP Sans
Written by: Yoni Brenner & Etan Cohen
Based on: The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Anthony Ramos, Craig Robinson, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, Natasha Lyonne, and Richard Ayoade
Review by: Cam Wiggs

Over the last 7 years, Animation has become the most exciting medium in all of filmmaking. With the mainstream boom of Japanese anime and the advent of the hybrid computer-generated/hand-drawn art style pioneered by Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), animated expressiveness in film is peaking. Earlier this year, Flow (2024), a Latvian film with no spoken dialogue that was made entirely in Blender (an open-source 3D animation software), became the first independent film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. So, the words of Guillermo del Toro in his famous Oscar acceptance speech ring even truer today than they did when he first said them: “Animation Is Cinema.”

One of the studios at the forefront of this animated awakening has been Dreamworks Animation. Half of the original big two (alongside Pixar) in the family animation space, Dreamworks decided a few years ago to embrace a hybrid animation approach in their feature film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). The choice resulted in a film revered by critics and audiences alike for its vibrance and expressiveness. Nowadays, Dreamworks has shifted a significant amount of their creative attention to adapting popular kids novel series into film series. Leveraging the same hybrid animation style, this strategy has led to burgeoning franchises like The Wild Robot, Dog Man, and, the subject of this review, The Bad Guys.

The second film in the The Bad Guys franchise, simply titled The Bad Guys 2, breaks into theaters this weekend, picking up right where its predecessor left off. We find Wolf, once again charmingly portrayed by Academy Award Winner Sam Rockwell, and his crew trying their best to adjust to life as good guys but struggling to makes ends meet and shake off the stigma of their past as high-profile thieves. Just when their prospects appear completely dried up, the group hears of a mysterious criminal mastermind, The Phantom Bandit, that has the police puzzled. Finally, they have an opportunity to prove to everyone, especially the would-be employers denying their every job application, that The Bad Guys have gone good, for good.

After teaming up with newly-promoted Police Commissioner Misty Luggins (Alex Borstein), however, the team realizes the case of The Phantom Bandit is not as straightforward as it seemed. The events that follow eventually lead the team into an encounter with another criminal group who quaintly refer to themselves as The Bad Girls, an encounter that ultimately kicks off the much larger plot for the film.

The Bad Girls fill the role of the token, high-profile voice cast additions we’ve come to expect from an animated sequel. Led by Academy Award nominee Danielle Brooks’ Kitty Kat whose flanked by fellow Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova’s Pigtail and multi-time Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Natasha Lyonne’s Doom, The Bad Girls act as a sort of perfect microcosm of one of the biggest strengths and weaknesses of The Bad Guys 2: voice acting.

In a way, The Bad Guys 2 simultaneously makes the case for and against employing a celebrity voice cast for your animated family film (a practice that has been common since the early 1990s). Like Sam Rockwell and Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks turns in a delightfully detailed and magnetic performance as Kitty Kat, taking the sort of role we’d usually see portrayed by someone like Taraji P. Henson or Tiffany Haddish and imbuing it with a surprising amount of relatability and pathos. On the flip side of that same coin, Natasha Lyonne provides a flat, empty voice acting performance similar to co-stars Anthony Ramos, Craig Robinson, and Awkwafina who continue to feel miscast in their roles like they did in the first film. Meanwhile, longtime voice actor Alex Borstein takes her performance to the next level, taking full-advantage of her increased role in this film. The end result is a mixed bag with staggeringly good voice acting performances alongside woefully bad ones.

Coincidentally, two aspects of The Bad Guys 2 are anything but a mixed bag and, in fact, come together to comprise the steady launchpad allowing this film to reach for its full potential. The first of these is the hybrid animation style mentioned earlier. Dreamworks’ continued commitment to a stylized, hybrid art style across their films starting with Puss and Boots: The Last Wish (2022) pays dividends in movies like The Bad Guys 2. This approach allows the animation style to morph in a way that optimizes for maximum expressiveness. Moving away from the more realistic animation style they used to employ also suits Dreamworks’ recent tendency to throw realism to the wind and establish rules for their film franchises that suit their more zany characters and slapstick sensibilities which, in this film, are smart, hilarious comedic bits rather than shallow, cheap bits that so many animated studios (looking at you Illumination) over-do.

The second aspect of the film that is solid throughout is the story. The plot itself is structurally sound and contains enough fast-paced set pieces, twists, and turns to keep the younger target audience engaged without confusing them. The film also avoids the all-too-common sequel trap of ignoring or duplicating what happened in the first movie. The happenings of the first movie are still very much relevant in this film and the sequel builds upon them in such a way as to seamlessly pave the way for future films. 

It is worth noting, however, that story and script are two different things and that comes into play in this movie. Though the story is high-quality and the plot is airtight beginning-to-end, the dialogue sometimes fails it. During the more expository segments of the film, the writers struggle to lean on the strength of the story and characters, opting instead for ill-timed jokes and groan-worthy comedic tropes. 

Once the dust settles on this latest comedic caper in The Bad Guys franchise, we are left with another charming entry that should leave fans of the original with plenty to laugh at and applaud. This movie has everything you could ask for in a sequel: more characters, more laughs, bigger set pieces, and higher stakes. And while it’s true, based on the earlier critiques, that you could rightfully say it is a cookie-cutter sequel in nearly every way, its also an undeniably enjoyable film and one that will have you eagerly awaiting the next adventure.

7.3/10

By: Cam Wiggs