NEW YORK (OSV News) – Back in 2022, director Pierre Perifel brought the skillfully criminal, yet ultimately goodhearted, gang of anthropomorphized animals featured in “The Bad Guys,” a series of children’s books by Aaron Blabey, to the big screen with thoroughly pleasing results.
Now joined by co-director J.P. Sans, Perifel has crafted an equally enjoyable follow-up, “The Bad Guys 2” (Universal). While this second installment continues the ensemble’s conversion story, the script – on which the first movie’s writer, Etan Cohen, collaborated with Yoni Brenner – also includes enough potty-centric material to annoy at least some parents.
Having paid their debt to society, the group endeavors to go straight. But no one, it seems, wants to hire any of these ex-cons, neither the suave, clever Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell) who leads them, nor master of disguise Mr. Shark (voice of Craig Robinson) nor loyal, if short-tempered, Mr. Piranha (voice of Anthony Ramos).
Even computer whiz Ms. Tarantula (voice of Awkwafina) can’t seem to land a job. As for wiley Mr. Snake (voice of Marc Maron), although he too remains unemployed, he seems unusually upbeat and preoccupied in a way that initially mystifies his pals.
The troupe’s drive for redemption soon gets even more complicated when they’re targeted by a villainous snow leopard called Kitty Kat (voice of Danielle Brooks). Aided by a pair of underlings – Doom (voice of Natasha Lyonne), a raven, and Bulgarian wild boar Pigtail (voice of Maria Bakalova) – Kitty first frames the Bad Guys and then blackmails them.
The pace is vigorous and the laughs plentiful as Cohen and Brenner divert viewers with their satiric takes on the heist genre and adventure films more generally. A series of clever plot twists, for instance, evoke the enormously complicated schemes showcased in the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
More surprisingly, a sequence set in a prison makes breezy reference to a famous encounter in 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs.” (That joke will presumably go over the heads of youngsters unless they’ve been making inappropriate use of cable TV.)
Amid the comedy, the screenplay straightforwardly charts the difficulties of overcoming past misdeeds and living an honest life. Yet it also sends the clear message that such a pursuit of virtue is the right course to follow.
This is a valuably realistic moral lesson for kids as they discover that making correct choices can sometimes be challenging. The fact that this ethical insight comes sugar-coated with sly comedy – only a bit of which is in questionable taste – will make it all the easier to digest.
The film contains stylized mayhem, occasional scatological humor and a few vaguely crass terms. The OSV News classification is A-II – adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG – parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.