THE BAD GUYS

It's a shame that despite the fresh animation style and an excellent first act the film's story heads off into roads travelled once too often.

The Bad Guys starts out as a breath of fresh air in the ever more predictable world of CGI-animated movies. Not so much from a narrative standpoint - films that make characters usually used as antagonists the focus of the story aren't all that novel - but definitely in terms of animation style.

The Bad Guys leans into a look that seems to jump off the pages of a comic book, with bold black squiggles that define the characters and make their movements and facial expressions pop. The picture also owes a huge debt to the over-the-top dynamism of Japanese cartoons, which makes you stop and notice even the background characters as they tumble over each other or shape their faces into broad, basic emotions.

It's a shame that after an excellent first act the film's story heads off into roads travelled once too often, as predictable morals and an even more predictable villain come to the fore, but overall The Bad Guys still has plenty of moments to keep both kids and adults pleasingly entertained.

release: 2022

director: Pierre Perifel

starring: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson