The Bad Guys 2 Movie Review

“The Bad Guys 2′ — as the title might suggest — is a sequel to the animated 2022 “The Bad Guys” movie. But in an era of unimpressive repeats, reboots and recycles — this is an openly fun frolic of frantic frivolity. In other words, compared to many other movies being released — this ‘heist movie’ is one clever caper.

Back to the beginning – the starting point is five years prior. The Bad Guys are a group of crafty animals set on pulling off some crazy crimes. The team is lead by a master pickpocket, Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell).

Other members on the team are Mr. Snake (voiced by Marc Maron), Mr. Piranha (voiced by Anthony Ramos) and Mr. Shark (voiced by Craig Robinson). For this caper, they are joined by a computer whiz — Ms. Tarantula (voiced by Awkwafina).

Shark is a master-of-disguise, and Snake is a great safe-cracker. Piranha is the muscle in the squad. And the newbie in the group is Tarantula — known as “Webs”. She is a master computer hacker, and knows her way around the World-Wide-Web (of course!). This first job many years ago is big test for the criminal gang. They steal a specialized sports car in Cairo, and Wolf promises never to give it up.

Except that in 2022 — the ‘Bad Guys’ had a run-in with the local City police where they live. Police Chief Misty Luggins (voiced by Alex Borstein) got them to turn around and become the ‘Good Guys’. This was in part to save the secret identity of Mr. Wolf’s crush — the Crimson Paw (another notorious thief). The ‘Paw’ was in fact Governor Diane Foxington (voiced by Zazie Beetz).

Life on the straight and narrow is hard for all of these folks. All except for Mr. Snake. This slithering guy has found his one true love. Snake has met a wild raven named ‘Susan’ (voiced by Natasha Lyonne). But there is a new threat to the community.

New robberies are starting again. Chief Luggins is now the Police Commissioner. She thinks that the ‘Bad Guys’ are back to the old habits. But Mr. Wolf and the gang are blameless. They get some help from their old friend Diane, who uses the Governor’s office to discover some facts.

All of the items stolen are made out of ‘McGuffinite’. This made-up element might make Hitchcock smile. The next big item that is going to be taken is huge belt buckle awarded at a Mexican Lucha wrestling match.

After the belt is pilfered, the group winds up kidnapped by a new team of thieves named ‘The Bad Girls’. It seems that Mr. Snake’s love interest is actually part of the Bad Girls team. Also on the crew is a wild boar named Pigtails (voiced by Maria Bakalova). The leader is a snow leopard called Kitty Kat (voiced by Danielle Brooks). Kitty is going to threaten Mr. Wolf with the evidence that will tell the world Diane Foxington’s secret ‘Scarlet Paw’ identity.

Forced to become ‘The Bad Guys’ once again, Mr. Wolf leads the groups in an elaborate heist. The person they are after is a tech billionaire (voiced by Colin Jost). This guy runs a company named ‘MoonX’, and his smart watch controls the rocket that is set for a launch. Kitty Kat needs the rocket, and she needs the smart watch. That means she needs Mr. Wolf to steal it. A well-planned operation to steal the watch goes haywire — as expected…

Mr. Wolf and his team learn that that Kitty Kat has a diabolical scheme to steal ALL the gold in the world. All she needed was all the ‘McGuffinite’ and the ‘MoonX’ rocket. Diane Foxington goes to visit a notorious criminal mastermind that Mr. Wolf put behind bars years ago. This is the scheming genius named Professor Marmalade (voiced by Richard Ayoade). This encounter is straight out of ‘Silence of the Lambs’.

Kitty Kat, along with Pigtails and Doom (once known as ‘Susan’) have the master plan to steal the rocket ship. They will use the processed ‘McGuffinite’ to create the space-based gold-stealing super weapon. Police Commissioner Luggins has the whole ‘Bad Guys’ crew ready to get into prison to join Professor Marmalade. But they convince the good cop that, with her help, the crew can turn around and save the day.

Will Luggins be able to get the team close enough to a rocket ship to get the ‘Bad Guys’ on board? Will a harrowing fight aboard the rocket ship give Mr. Wolf the upper hand? Will the ‘Bad Girls’ see that the main leader Kitty has a deeply mean streak that could lead to everyone’s demise? Will Doom (once known as ‘Susan’) be able to find True Love with Mr. Snake once again?

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“The Bad Guys 2” shows the going back for a second dip can sometimes be a lot of fun. With the first movie (in 2022), audiences found a charming pack of thieving animals who were led by a suave rogue. The things that made that movie enjoyable are back again.

This is a wonderful voice cast, led by the impeccable Sam Rockwell (Mr. Wolf). His voice is calm and soothing, even as he confides in his crew that he is just making it up as he goes along. Natasha Lyonne (doing the voice of the raven named Doom – known as Susan) is another great addition.

The story leans into an unusual outer-space theme. The animation is brisk and bright, and veers into some really frantic moments. There is quite a bit of side humor – even for the adults. Such as Police Chief Luggins who carries around a mug that says “I see Guilty People”.

“The Bad Guys 2” takes another gander at the funny group of critters who are ‘Bad’ but they want to be ‘Good’— they are out but they keep pulling them back in!