The Bad Guys (2022)

In the month lading up to the announcement of what will and won't be in the running for the Academy Awards, I like to watch things that might be nominated, based on a superficial reading of lists by those who make a living generating such lists, and that is how I agreed to watch an animated cartoon about bad guys. My son had been trying for quite some time to get me to sit down and watch it, and I almost did on a trans-Atlantic flight that had a particularly sparse selection of movies that I hadn't watched. I am here to say that while I do not think this is in the top five animated movies of 2022 that I have watched (which is a far smaller number than those that are nomination-eligible), this was a fun movie to watch. I didn't know until after watching it, but the story is based on the kids’ graphic novel series of the same name. It follows a group of fun-loving criminals who lean into their rap as the villains of the animal kingdom for thrills and profit. Wolf is their silver tongued charismatic leader and Snake is the cranky but loyal safecracker side kick. Shark is the enthusiastic master of disguise, but the amusing running bit is that it’s always totally obvious he’s a shark and Tarantula (Awkwafina!) is the speedy and resourceful hacker, an assignment where it would indeed be useful to have eight arms. And the main skill the quick-tempered Piranha seems to bring is toxic flatulence, which at first seems like a gratuitous gag to make kids in the audience giggle. In any case this gang of pigeon holed misfits go about planning and executing crimes until they have a turning point, and work for the greater good. The script is surprisingly well done, and it is overall enjoyable to watch.