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The Bad Guys review – Tarantino-style kids’ crime caper is amiable animated fun
Sam Rockwell and Awkwafina are among the voices of a ragtag bunch of animal thieves in a derivative yet enjoyable Ocean’s 11-lite
This is Tarantino for ankle-biters with a bit of Ocean’s 11 thrown in: funny, energetic and just smart enough. It’s an animated caper from DreamWorks about a gang of career criminals, crewed by five of the animal kingdom’s worst of the worst: a wolf, shark, snake, piranha and tarantula. Tropic Thunder writer Etan Cohen, adapting the kids’ books by Aaron Blabey, gives us some tongue-in-cheek comedy, though perhaps not quite enough originality to make it actually memorable.
Leader of the Bad Guys is smooth-talking Mr Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell, doing his suavest George Clooney impersonation). After a series of front-page heists, the Bad Guys are caught red-handed trying to steal a gold statue being awarded to a philanthropic guinea pig. He’s Professor Marmalade, a wet do-gooder beautifully played with a passive-aggressive whine by Richard Ayoade. To dodge a stretch in the clink, the Bad Guys pretend to go straight. The trouble is that Mr Wolf gets a taste for the good life. In one very funny moment, his tail wags uncontrollably after a virtuous deed, to his mortification.
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