The Bad Guys 2
When we last met them, the animal outlaw team led by pickpocket Mr. Wolf (voice of Sam Rockwell) had turned a corner, determined to use their talents for good, but there's a new gang in town and when the Bad Girls - Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), Pigtail (Maria Bakalova) and Doom (Natasha Lyonne) - need their expertise to steal a rocket - they are blackmailed back into their old lifestyle in "The Bad Guys 2."
Laura's Review: B-
It is telling that the most enjoyable part of "The Bad Guys" sequel is a prologue featuring one of their biggest heists five years earlier, an elaborate effort involving a giant fish tank in a billionaire's palace and a car chase through the streets of Cairo and set to the infectious original song 'Taking Everything' performed by Busta Rhymes. That's not to say "The Bad Guys 2" isn't fun in its own right, but by the time we leave them on their way to a third outing they've changed their agenda yet again. Adapting another of Aaron Blabey's books, screenwriters Yoni Brenner and "The Bad Guys'" Etan Cohen cast their net farther and wider when perhaps they could have turned a first act montage into their entire film.
That scene is the one that finds Mr. Wolf, master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (voice of Craig Robinson), their 'muscle' Mr. Piranha (voice of Anthony Ramos) and hacker Ms. Tarantula aka Webs (voice of Awkwafina) looking for work in the real world. Things don't look too good when Mr. Wolf applies at a bank he's robbed three times, but Governor Diane Foxington (voice of Zazie Beetz) keeps encouraging him even as they agree that their relationship should remain in the friend zone. After a series of robberies using some of their old MOs sets Police Chief Misty Luggins (voice of Alex Borstein) on their trail, Mr. Wolf convinces her that not only are they innocent but they can help her nab the real thieves, but when they figure out the commonality to the crimes, a substance called 'MacGuffinite,' and the likely next target, a lucha libre belt, it points to one of their own, safecracker Mr. Snake (voice of Marc Maron), who also has a suspicious new girlfriend, Susan (voice of Natasha Lyonne). Sure enough, before the luchadors have left the stage, the Bad Guys are left holding the bag...er belt. Susan, of course, was a honeypot, albeit one who appears to have made a genuine connection with Snake and the Bad Girls' leader, Kitty Kat, just happens to have a video that will expose Diane's former persona as the Crimson Paw. What's a wolf to do?
While fun, "The Bad Guys 2" has just a little too much going on, and it gets a bit exhausting seeing our 'good' guys get yanked in and out of public favor (there's a well-timed jab at the media as the same on-air journalist keeps changing her reporting to fit the public mood). Diane gets her own adventure, visiting a bulked up Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) in a high tech prison before facing off with the Bad Girls herself. The gang crashes tech billionaire Mr. Moon's (Colin Jost) wedding to get his watch which controls that rocket (another well timed jab at tech billionaires with space fantasies), then a trip to outer space where a gag featuring Mr. Piranha almost killing Mr. Shark by farting in his space suit got far and away the biggest laughs from the kids in the movie's preview audience. I was more impressed by the animators' attention to detail in covering the guys with frost as they scrabbled up the rocket's exterior as it left earth's atmosphere.
"The Bad Guys" director Pierre Perifel ensures that the film has a bright, snappy look full of great sight gags like Mr. Snake oozing up a drain spout or engulfing Susan with a smackeroo, but Kitty Kat's climactic outer space heist is far too overblown and makes little sense. Better is a second smooching scene which seals the deal between Wolf and Fox before they set off in their new, joint adventure.
Universal Pictures releases "The Bad Guys 2" in theaters on 8/1/25.
