In The Bad Guys 2, the reformed animal crew—Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Mr. Piranha, and Ms. Tarantula—face a new challenge when a cunning female crime squad forces them into a global heist. With Governor Diane Foxington’s past at stake, they tackle betrayal and a wild plot involving a space station heist, testing their redemption in a thrilling showdown.

The Bad Guys 2 Review

Unplanned sequels to self-contained films that tell the complete story are often challenging. By the film’s end, all of the interesting character conflicts have been resolved, and their arcs are complete—they are now fully realized. Throw into the mix a complete reformation from bad to good, and what does one do in the follow-up? Unfortunately, the answer for The Bad Guys 2 is to contrive a poor excuse for the main characters to return to a life of crime and to then rinse and repeat the original’s plot but with less finesse.

There’s really not much to say about The Bad Guys 2. The pacing is solid, and it comes in at a crisp 1h 44m. The animation, especially in the opening sequence and hinted at again throughout some of the action sequences, is a stunningly beautiful mix of styles and perspectives that dazzle without sending viewers into seizures, like it often can in the Spider-Verse cartoons.

Otherwise, The Bad Guys 2 is fairly mundane—sure to entertain the kids, but parents will likely find their attention wandering.

PARENTAL NOTES

Democrats

• The opening line after the prologue is that of a random motorist yelling, “Nice carbon footprint, jackass,” to Wolf, who is driving a smoke-emitting clunker.

Naked Skydiving

• It’s not as bad as it sounds. It’s not something shown on screen. However, one character asks another if he knows him from “naked skydiving.”

PG is Right

• Other than the infractions above, the intensity and content are age-appropriate, which makes the aforementioned that much more egregious.

WOKE REPORT

Ocean’s 3 or 4. Maybe 5

• The Red Paw was the original girl boss ex-thief who was smarter, tougher, and more capable than the entire Bad Guys group, but at least she was feminine.
  • The Bad Guys 2 introduces a new evil trio of bad gals. It goes without saying that they are smarter and tougher than The Bad Guys (who are all men, save one), but they also consist of a literal fat pig, a shapeless raven, and a butch snow leopard.
    • The pig is strong enough to manhandle all of the male Bad Guys single-handedly.
    • The raven is a snark machine who tricks and puts down Snake repeatedly, which only makes him simp for her all the harder.
    • The snow leopard (the main antagonist) is the most muscular character in the film and kicks the crap out of Wolf in one scene.
    • The Red Paw is barely in the film, but when she is, she easily beats up Wolf and later saves him from another beating being delivered by a female character when she takes out the butch antagonist with one punch.
    • Remember in the original how the female police chief was an idiot whose primary purpose in the film was comic relief? Well, now she’s had a significant professional promotion and a goofball downgrade. She’s the police commissioner and only marginally silly, but far more competent.

It Belongs to Big Foot

• The phrase “carbon footprint” is used once but unironically and without derision, which is the only correct usage.