{"id":12689,"date":"2025-08-02T17:03:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T21:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12689"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:24:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:24:36","slug":"the-bad-guys-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/08\/02\/the-bad-guys-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bad Guys 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Bad Guys 2 <\/strong>(2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action\/mild violence, rude humor, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Pierre Perifel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 1, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova, Alex Borstein, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, Colin Jost, Katherine Ryan.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was surprised by how much I liked 2022\u2019s computer-animated The Bad Guys, a surprisingly hip heist flick featuring anthropomorphic animals instead of humans. It was like Ocean\u2019s Eleven as directed by Quentin Tarantino (minus the violence, bad language and bare feet). I was equally surprised by how much I enjoyed The Bad Guys 2<\/strong>, a markedly more chaotic sequel in which the title characters try to go straight only to be pulled back in.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Based on the popular children\u2019s book series by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys 2<\/strong> follows the characters- leader Wolf (Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), safecracker Snake (comedian Maron), hacker Tarantula (Awkwafina, Raya and the Last Dragon), master of disguise Shark (Robinson, Hot Tub Time Machine) and muscle Piranha (Ramos, Twisters)- after they\u2019re released from prison. They want to become \u201cThe Good Guys\u201d, but nobody will give them a chance. They interview for jobs to no avail. It seems hopeless, but their ally Governor Fox (Beetz, Joker) encourages them to keep trying.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wolf decides the best way to get into everybody\u2019s good graces is to help their old nemesis Luggins (Borstein, Family Guy), promoted from Police Chief to Commissioner, track down a criminal known as \u201cThe Phantom Bandit\u201d. It all turns out to be an elaborate frame job concocted by a trio of female thieves- leader Kitty Kat (Brooks, A Minecraft Movie), raven Doom (Lyonne, Poker Face) and wild boar Pigtail (Bakalova, Borat 2)- who call themselves \u201cThe Bad Girls\u201d. They plan to steal all the world\u2019s gold by using a special metal called \u201cMacGuffinite\u201d and need the Bad Guys to help them pull it off.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There’s also romance this time around, sort of. Wolf likes Fox, but she has him friend-zoned. It’s a whole will they or won’t they scenario. But first, they have to deal with the situation at hand while preventing the world from finding out that Fox and notorious criminal The Crimson Paw are one in the same.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I saw the new version of The Naked Gun the night before and only managed a few half-hearted chuckles. I laughed out loud a few times during The Bad Guys 2<\/strong>. I laughed the hardest at MacGuffinite, but I was the only one. It went right over the heads of the kids and other adults in attendance. I guess they don\u2019t know their film terminology.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A friend who saw it the night before described The Bad Guys 2<\/strong> as \u201cover the top\u201d. That sounds about right. The sequel, also directed by Pierre Perifel, doesn\u2019t have the same swagger as its predecessor. If the OG was Tarantino, this one is Sam Raimi with its wild set-pieces and outer space finale. It hits its zenith with a sequence at a Lucha Libre wrestling tournament where the Bad Guys\u2019 attempt to unmask the Phantom Bandit ends with them being chased by the boisterous crowd. The animation, sleek and angular, is filled with pizzazz and wild energy. It\u2019s a perfect match for the movie\u2019s anarchic spirit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The voice talents in The Bad Guys 2 <\/strong>crush it again. Rockwell brings back the swagger as Wolf, the fourth wall-breaking top dog who always has an angle. His Brad Pitt comes in the form of Maron\u2019s snake, still afraid to show he actually has feelings. He has a girlfriend he keeps secret from the gang. She\u2019s the reason for his changed behavior. Awkwafina, I still love her! She\u2019s funny and her character, who goes by the moniker \u201cWebs\u201d, is spunky. The new additions are most welcome, especially Lyonne with that distinctive gravelly voice. Colin Jost from SNL joins the party as a tech billionaire who factors into the evil plan. Oh and Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd) also returns as Professor Marmalade, that most villainous of guinea pigs.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As summer dwindles down and school days draw near, it\u2019s harder to find good family entertainment for days when it\u2019s hot for any kind of outdoor activity. Keeping the kids in the house will likely cause sane parents to go insane. That\u2019s why a movie like The Bad Guys 2<\/strong> is welcome. The kids will get a kick out of the characters and the crazy humor even if they don\u2019t fully understand the convoluted plot. Adults will enjoy the jokes and references that go over their little one\u2019s heads. \u00a0Everybody will admire the artful animation. Honestly, it looks better than the most recent Pixar film (i.e. Elio). It\u2019s just a fun movie that isn\u2019t taxing on the brain and doesn\u2019t condescend to its audience like the recent Smurfs debacle. If you like the first movie, there\u2019s no reason you won\u2019t like this second or the third one promised by the final scene. BTW, be sure to stay for a bonus mid-credits scene.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bad Guys 2 (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action\/mild violence, rude humor, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Pierre Perifel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: August 1, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova, Alex Borstein, Richard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Bad-Guys-2-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C981&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12694,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12689\/revisions\/12694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}