Publication Date: 08-02-2025

The Bad Guys 2 (2025) review

Dir. Pierre Perifel and JP Sans

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

The Bad Guys was one of the biggest surprises of 2022. Adapted from a series of books by Aaron Blabey, the film was a stylish and intelligently written caper revolving around a quintet of petty thieves led by the Big Bad Wolf. The animation was brightly colored, great to look at, and took on a 1970s aesthetic with its overexposed sunlight. The soundtrack was predicated on a lot of funk and jazz tunes, and homage was paid to the works of Quentin Tarantino as well as films like Ocean’s 11.

While it may not reach the heights of its predecessor, The Bad Guys 2 was not only a welcomed return to this world but a fine showcase of recidivism.

If there’s one thing these movies have proved, it’s that they start fast and immediately hook you. The film opens by showing the group — Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) — conducting a heist in Cairo, Egypt five years prior. The heist served as an opportunity for Ms. Tarantula to prove herself to the group, and ended with the gang stealing their flashy new whip.

Fast-forward to the present and Mr. Wolf and the pack find themselves out of prison after their misdeeds in the previous film, and eager to live life as law-abiding citizens. The problem, however, is that society as a whole isn’t ready to accept them as reformed crooks. They can’t find work, they can’t pay their bills, and it’s as if the only thing they have left is their uncanny ability to commit robberies.

Wolf and Shark decide that in order to show the world they’ve turned over a new leaf, they should try and out the “Phantom Bandit,” who is the new career troublemaker. They head to a massive Lucha event at a stadium downtown (a damn-great looking sequence all around), but are framed as the ones who steal the championship belt. Now they’re on the run all over again, and this time, the police commissioner (Alex Borstein) believes they pulled a fast one on her claiming to be rehabilitated.

The Phantom Bandit turns out to be a snow leopard named Kitty Cat (Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple), who is part of the “Bad Girls,” including a wild boar named Pigtail Petrova (Maria Bakalova) and Susan (Natasha Lyonne), a raven who has started dating Mr. Snake. Kitty Cat believes her troupe and the Bad Guys should team up to steal a massive rocket ship, as well as a powerful metal hilariously named the “MacGuffinite.”

The Bad Guys 2 commits the common problem of countless sequels where it tries to do too much. This story literally takes us to space in the third act, and while it’s visually dazzling, by this point, the plot has become a complete muddle. The manic pacing also limits some of the interpersonal banter between the titular group, which was one of many delights in the original film.

No less, the overstuffed script, penned by Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen (who wrote the first film), doesn’t severely derail the fun. A big part of that is the gang is back together, with all of the voice cast returning, as well as director Pierre Perifel (this time working with co-director JP Sans). This all helps the spirit not only remain in place but also continue to evolve. This is a world I love to visit, and at this point, I think The Bad Guys is the top tier of DreamWorks franchises.

My review of The Bad Guys (2022)
My review of The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday

Voiced by: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova, Alex Borstein, and Richard Ayoade. Directed by: Pierre Perifel and JP Sans.