The Bad Guys is a 2022 American animated neo-noir crime comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. Loosely based on the children's book series by Aaron Blabey, the film was directed by Pierre Perifel (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Etan Cohen. The ensemble cast features the voices of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Alex Borstein, and Lilly Singh. It tells the story of a criminal group of anthropomorphic animals who, upon being caught, pretend to attempt to reform themselves as model citizens, only for their leader to find himself genuinely drawn to changing his ways for good.
Work on the film started in March 2018, with Cohen writing the screenplay. The characters and themes drew inspiration from various crime films and anime series such as Pulp Fiction (1994), the Ocean's film trilogy, Lupin the Third, and Sherlock Hound, while the inspiration for the film's animation style came from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Production began at DreamWorks Animation's Glendale campus, and some additional production assets were borrowed from Jellyfish Pictures, with voice acting being performed remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bad Guys was released in the United States on April 22, 2022, by Universal Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed $251million. A sequel, The Bad Guys 2, was released in 2025. It has also spawned a media franchise; with a series of Netflix-exclusive prequels being released between the main films.
Plot
In Los Angeles, where humans and anthropomorphic animals co-exist, master pickpocketer Mr. Wolf leads the Bad Guys, an infamous gang of criminals consisting of his best friend and safecracker Mr. Snake, expert hacker Ms. "Webs" Tarantula, master of disguise Mr. Shark, and loose cannon Mr. Piranha.
One day after another brazen robbery and police chase, Governor Diane Foxington publicly insults the gang's predictability on TV. Wolf convinces them to steal the Golden Dolphin award, which will be presented to guinea pig philanthropist Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, who has helped rebuild the city following a meteorite impact. Infiltrating the Golden Dolphin ceremony, Wolf feels a sense of accomplishment after inadvertently assisting an elderly woman, but his conflicted feelings delay the gang's escape, ultimately leading to their arrest. To avoid prison and reclaim the award, Wolf persuades Diane to let Marmalade reform the Bad Guys' criminal ways.
Marmalade's efforts to reform the gang are unsuccessful, culminating in a disastrous attempt to rescue guinea pigs from a research lab. Diane scolds them and nearly calls off the experiment, but sympathizes with Wolf, who acts the way society expects of him. Wolf finds himself rescuing a cat from a tree, captured by Marmalade in a video that turns the gang's public image around, but Snake suspects that Wolf is losing sight of their plan.
At Marmalade's charity gala, the gang executes another heist to steal the Golden Dolphin. Wolf, having fallen for Diane, is unable to do it and reforms. However, the meteorite is stolen instead, and the gang is blamed and arrested, while a remorseful Wolf gives Diane the location of the gang's lair full of stolen loot. Marmalade reveals to the gang that he stole the meteorite and arranged everything to frame them, including posing as the old lady back at the ceremony. Very enraged, Wolf attempts to attack Marmalade, only for Marmalade to open the van doors in front of everyone, making it look like he was attacked without provocation.
In prison, Wolf explains that he believes a better life is possible, leading to a fight with Snake, who is convinced that society will never accept them. The gang is rescued by Diane, whom Wolf realizes is the Crimson Paw, a former criminal mastermind. Wolf agrees to help Diane stop Marmalade from using the meteorite as a hypnotic power source, but the others return to their hideout only to discover their loot is gone. Snake comforts Shark by giving him their last Push Pop, leading to them all realizing that Wolf was right about a better life, but Snake storms off in denial to ally with Marmalade.
Marmalade uses the meteorite to control an army of guinea pigs, which he sends to rob his charity funds throughout the city. Diane reveals to Wolf that, when trying to steal the Golden Dolphin, she realized she was being the "tricky fox" society perceived her to be and abandoned her criminal ways. Attempting to steal back the meteorite, Marmalade and Snake capture Wolf and Diane. Webs, Shark, and Piranha, having also been redeemed, arrive to rescue them. They race to deliver the meteorite to the police but decide to bring Snake back first. Chased by the guinea pig swarm, Wolf is forced to surrender the meteorite when Marmalade kicks Snake out of his helicopter; Wolf and Snake reconcile after rescuing Snake.
The police confront the gang, while Marmalade's mind control device is destroyed. Before Diane can defend the gang by revealing that she was the Crimson Paw, Wolf, and the others willingly turn themselves in. Marmalade tries to claim credit for recovering the meteorite, but Snake reveals that he faked his defection and had the meteorite swapped with Marmalade's replica lamp when he had the mind control device. The machine destroys the meteorite (Snake had set it up to overload with the real meteorite once the lamp was taken), exposing Marmalade as the real thief, while he inadvertently frames himself as the Crimson Paw after a diamond he took from Diane falls out of his pocket, leading to his arrest. As the police take the Bad Guys to jail, Wolf reveals that he left the Push Pop to prove there was good in Snake.
Voice cast
Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, a witty, charming, pickpocket wolf and the leader of "The Bad Guys" gang, who also acts as the gang's getaway driver Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, a grouchy, cynical safe-cracking snake and Wolf's second-in-command, as well as his best friend Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, a sharp-tongued, sarcastic tarantula and expert hacker, also known as "Webs" Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark, a childish, sensitive great white shark and master of disguise Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, a short-fused, loose-cannon piranha and the "muscle" of the gang and has flatulence when he lies Richard Ayoade as Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, a wealthy, British-accented, guinea pig philanthropist and scientist who mentors Wolf's group with doing "good deeds", but is secretly an evil and greedy individual, intending to steal from his own charity Zazie Beetz as Diane Foxington ( The Crimson Paw), a red fox serving as the state governor and former master thief-turned-good, and Wolf's love interest Alex Borstein as Misty Luggins, the hot-tempered human chief of police who is determined to arrest the Bad Guys at any cost Lilly Singh as Tiffany Fluffit, a local human news reporter with the tendency to exaggerate her reports
Production Development On July 22, 2017, Australia's The Daily Telegraph reported that several studios had expressed interest in adapting Aaron Blabey's book series The Bad Guys into a feature film. In March 2018, DreamWorks Animation announced the development of a film based on the book series, with Etan Cohen writing the screenplay. The following year, in October, it was reported that the film would be directed by Pierre Perifel in his feature directorial debut, with Cohen and Hilary Winston set to co-write the film's script. Throughout the development of the film, the crew worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was described as having "a similar twist on the heist genre that Shrek did on fairy tales, and what Kung Fu Panda did for the kung fu genre". Winston was only credited for additional screenplay material with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs writer Yoni Brenner while the film was executive produced by Cohen, Blabey, and Foundation Media's Patrick Hughes. The cast was announced on July 28, 2021. It also marked the first DreamWorks Animation film to have Lenovo as their preferred workstation partner, following the end of their association with HP.
Animation, design, and influences The film's design was inspired by Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with DreamWorks adopting a more illustrative and stylized aesthetic than their previous films. Character designs took inspiration from a mix of styles from directors such as Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, Michael Mann's Heat, Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction. Pierre Perifel cited Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball as influences for the art style. The film was also inspired by anime and manga series such as Sherlock Hound and Lupin III as well as the French-Belgian animated film Ernest & Celestine, due to how it influenced the approach to the characters.
While most of the animation for the film was provided by DWA Glendale, Jellyfish Pictures, who previously worked with DreamWorks on providing the animation for How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming and Spirit Untamed, as well as providing additional production assets for The Boss Baby: Family Business, handled the additional asset production services using proprietary software like Premo and Moonray, along with a new tool called Doodle – created for the 2D effects and for allowing the animators to move the lines around the character rigs. The film's opening diner scene, inspired by the similar opening scene from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, is the longest one-shot in DreamWorks Animation history, lasting two minutes, 25 seconds, and seven frames.
Music
On June 22, 2021, Daniel Pemberton was signed to compose the score for the film, having previously composed the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. A song "Good Tonight" written by Pemberton and Gary Go was made and released on March 18 by Back Lot Music, performed by Anthony Ramos, who does the additional lyrics with Will Wells. The album was released on March 31 with two other new songs included with "Good Tonight", includes a cover of "Feelin' Alright" by Elle King (released on March 25) and "Brand New Day" by The Heavy. Director Pierre Perifel, producer Damon Ross and composer Daniel Pemberton recorded backup vocals on "Brand New Day". Following the American release of the film on April 22, a new remix of "Good Tonight" was released by Party Pupils.
Additionally, "Stop Drop Roll" by Can't Stop Won't Stop, "Howlin' for You" by The Black Keys, "Fly Me to the Moon" by Julie London and "Go" by The Chemical Brothers are heard in the film but not included in the soundtrack album. Furthermore, "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish was only featured in the trailers, and similarly those of its successor.
Marketing The film's marketing campaign began on December 14, 2021, with the release of the first trailer, a first-look photo, and a cast table read. The first trailer was also shown during theater screenings of Sing 2. A second trailer, released on February 23, 2022. A television spot aired during the Super Bowl pre-game garnered 8.5 million views when it was released on YouTube. Overall, fourteen promotional YouTube videos attracted 110.1 million views. The Bad Guys also had a tie-in with the 2022 March Madness tournament, featuring a virtual bracket for the film's characters and commercials during pre- and post-game coverage on TNT and TBS. A Snapchat AR lens of Mr. Wolf and a TikTok trend set to Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy" were used to promote the film. Deadline Hollywood said Universal took advantage of April Fool's Day (April 1), the day tickets went on sale, with the release of another Snapchat AR lens that went viral after it was used by popular influencers such as MrBeast and Michael Le, gaining 21.5million views and over 1.8million likes on TikTok.
Release Theatrical