The Bad Guys 2: A Sequel That Falls a Little Short of the Original (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Just three years ago, director Pierre Perifel and screenwriter Etan Cohen gave us "The Bad Guys" (based on the series of graphic novels by Aaron Blabey), a charming animated romp about a group of criminal animals trying to go straight. The film may have gotten a mixed reception, but that hardly stopped it from being a rather big success that saw a take of $250 million worldwide. Naturally, a sequel was put into motion pretty quickly, which brings us to "The Bad Guys 2," in which Perifel, Cohen, and co-screenwriter Yoni Brenner attempt to duplicate the success of the previous outing by continuing the misadventures of these intriguing characters. Will they be able to pull it off, or was the achievement of the first film merely a one-time fluke?

As the film opens, we find The Bad Guys struggling to stay good and find their new place in society. Wolf (Voice of Sam Rockwell), Tarantula (Voice of Awkwafina), Piranha (Voice of Anthony Ramos), and Shark (Voice of Craig Robinson) all attempt to find jobs, but keep getting turned down because of their past criminal activities, while Snake (Voice of Marc Maron) decides to just live it up, seemingly without a care in the world. Meanwhile, Wolf becomes closer with Governor Diane (Voice of Zazie Beetz), who suggests that he do something to help people like him, leading him to assist Commissioner Luggins (Voice of Alex Borstein) to track down a criminal known as the "Phantom Bandit."

After mistakenly thinking that the Phantom Bandit was Snake, the gang soon realizes that the perpetrators are actually a group of female criminals: Kitty Kat (Voice of Danielle Brooks), Doom (Voice of Natasha Lyonne), and Pigtail Petrova (Voice of Maria Bakalova), who frame The Bad Guys for their latest crime in which they stole a belt made of a special metal from a wrestling tournament. As part of their plan, the ladies recruit Wolf & his crew to help steal a rocket, threatening to release a video that exposes Diane as the "Crimson Paw" if they don't cooperate, ultimately forcing them to revert back to their criminal lives in a daring attempt to protect the Governor's reputation.

When it came to the first "The Bad Guys," what we got was a fun & exciting adventure with some good twists and a great vocal cast to bring it to life. It's hardly the first time filmmakers have used anthropomorphic animals to tell their story in order to appeal to the younger crowd, but the film's whole concept of a group of reformed criminals trying to go straight and getting wrapped up in a rather bizarre plot in the process made it a pretty intriguing experience that made the 90 minutes roll by fairly quickly.

For "The Bad Guys 2," it's only natural for them to want to pick up right where the original film left off, with our heroes trying to make their new lives work, and that works just fine for a while, but then the story takes some really strange turns that seem to indicate that the screenwriters had a little trouble trying to figure out where to take it from there. Getting involved with a similar group of female criminals was a good start, but then we have the gang randomly infiltrating a wedding to steal a watch that controls the rocket that they need to steal, all of which leads to a rather silly plan to steal all the gold on Earth with a giant magnet in space.

Of course, you have to cut it some slack with it being a cartoon for younger audiences, so the plot won't necessarily make a lot of logical sense. After all, the first film had the villain using mind control on a bunch of guinea pigs to steal money, but somehow that managed to come together better than the sequel's farfetched idea. That's hardly saying that this is a bad follow-up, as the characters are still fun to watch, and it contains several amusing moments throughout. It's just that the story is a little weaker this time around and doesn't quite pack the same punch as the original's, which, for all its silliness, was simply more entertaining. Ultimately, "The Bad Guys 2" was a good effort, it just needed a little more work on its narrative to get it to the level it needed to be to give these intriguing former criminals a worthy sequel.

Video/Audio:

"The Bad Guys 2" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The picture is beautifully sharp & clear throughout the entire 104-minute duration, perfectly highlighting its colorful animation. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Universal has done a marvelous job in both areas for the film's Blu-ray debut.

Special Features:

Feature Commentary with Director Pierre Perifel, Co-Director JP Sans, Head of Character Animation Benjamin Willis, Head of Story Katherine De Vries, and Head of Cinematography Theophile Bondoux

Double Jeopardy: The Making of The Bad Guys 2 (5 Minutes): A featurette that takes a very brief look behind the scenes of the film.

Meet the Gang (8 Minutes): A featurette that focuses on the cast.

Double Trouble: The Animals Behind The Bad Guys 2 (9 Minutes): A featurette that has the cast meeting their real-life animal character equivalents.

Causing a Scene (5 Minutes): Another featurette that looks at the making of the film.

Planning the Heist (10 Minutes): A featurette that has the director and co-director planning the film's big heist.

Sketching the Bad Girls (11 Minutes): A series of featurettes that shows you how to draw Kitty Kat, Doom, and Pigtail Petrova.

Bad Guys: Out of Line (2 Minutes): A quick look at the actors recording their lines.

Deleted Scenes (2 Sequences, 6 Minutes)

Little Lies and Alibis (6 Minutes)

Conclusion:

"The Bad Guys 2" features several amusing moments throughout and the same group of intriguing characters that audiences came to love from the original film, but sadly the story wasn't thought-out quite as well this time around, leading to a plot that feels rather random and isn't quite as entertaining as the previous outing, resulting in a sequel that was a good effort, but ultimately needed a little more work to turn it into a worthy follow-up.

Score: 3/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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