When we talk about contemporary animated cinema, it is not complicated that our brain automatically travels in the same direction, directing our thoughts towards the domains of the almighty Disney and Pixar, and ignoring a DreamWorks Animation that has been chaining successes for a long time commercials at the stroke of talent, unpretentious fun and a good hand when calculating the targets of his cinema.
Since his debut in style with ‘Antz’ in 1998, licenses as ‘Shrek’, ‘Madagascar’, ‘Kung-Fu Panda’, ‘The Croods’ or ‘The Boss Baby’ They have been able to attract audiences of all ages in productions that are possibly less transcendental than those of their direct competition, but that shine by capturing the essence of the purest entertainment without the need for technical or narrative avant-garde.
With ‘The bad guys’, the study raises the bar in terms of quality with respect to the forgettable – and, even so, tremendously profitable – ‘The Boss Baby: Family Business’; adapting Aaron Blabey’s picture books in a tremendously funny feature film full of successes in multiple aspectsbut weighed down by the excessive predictability of a script that reveals its secrets too soon.
charm without surprises
During its agile introduction sequence, ‘The Bad Guys’ chooses to open up its range of references and launch them onto the stalls. Thus, the opening conversation in a diner and the subsequent presentation of the main team leaves no room for doubt by suggesting a kind of adventure with robberies and redemptions in between that adapts the Tarantino essence and what is seen in George Clooney’s ‘Oceans’ saga to children —to whom a direct reference is made—.
However, although these sources of inspiration connect with the older public, who are intelligently appealed to on numerous occasions, ‘The Bad Guys’ focuses most of its efforts on the youngest members of the household; and he does it through a calculated sense of humor, an easily digestible moralizing discourse and, unfortunately, a plot that, beyond simplicity, delves into the realms of simplicity.
Obviously, we are dealing with a product aimed at a very clear potential audience, but this does not justify that, just by seeing its first act, we are able to anticipate each and every one of the main dramatic turns that will happen throughout its extremely tight 100-minute footage. But, luckily, this is a small stumbling block that is quickly masked by two of the film’s great virtues.
The first one is a more than remarkable audiovisual treatment that, despite leaving the odd shot that is too messy —with a single character on the screen and backgrounds that are too simple—, it looks great when play with frame rates and 2D elements to imitate the style of the original illustrations on which it is based in a way that, saving the distances, is at times reminiscent of what was seen in ‘Spider-Man: A new universe’.
But where the ensemble really shines is in an original voice cast that breathes life and energy into the assortment of protagonists and antagonists, and which includes performers such as Richard Ayoade, Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina or Zazie Beetz. Unfortunately, in Spain, whoever opts for the dubbed version will have to make do with dubbing masters like Santi Millán, Sara Carbonero, the streamer Gemita or the youtuber Nil Ojeda in another despicable display of the use of “star talent”.
Vocal cords aside, there’s no doubt that ‘The bad guys’ succeeds by providing a cocktail of comedy, action scenes resolved with skill and dynamism unbecoming of a debutante, charming characters and uplifting messages for the whole family. More than enough elements so that a skeptic like a server does not put any objection to the idea of indulge in the pleasures that a more than probable sequel could offer.