Usually, it takes three or four films for a franchise to end up in outer space. Even the “Fast and Furious” series waited until “F9: The Fast Saga” to send Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris to the stars in a Pontiac Fiero. “The Bad Guys 2” goes there in just the first sequel. That’s how quickly it seems the filmmakers have run out of ideas.
The follow-up to the 2022 DreamWorks Animation hit “The Bad Guys,” about a crew of fun-loving criminals who also happen to be animals, maintains the pizazz of its sleekly angular visual style. And the game voice cast returns, led by a reliably roguish Sam Rockwell. But increasingly, the antics feel strained, and the action grows needlessly complicated. The reason everyone winds up in space is especially convoluted and, ironically, not all that transporting.
There’s promise off the top, though, with a flashback to a heist from five years earlier in Cairo. Ringleader Mr. Wolf (Rockwell), safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), master of disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), and jack-of-all-trades Mr. Pirahna (Anthony Ramos) are stealing a flashy muscle car from a billionaire’s penthouse with the help of their newest team member, the hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina). The banter is snappy, the chase is zippy, and the escape is full of thrills–and then it’s pretty much all downhill from there.
An efficient “previously on” explainer from the smooth Wolf catches us up: He and his team have been trying to go straight since the events of the first film, hoping to become better known as The Good Guys. A bland job interview montage indicates how well this new strategy is going. They commiserate in their industrial-chic loft, hidden within the Los Angeles River storm drain system. Director Pierre Perifel and his vast team of animators once again capture the eclectic cool of this multi-cultural city, which is most vibrantly on display during a colorful, high-energy set piece at a Lucha Libre event.
But just when they thought they were out, they get pulled back in when they’re framed for a series of high-profile thefts. (The name of the metal inside all these valuable objects provides the one big laugh-out-loud line in the script from writers Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen, adapting Aaron Blabey’s book series.)
Wolf & Co. Get dragged into the tried-and-true one last heist, reluctantly working alongside the fearsome female team of Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), Doom (Natasha Lyonne in wry “Poker Face” mode), and Pigtail (Maria Bakalova). At the same time, they’re trying to protect the secret identity of Gov. Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), with whom Wolf’s been enjoying an ill-advised flirtation. And of course, the diminutive and diabolical guinea pig Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) returns to serve as a chaos agent.
Eventually, though, the whole effort feels chaotic, crammed as it is with uninspired pop culture references and way, way too many fart jokes, even for a movie aimed at kids. Pirahna’s flatulence is basically the fuel of the zany, outer-space conclusion–that’s how prominent it is. At one point during this sequence, I wrote in my notes, “What are the stakes?” because the new bad guys (or gals) are simply greedy, nothing more. Even the obvious Elon Musk figure, voiced by Colin Jost, isn’t truly villainous.
Thankfully, the film’s look is always wondrous, from the haunting, spare lighting of a phone booth in the desert at night to the lustrous lowriders bopping up and down outside a stadium. When there’s a “Bad Guys 3”–and the ending very much suggests there will be a “Bad Guys 3”–at least it will be pretty, if not necessarily good.
