'The Bad Guys' - Movie Review

This is well reviewed by the critics (88% on Rotten Tomatoes as of 2022-09), and I like animated kids movies. This one has quite a line-up of stars doing the voice work: Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh. "The Bad Guys" are a crew of criminals: Mr. Wolf (Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), Mr. Shark (Robinson), and Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) - they figure they're always seen as "bad guys," so they might as well roll with it. And they're really good at stealing things. Until one day Wolf gets a positive tingle from doing good works, and the crew gets caught and someone tries to convert them to good. They find themselves falling apart as Mr. Wolf wants to do good, and - at the other end of the scale - Mr. Snake wants only to steal stuff and be evil.

The voice work is very good, the jokes are cute and funny ... but the whole thing is aimed at six year olds. Movies like "Spirited Away" and "How to Train Your Dragon" (both favourites of mine) are aimed older than that and have at least some emotional depth and the occasional moral dilemma ... but not this one. No depth. It gets by on a witty script and very good voice work, but isn't going to displace any of my favourites.