Crime doesn’t pay, generally at least. And yet adults revel in literary and cinematic fictions of flashy criminals both successful and inept. As law-abiding citizens we can transgress vicariously through such characters. So why shouldn’t children be afforded the same opportunities?
One supposes the Australian book series “The Bad Guys,” written by Aaron Blabey, was conceived in response to such a question. “The Bad Guys 2,” as its title indicates, is the second film about the anthropomorphic animal bank robbers turned do-gooders, led by smooth-as-silk Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell). His accomplices are a panic-prone shark, a purposefully untrustworthy snake, a flatulent piranha and a computer-hacking tarantula. Just go with it. Because there’s a lot more to go with after the characters re-establish themselves.
Honestly, for a kid’s film, this has quite a convoluted plot. A mysterious villain is robbing supplies of a rare metal called, in a cute Hitchcock reference, MacGuffinite. This substance is a magnet for a certain precious metal, and the supervillainess Kitty Kat (voiced by Danielle Brooks) plans to steal gold from a space station.
The directors Pierre Perifel and JP Sans put the narrative across with a blithe bounciness, and the all-star voice actors play along nicely. Mr. Wolf seems styled after George Clooney’s Danny Ocean, and Sam Rockwell, who acted for Clooney in 2002’s “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” seems to be paying tribute to his former boss. Craig Robinson, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz and Marc Maron are similarly enjoyable.
“The Bad Guys 2” is no masterpiece — the filmmakers are more enamored with fart-in-a-spacesuit gags than even most kids are likely to be — but it is goofy fun.
The Bad Guys 2
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters.
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