I wouldn’t have thought a heist movie about the Big Bad Wolf, a Shark who specializes in disguise, a hacking Spider named Webs, a snake and a Hispanic Piranha who’s the team muscle would be a refreshing change to modern cartoons being released but alas—I was pleasantly surprised. I’m an adult who has no qualms about watching cartoons as I grew up on them and I’m convinced some of them are more intelligent than many live action films. If you don’t have a bias against zany, crazy outlandish animated movies with extreme humor and Hijinx then you’ll enjoy this movie. It was like a cross between Over the Hedge, Zootopia and a classic heist movie.

A fun and original story: I don’t mind the fact that the story follows a Big Bad wolf in a Zootopia’ish world where very little makes sense. This place has animals and humans, whether animals are predators or not doesn’t matter that much, and no one explains how there’s millions of cops in this city but they never catch these criminals who have no alias but just run around committing crimes and make tons of money they can in no way spend. While it’s based off a series of children’s books it’s still something I haven’t seen in theaters for a while: a heist story where all the bad guys get a conscience and become good guys even though that’s the harder choice and makes their lives much less lavish.

 We’ve had plenty of terrible people who are put in heroes roles when they’ve done nothing to merit it movies like Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy sequels etc. But I haven’t often seen a movie about criminals who turn good and actually pay for their crimes by going to jail and only getting out after to start new lives. The film was absolutely ridiculous, with an evil guinea pig (who by the way I knew was the villain the minute he arrived on screen) and an army of mind-controlled Guinea pigs with crazy car chases, but it was fun and knew exactly what it was trying to be. I can’t say this for many other films coming out right now. The movie is genuinely funny, and if you arent taking it too seriously you can get behind the idea that all these criminals might have a change of heart and choose to lead better lives.

Mixed Messaging: This isn’t so much a complaint as it is an observation that could be negative if you took the film too seriously. I don’t think anyone is in danger of taking a movie with a billionaire evil guinea pig too seriously, but I mention it because I’ve seen other live action films with a similar message that were intended to be taken as somewhat realistic. The thesis statement of the film seems to be that people uphold the level of morality ascribed to them or projected onto them by others in what often is a biased social construct, not that it is simply in their nature to be that way. It’s the constant Nature vs. Nurture argument and this film seems to imply it’s all nurture and that if given the chance to be anything other than Bad the antagonists/protagonists of the film –the Bad Guys—would be good.

·         But because they’re scary creatures (a wolf, shark, spider, snake etc..) no one gives them a chance. I’m not saying there isn’t some truth in that opinion: often we project onto people an idea and if they feel there’s no outgrowing it than they simply become what others perceive them to be. It’s the classic we called him a jerk no matter what he did so he became one. Or when people label someone a “No good lowlife” before the person commits the act, simply because of where they come from or how they dress. Or even “She’s just dumb and pretty” so eventually the woman quits trying to convince you otherwise because your going think what you want. There’s some truth to this, but it can’t encompass the whole truth about character’s inclinations to good or evil.

·         The guinea pig in the film is perceived as charitable, good, cute, and selfless—but he lies and uses his influence towards personal selfish ends. The danger of viewing a group of criminals like The Bad Guys as only bad by labeling and misjudgment is we can slip into thinking that’s everyone’ s reason and that it in some way excuses them. While prejudging people with our own bias is wrong, they are still responsible for their actions. I appreciated the second film for that reason but that’s another review that will follow this one. I think it showed the Bad Guys as sympathetic but made a stark clear contrast from them struggling to live as responsible citizens now to how they were destructive, selfish and relished stealing in the past. They were judged before they committed crimes but there’s no excusing the fact: they enjoyed committing crimes and didn’t care about how their actions affected other people. That’s why we see them paying for in prison and then as normal citizens failing in the job market because no one trusts them.

·         The other part of the message in this that I found mixed was the ridiculous idea that the entire motivation for “doing good” is that it “feels good” or makes the wolf’s “Tail wag.” I’m not saying doing good isn’t its own reward, but it only is because there is a God who sees the actions of all men good and evil—and He hates the wicked and rewards the faithful. Wicked men may profit in this life by ill gotten gain, but the Bible tells us the Lord hates dishonest scales, lying lips, and ill-gotten gain. They all lead to destruction which is spoken of frequently in scripture:

-“Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death~” Proverbs 10:2

-“Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessor” ~Proverbs 1:19

We are called to be faithful because God knows all we do and he is not mocked, whatever a man sews he shall reap. However, Psalms tells us a man is blessed when he keeps his word even “when it hurts” or more specifically describing a righteous person as “Someone who despise those who act wickedly but who honors those who honor the Lord, someone who keeps their promise even when it hurts” ~Psalm 15:4.

Doing what is right will often cost you, and choosing integrity and honest gain may often be less materially rewarding. The idea that doing good is motivated simply because a fuzzy feeling is weak and will not hold when there is actual cost to doing what’s right. We see this more in the sequel when the main characters are continually faced with challenges as they try to not commit crimes and to live honest lives. It’s juvenile to present it any other way. 

True change takes a change of heart and mind. It requires an acknowledgement that the prior way of living was completely wrong and has consequences—and a sadness over the sins of the past coupled with definitive actions towards repentance and right living. In reality, this can only be brought about by God’s grace, but the effects of true repentance can still be portrayed on film without the portrayal directly attributing the source of contrition to God. I think the main reason this idea the movie presents has been prevalent is because of all the recent supervillain movies: Cruella, Maleficent etc. And in all of them the villains have sympathetic stories in which it really wasn’t their choice or desire to be villains, they were pressured and pushed into it.  However, as I said, this is primarily a danger if you take the philosophy of this movie too seriously.

Critiques: What separated this movie from an animated film like Zootopia was a couple things, namely how serious a film it was and a lack of an equally strong supporting cast.

·         The movie is much zanier and sillier than Zootopia. In Zootopia the stakes feel more real because, despite their being an all animal cast, the interactions are more realistic. Judy Hopps training for Police school actually takes her a long time, chase scenes are more believable, and the world feels more human and real like the characters are people living in a big city.

·         In Zootopia you have two polar opposite main characters who push and pull on each other’s ideologies. Judy Hopps is the idealist—who’s values are better however she lacks the life experience to understand the complexities of actually living up to all the ideals she holds. She also doesn’t understand that not everyone who professes those ideals actually has them and others who’ve disregarded them might have even had them once as well—like Nick Wilde. Wilde is the classic character who life hurt badly enough to convince ideals weren’t worth having and that fate had already decided his moral character when he was born a fox. He tried being good and was kicked until he saw no merit in it. Judy brings back the ideals he abandoned and the two complement each other.

In the Bad Guys, characters are fun and there are traces of real-life application but beyond that the themes are somewhat flawed in their execution. For example, Governor Foxington ….I didn’t like her. I liked her less in the sequel but that’s another story. Since she was the love interest/complimentary character/good influence on our anti hero the Big Bad Wolf, one side of the coin was vey plain and annoying at best. The Governor comes from the same background as The Bad Guys yet she’s seemingly faced with no consequences for it. She was an expert thief who was never caught, seems to relive the glory days in her head but admits “she didn’t like herself” when she was a thief, so she stopped. And then she magically becomes the wealthy boss babe of the city who everyone looks to and respects. When the Bad Guys reform in the sequel they can’t even find a decent job and are sharing lunch in an empty loft apartment out of a pasta sauce can. She comes off as entitled, and like she feigns empathy for how hard it is for bad people to reform when we don’t see her facing any actual consequences for her crimes. She also comes off as vain and more of a glory hound regarding her thieving days because she cares more about criticizing The Bad Guys’ criminal style than she does catching them. She calls them amateurs and laughs about it but the city is still being robbed and she hasn’t caught them. At least the crazy Police chief is committed to her job and enraged by the crimes.

As I said, the movie is fun, and if you enjoy clever, original cartoons as I do then you’ll give it a try but keep an eye out for where some of the weaker ideologies trickle into other media and shows. You’d be surprised where they turn up. Aside from that, enjoy the Bad Guys and be wary of Guinea Pigs (the writer of this movie was on to their world domineering habits like in Super pets).