Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Bad Guys 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 18, 2022

My wife is a school librarian, and she reports that amongst kindergarten through fourth grade it's all but impossible to keep Aaron Blabey's The Bad Guys book series on the shelves. "It's one of my most widely circulated series," she says, and notes that whenever she runs an analysis of checkout data, four or five titles from this series are usually amongst the top ten of the most circulated books. In other words, this series is wildly popular with young readers, so it's no surprise to find that DreamWorks and Universal have teamed up to make an animated movie loosely based on the bestselling graphic novel series. The film is a sucess, a fun and breezy caper adventure and character drama that has plenty of comical overtones and undertones alike about it while also clearly modeled after the great genre films of yore. The film is probably best enjoyed by the same age group as its target readers rather than the youngers who are still in love with Paw Patrol: The Movie.

It's a man's world...but it's also the animal's kingdom. In a place where both coexist on equal footing, where all species speak and interact and the new governor, Diane Foxington (voiced by Zazie Beetz), is a fox, there exists a band of feared and brazen criminals known publicly as "The Bad Guys." The infamous group consists of its de facto leader, Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell); the safe-cracking Mr. Snake (voiced by Marc Maron); computer hacker Ms. Tarantula (voiced by Awkwafina); the master of disguises Mr. Shark (voiced by Craig Robinson); and the brawling Mr. Piranha (voiced by Anthony Ramos). The world calls them "monsters" but they see themselves as, simply, the best in the business. When the new governor insults them on live television, Mr. Wolf plans retaliation by planning to steal a priceless artifact, the Golden Dolphin, from a packed gala honoring the genius Professor Rupert Marmalade IV (voiced by Richard Ayoade). The complex heist is initially a success, but the gang cannot escape. Rather than face hard time, Marmalade convinces Foxington to allow him to reform the gang into do-gooders instead. This, Wolf believes, plays right into the gang's hands and a new scheme is hatched to once again steal the priceless Dolphin under the guise of "The Good Guys." The question is whether they can maintain their villainy in the vein of playing the part of the good guys, and, maybe more importantly, if everyone is indeed who they are believed to be.

The movie is not high art, and its story is not original -- it's grounded in 70s caper charisma and aesthetics -- but it proves to be a success because it holds fast to what it wants to be and doesn't attempt to introduce big ideas or grand concepts, instead simply staying true to what it is and the best way to go about its business. The Bad Guys holds tight to the line of a simple, recycled narrative but manages a satisfying toeing of it because all of the ancillary support elements -- from the unique animation style to the voice work, from the story ebbs and flows to the character persuasions and interactions -- work so well. Writer Etan Cohen clearly know his characters and his genres, as does Director Pierre Perifel who handles structure, pace, and content delivery with sharp expression and clear insight into the moment and the larger picture purpose.

Ultimately, it's the character interaction and how the audience can relate to the roster that makes or breaks a movie like this, and while there's not a bastion of character originality or voice work performance novelty on display, both are grounded at a base level of animated film excellence that sees the film work hard, but look easy, in drawing near to its audience. All of the leads share wonderful voice chemistry; the group is believable as longtime friends and accomplices in crime, and their broader evolutions throughout the picture are handled with intimate realism as their changes impact self and the whole alike. As with the rest of the content, there is nothing overtly or obvious special about the performances or the characters, but also as with the whole the total synchronization of elements and focus on the bigger pictures works in the film's favor, elevating the individual performances from "good" to a collective "great."

The Bad Guys 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Universal brings The Bad Guys to the UHD format with a 2160p/HDR UHD presentation. The resolution gain over the 1080p Blu-ray does not make a monumental difference, at least not at a 65" screen size. Viewers would be hard-pressed to find a significant add to sharpness anywhere in the movie. Various A-B comparisons reveal a fairly parallel presentation in terms of visual depth and object clarity and density. Animal fur, environments, and the like all more or less look near identical between the formats. There is no sudden surge in animal fur clarity or gained tactile efficiency on the various urban locales throughout the film. Eagle-eyed viewers may not the odd gain to sharpness -- the bottom of Mr. Shark's shoes in a fleeting shot at the 14:19 mark revealed a hint of added sharpness in one of the many shots I compared, but a casual comparison certainly doesn't reveal anything too noteworthy in terms of major improvements from the resolution, one format to the other.

Most of the gains come by way of the HDR color grading. The colors are significantly deeper overall, with more command and nuance on display. This color grading strengthens the palette with greater tonal clarity and exactness. The Blu-ray has a comparatively light look about it, a certain airiness. The contrast between the two formats can be rather stark, to the point of nearly transforming a scene and offering a completely different tonal quality. Sometimes, the UHD just looks a little darker and firmer, but in most cases the transformation to richer and more brilliantly natural colors is quite stark. While reds, blues, greens, and the like find significant added depth, whites also appear more brilliant and blacks more powerfully rich and pure. Still, there is nothing extraordinary about the presentation, but the content is well served by the color spectrum gains. The movie benefits from the HDR spectrum and it certainly reveals just how light the Blu-ray looks in comparison. This is clearly the better of the two and even without much to say on the resolution front, on the color end this one proves well worth the upgrade cost.

The Bad Guys 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is not raucous, but it is resplendent. The track finds harmonious balance between sonic intensity and engagement and a natural feel and flow through all sonic elements, from the most aggressive action and musical elements to the finest in subtle musical arrangements and ambient effects. Of course, it is in those higher energy moments where the track really shines for overall fun. Music soars with first-rate clarity and impressive spacing around the entirety of the listening area, including, even, a positive, but not overbearing, top end extension. Action effects offer excellent placement and stage traversal alike with impressive volume, all the while holding to faultless clarity. Support ambience in various interior and exterior venues featuring various crowd density elements with a clear need for spatial engagement are very impressive. The overheads are used for several discrete effects, perhaps most notably when Professor Marmalade's voice reverberates around the top end in the 32-minute mark. Dialogue in general is clear and center oriented otherwise.

The Bad Guys 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of The Bad Guys includes numerous extras. A Blu-ray copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Maraschino Ruby (2160p/SDR, 3:50): A short film focused on another heist from the Bad Guys crew.
• Deleted Scenes (2160p/SDR, 10:52 total runtime): Included are Original Opening, Snake Attack, Extra Secret Base Tour, You Can't Fake Good Food, and Post Credits - Scientist Button.
• Devise the Plan: Making The Bad Guys (2160p/SDR, 6:56): Talking up the original books, voice work, making the heist scene, the animation style, and more.
• Assemble the Crew (2160p/SDR, 6:46 total runtime): Exploring the characters and the actors who voice them. Included are Wolf - Sam Rockwell, Snake - Marc Maron, Shark - Craig Robinson, Tarantula - Awkwafina, and Piranha - Anthony Ramos.
• It's Showtime: Cast Table Read (2160p/SDR, 5:51): A highlight reel of the virtual table read.
• Snake's Frozen Pop Shop (2160p/SDR): Some fun activities for home with the tasty treats featured in the film. Included are Frozen Popsicle Recipes (3:33) and How to Disguise Your Frozen Pop which breaks down into three sub-categories: Easy Distractions, Next-Level Double Agents, and Professional Snake Design (3:26 total runtime).
• Fron the Drawing Room (2160p/SDR): The obligatory animated film drawing tutorials, this time with storyboard instruction as well as the typical character drawings. Included are How to Storyboard (4:32) and How to Draw (11:44 total runtime), the latter with instructions for drawing Wolf, Snake, Shark, Tarantula, and Piranha. Head of Story Nelson Yokota instructs in all pieces.
• Audio Commentary: Director Pierre Perifel, Producer Damon Ross, Head of Story Nelson Yokota, Head of Character Animation JP Sans, and Production Designer Luc Desmarchelier discuss the film from a wide array of production perspectives.

The Bad Guys 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Bad Guys may not specialize in originality, but it is very good at building its otherwise familiar product to peak efficiency. Universal's UHD is likewise a model of expected excellence, offering rock-solid video (especially considering the HDR color grading) and audio presentations and a healthy wallop of supplementary content to boot. Recommended.