Have you ever felt misunderstood because of the perceptions people have of you? That is the case for Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Snake (Marc Maron), Tarantula (Awkwafina), Shark (Craig Robinson) and Piranha (Anthony Ramos). Infamous criminals, when they are finally caught after a heist gone wrong, they are given a lifeline: become model citizens to avoid a prison sentence. With the help of a guinea pig named Mr. Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), our villains will do whatever they can to fool the world that they have changed.

My expectations going into The Bad Guys were low. Nothing about the trailer stood out to me except for the voice talents. But with Dreamworks being behind the likes of Shrek and Shark Tales, I figured I would give it a chance.

Though the story was nothing groundbreaking, it is still worth a watch. The colorful cast of characters were fun to get to know. You want them to succeed, whether in their crimes or for them to redeem themselves. I do wish some of the backstories were expanded more, though overall they had a solid friendship base which I liked.

A lot of the jokes were smart and witty. One that stands out to me the most was when Mr. Wolf was dressed in a sheep onesie. It gave the saying ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ a whole new meaning. I also thought it was smart to have another stereotyped animal in Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) playing a protagonist opposite the others.

With every good story, there is a moral. And what I liked most about The Bad Guys was that it sheds importance on not judging a book by it’s cover. Just because we don’t know what is going on with somebody doesn’t mean we should jump to conclusions about them. Not everything is what you see is what you get and that was refreshing.

Rating: ♥♥♥