The Bad Guys, not actually that bad of a movie

Our oldest son loved The Bad Guys book series by Aaron Blabley all throughout his elementary school years. When The Big Bad Wolf came out in 2019 he went out of his comfort zone and chased down a Target worker to see if a copy of the book was in the back when the end cap was empty. When you spend any time at an elementary school you’ll see dozens, upon dozens of copies of any of The Bad Guys books in the library. It’s a graphic novel series that’s welcoming to read and doesn’t intimidate those younger readers who are transitioning to early chapter books. As a film, The Bad Guys is actually pretty good. Now, I realize that sentence could be perceived as if I’m slighting the film, and if that’s the case, then I blame Billie Eilish.

When her song Bad Guy came out in 2019 it was seemingly custom-made for any animated film that has a bad guy, see also any animated film. To those who grew up with Siouxsie and the Banshees or Kate Bush this nu-goth version that was being peddled was merely a façade. It was faux goth, with a sensual leaning and with a millennium edge in a package that today’s teens could latch onto. Plus, that song was everywhere, and for someone who tires of songs all too quickly, it became the bane of my sonic existence.

The first ad campaign for The Bad Guys featured that song. By the time that campaign was sharpened up a bit, it didn’t feature it and I don’t even recall hearing the song in the film. A film being released in 2022 having as its namesake a massively popular song from three years ago spoiled our taste for the film. We all have our issues, don’t we?

I was also familiar with the books and when you factored in that, plus the underlying flaws of turning great books into OK movies tainted the pool. However, our youngest, the 10-year-old who hasn’t read The Bad Guys books, really wanted to see it.

He had all of the books in his room, leftover from his older brother, in an attempt not to separate the collected works of Aaron Blabley. As intellectual property, he knew the characters and knew that all of his friends liked The Bad Guys.

And, color me surprised, The Bad Guys is an entertaining film for those elementary school ages. Audiences who are older than 12 will see the plot twists coming from a mile away, but it’s much better than expected. For them, it’s a silly film that their young siblings will enjoy, especially those middle-elementary school folks. You could also see this becoming a dependable half-hour show, something along the lines of Captain Underpants. It might not have as long of a lifespan as full-length movies, but in shorter nuggets, these characters could go on for a very long time.

The Bad Guys is rated PG for some rude humor. It’s available to stream or on DVD from Dreamworks.