Redemption—a scary search for self development, approval, and an improved reputation. It’s even scarier when you have to prove to others that you’re good, while convincing your equally bad friends that you haven’t completely betrayed them. What happens when the Big Bad Wolf decides that he likes being good? Will his friends understand and cause a domino effect, or will they drop him and continue with their crimes? As the bad guys say, “go bad or go home.” Guess we’re going home. 

The newest Dreamworks film,“The Bad Guys,” is a comedic and adventurous film for the family. Released only in theaters on April 22, 2022, this movie follows a group of notorious criminals nicknamed The Bad Guys. Composed of Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), this group had been well known for a long time, pulling off many heists and even evading multiple police chases to avoid being caught. 

However, this changes one night when they try to steal the Golden Dolphin, an award given to the city’s best citizen, famous for never being stolen. During this robbery, after an unexpected complication, the batch was caught and arrested. Mr. Wolf cuts a deal with the year’s most outstanding citizen, Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade);  if The Bad Guys can prove that they’ve turned good before Marmalade’s charity gala in a few weeks, they’ll be set free.

“The Bad Guys” is emblematic of the idiom “everybody deserves a second chance.” Although this group had been hated by most of their city for their crimes, and the fact that they’re a group of criminal animals surrounded by humans who fear them, in the end they’re able to prove themselves. 

Mr. Wolf suffers the brunt of the backlash during his fight for redemption. As the first of his friends to experience satisfaction from an accidental good act, he had to lose everything he had to even start working towards gaining something. He was forced to fake who he wanted to be around his friends, all to try and keep their trust and keep his “big bad” persona. 

However, when they found out, everything broke loose. Mr. Wolf lost not only the people who had his back through everything in the recent years, he was still losing heavily in the court of public opinion. Despite this, he still continued his journey towards being good.

Since there’s a stereotype surrounding PG movies—that they’re meant for children and not older audiences—it’s hard for those over the age of 10-12 to watch animated movies such as this. However, “The Bad Guys” would be a perfect example to convince someone to think otherwise. With a feel similar to the animated film “Zootopia,” it is sure to be a hit that makes its way into many hearts once released on streaming platforms.

While being kid-friendly, this movie manages to keep the audience’s attention with funny jokes, plot twists, betrayals, amazing portrayals of friendship, and a life lesson. You could watch this with friends, by yourself, or even with your parents, as it is appropriate while being entertaining enough that a multitude of different people could enjoy it together and not dread every additional minute that it’s playing. This makes it worth the watch and then some.

As of now, “The Bad Guys” is only available for viewing in theaters. It is expected to release on the streaming platform Peacock around June 6, 2022.