The Bad Guys Movie Analysis — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Referencing the fishing boy with wolf makes this a for sure bad guy style dreamworks logo. And this was the last movie before it got changed into this one with the bad guys as the first characters in it.

[00:15] Setting up the whole plot of the movie right in the first frame. Also, what an absolutely bold move to open this family movie with not just the 144 second, almost two and a half minute long oner, but also 79 seconds of the long take is locked off on these two just sitting in a booth talking.

[00:29] The opening of Pulp Fiction isn't locked off, but it's a very fun homage to Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, right down to them having this conversation before doing some crime. Same one food better than cake. This is probably going to get some hate from most of you,

[00:41] but the love from the, like, eight of you who agree with me will be worth it. There are plenty of foods better than cake, but cake, like traditional cake, isn't even the best food in the category of cake. Ice cream cake is better.

[00:53] I'm sorry, I know this will lose me some subs, but I must tell the truth. Same one food better than cake. Kitty pig? Oh, Jared with the guinea pig. Also, setting up some sympathy for Professor Marmalade? Depends on your perspective at this point in the movie and how many times you've watched.

[01:05] It's not about the pig. It's about what it symbolizes on a deeper level. You're eating pure goodness, Garak. But I knew I didn't like snakes. Snakes don't have pockets. Okay.

[01:17] A caper, Vi. Hey, man, how you been? I'm assuming you're... So when people were freaked out at first, I thought, is it just because they're criminals? But I think it's also because they're animals. Vet talk. Also, maybe not, and they're just stand-ins for how criminals are perceived.

[01:30] I think of both and all of that. The tops of 2D animation mixed into a high-speed chase like this give the movie its own distinctive feel, even beyond what we come to expect from The Spider-Verse's in the last wishes. Every line in Piranha's rap sheet is a joke,

[01:42] and it's on screen for less than two seconds. His address is the Amazon River. They call him Butt-Biter. There are 900,000 members of his gang, because fish. And his only criminal activity he's been caught for is eating tourists. Also, his printer pins, I guess.

[01:55] But it doesn't end there. The list of animals that Snake ate is hilarious, including the police dogs. One of Shark's aliases is the Jaws theme, and at this point I get why everyone is afraid of them, because the crimes that most of them have been caught doing are eating people. But see, the crimes have been done.

[02:08] But we need to explain. And that's about all the explanation we get for why they're animals in a mostly human world. All I need... Are you crazy? What? I just want a little longer car chase. Because we learn everything we need to know about them with that line.

[02:20] I don't really care about the money, it's about the thrill and the achievement. And if you're sharp, you realize that every other character intro cut to a rap sheet, but Wolf is just a wall of clues meaning he's never been caught. I was expecting to uncover a hidden gem of a 90s group with this song,

[02:39] only to find out it's from 2014? Hey look, it's where Marmalade and Yumi are. That's the shark and piranha swimming back to the car. And now I understand why the money doesn't matter to them. On original papers, I mean really, another bank, I will present the golden dolphin to this year's goodest citizen.

[02:55] You gotta love how she so clearly dates them. Since, well, she'd know how. The booger is banded. The pucky's in. The Crimson Paw. Okay, you've all seen this, right? If not, I'm about to spoil it, so we'll watch it really quick if you want.

[03:07] But setting up the Crimson Paw right here is genius. You don't even think twice about it, but it's fun on a second viewing. Okay, I guess Texas Aide didn't spoil anything? Sorry about that. Sorry, I need to watch the movie. The Crimson Paw was never arrested. Yeah, but he never stole anything again.

[03:20] He sure never did. Ha! Webb's does four of her eight limbs. This movie convinced me that Zussine has an eyebrow piercing, and she doesn't. Am I thinking of Rainer Morris? Nope, just a box. Anyway, kind of like seeing a governor with a facial piercing.

[03:32] Snakes make arms are so believable. Again, Wolf is so arrogant and confident in his abilities that he's doing petty theft during the Grand Marcy. You're such a good boy. It's crazy how true this is. How the reinforcement is a powerful drug.

[03:45] This is gone. This is gone. This is gone. This is gone. and they were about to easily beat Ethan Hunt record for the suspended from ceiling ice Come on let take a short straddle of ceiling heist Webb both immediately knowing what the protection system is

[04:03] and saying it phonetically are perfect. Lovely shot of them all converging slowly through the crowd. Truly everything up until this moment rivals pretty much every heist movie, while poking fun at some of the ridiculousness, like unbelievable disguises,

[04:15] meaning either the tropes we all know to be unrealistic at this point, like hacking is just typing really fast, as well as the ability to enhance a handful of pixels into a 12K image, as well as the thief going out of their way to flirt with the person who could catch them,

[04:27] even arguing about themselves in a really obvious way. I have a feeling it'll be harder than you think. I'd say they're one epic job away from cementing their legacy. But it's also a genuinely fun heist at the same time. The setup plan where we get to see some parts of it happening,

[04:40] the tension around them getting caught and just escaping in the nick of time, it's all perfect. Let's make like a wolf and get the pack out of here. Ah, word's way. I don't get it. Same. But then the expectations aversion.

[04:53] After the first chase, it seems like there's no way they'd ever get caught. But reality physics takes over, and the one grappling hook cannot, in fact, lift a thousand pounds. No, no, no, no, no. Don't you see what he's doing? He's playing you. But it was my idea.

[05:06] Only because you made him panic. Well, this is actually a step ahead rather than behind, per usual. But only because I never believed Alex Forstein could play a stupid character. Not like how they needed to tie a snake in knots to make the shackles work. So we can save the bad guys.

[05:20] The little trap Sam Rockwell delivered is something else, and the animators totally captured him in wolf form. A giant butt! It's not a butt. It's a lung. My place is wondering what it is. It's a fixation and refusal to even acknowledge that Momorita's telling him it's not a butt.

[05:36] Because it is a butt. It's not a butt. Then why does it have teeth? It's not a butt. It's not a butt. See, they're just always eating people. You're all here. You're all here. Ha ha ha, discouragement.

[05:49] Feeling so? Oh yeah, we're great at that. Robbery. Larceny. Fire fraud. Torture. Tax evasion. Hype. Ah, I see. Well, there goes our street cred. I mean, it depends what kind of street cred you want, because even without the suits, you've definitely created a bunch of new furries.

[06:02] Oh! Seriously, what's that? Who am I? That little, who am I? TVIs are no joke, kids. Unless it is a joke, instead then this is as funny as a joke. Oh! whispered this time.

[06:16] Also, he tastes the air, just like he said he could. Finally noticing that Webb's costume has a tail. Time to launch that charm offensive. Oh, yeah. The Fool Clooney. It's funny because while George Clooney is a very attractive and charming man,

[06:30] he's also the lead in all the Ocean's movies, which Steve's definitely full from. But most importantly, if you don't know Sam Rockwell, how dare you, you might think Clooney is voicing wolves. After all, he did voice a fox once. I do not clean any wolves.

[06:42] Guilty until proven innocent, even if by some miracle we did change. Who's going to believe us? There's definitely some societal commentary in there, but just like with Zootopia, I'm wary of really hyping it up because he's still a wolf.

[06:54] He's not a misunderstood or stereotyped human, but the point stands. Even when the wrong type of person does something good, there will always be people who assume the worst. So don't do that.

[07:07] Lovely transition. Look, I love dogs, but there may be no greater feeling in the world than when a cat deems you worthy. The vibrating neck fur is accurate. Wolf keeps putting the cat down by his legs and he keeps smuggling up to his head.

[07:19] You ever wonder would it be right? The world loving us is going to be scary. I don't waste time thinking about stuff that's never going to happen. Wolf and snake are pretty perfect animals for their respective personalities because wolves are scary for sure,

[07:32] but most humans want to like wolves because they're just like slightly less predictable Siberian huskies or Shiba Inus, right? That's how we feel about them. But snakes? Sure, there are some people who love snakes, but as a general rule, people don't like them.

[07:45] Same goes for tarantulas, and even more so for sharks and piranhas. Again loving the plan before the heist advice even keeping details hidden until the actual heist later The people he talking to are never even in focus He only sees Foxington Don you dare explain

[08:03] Look, I shouldn't be surprised that Usnavi can belt it out like this, but I didn't know it was Anthony Ramos at first. Dude, and Spikes. How'd they get my pin? We're gonna keep this alive. We're gonna keep this alive. The implication here is that Tarana

[08:15] wrote this song on the spot, and I'm biased. But more importantly, Wolf doing Sam Rockwell's Signature moves? Darn, it's like Sonopop's line. Heck yeah. I know that Diane's strength and agility could just be the power of civic vending animation, but I like to think it's also a hint at her true identity right now.

[08:33] Tool consistency. Change is impossible. You should always judge a book by its cover, and all stereotypes have been affirmed. So extreme. You're such a good boy.

[08:45] You're such a good boy. Marmalade being bad isn't the craziest reveal, but just that he was the old lady, I did not see that coming. Love and Marmalade's true form has hair much more like Richard Ioti's. Diana is totally shocked because she feels like she truly knows Wolf at this point, which leads to a suspicion of Marmalade a few moments later.

[09:02] Also the contrast of how both Wolf and Diana are feeling each time he stares at her through the bars of the truck, as well as the progression of their relationship. Our eyes are just drawn to the acronym the first time we see it, but I'm very pleased to know what suckum stands for.

[09:14] Who can help it, the charm is involuntary. Nobody's providing... Tell that to him. Honestly, it's pretty smart to just let the casual sexism go, because it makes the Crimson Paw even harder to catch. Although, clearly, no one has ever taken a closer look,

[09:28] which is probably by design. The guard is completely frozen for the stake-down. Oh, okay. She's like the coolest character in this movie.

[09:40] I didn't know. Got it. Stole the Centango diamond twice, once for profit, second time just for fun. Yeah, a dining hall for soulmates. Nope, I'm totally fed. For real, I don't even know what she did there, which checks out with us if who has not only never been caught, but is also assumed to be the wrong gender.

[09:56] Well, the snake's trail isn't just one clean line, it matches the movements he's doing. I don't know what would be worse, the visual of the chonky boys all running together, or the overwhelming squeaky chorus.

[10:08] I was the best thing in the world. Fast, fearless, inventive. Top confidence. Oh, please. Holy! It's so good to be home. I'm not sure that's true, but I also have to imagine that the rush of getting to finally share your hideout with a fellow thief would be the exhilaration of a lifetime.

[10:25] Like, gun enthusiasts love to show other gun enthusiasts their collections, but now imagine those guns were all illegal and you'd never shown anyone before. This analogy was poorly conceived. So imagine you have this stamp collection and they depict a particular cartoon mouse doing some unspeakable.

[10:38] We have to steal the meteorite! That was very cute. Alright. I just did that. Yes. It's like someone has probably called this MCU dialogue, but that's what would happen, IRL. That's what I would say. It's a great flirt. Even better than Jigsaw Me Cook, because then we're back into the legality of it.

[10:52] Now I understand what it feels like to have things stolen from you. I don't like it. I really don't like it. Introspection? I was simply making a sacrifice so Shark could be hapless. I just put your needs before my own.

[11:04] That is the actual definition of being good. I love this so much, because in the current age of culture where a group will take a word and assign a whole bunch of new meanings to it, Snake being so self-aware about the effects of the decision he just made

[11:16] while rejecting the word that defines his actions is... It's like when someone says, I don't use pronouns. Like, sure, we get what you think you're saying, but unless you speak exclusively in third person, you can't even let someone know that you don't use pronouns without a pronoun.

[11:29] They're all good, but the butt-wag cuteness of word goes to webs. Because maybe it's a trap. Or maybe... Even though he really has turned it around, some temptations are just too great. He's only human. A little car reference there with the eyes.

[11:43] It's the little things that bring the world to life, like the slight flex to the trap door when they land on it. How happy to see you. Hugging Kitty kitty kitty kitty Aw friendship It been a year and a half You like by far the coolest character in the movie with the coolest gadget I wouldn go on the girl trip

[12:00] Girl? Same. Another Chemical Brothers song? What a perfect chance for the set keys. Woo!

[12:12] How do you do that? Well, you know, kind of a natural. Not so neutral. No shame in that, Webbs. My knee surgeons are the same thing. It's all the best info it is. I know that the guinea pig monolith is captivating, but I just can't get over how pretty the sunset is behind them.

[12:26] DreamWorks refuses to slouch on lighting. What style does that have? Huh? Besides, you'll never get it. I mean, who's gonna drive it? Hence, the snake hasn't fully turned.

[12:40] What a scene. The score amped up, the sound of the car to a dull roar really making us feel the moment. Wake up, America! You knew they weren't, but by how far was still a hilarious surprise.

[12:55] He came back. For his ice. I love you too, buddy. And possibly my favorite part of this story. That, as far as we know right now, Snake didn't have a change of heart of his own accord. His friends proved that he was worth it to them.

[13:08] I'm not saying the other way is bad, just that shaking that trope up a bit shows another important side of what it is to be a true friend. More hugging. The piles of them tumbling. And if you're wondering why there isn't just a gruesome smear of guinea pig across the bridge,

[13:21] there's power in numbers, baby. There's enough of them that they can distribute the weight so no one pig gets mushed. It works especially well if you're animated.

[13:33] That quick fail. And we get to eat our cake and have it too, because it was all a triple cross. In classic heist movie fashion, it wouldn't be right without this one last twist that I genuinely did not see coming. This is Robin's place. I'm not going to lie, that giant arrow is welcome.

[13:47] So what do you think put that one push pop in the fridge? Does this make it a quadruple crash? Nah, but we all saw it coming. There's no world in which Sam Rockwell isn't at least 87 steps ahead. Really channel-including pit now, loving the one shirt tail on Tuck.

[14:00] Not so scary now, are we? Sorry, but no amount of fourth wall breaking is going to make me like snakes, but the cat nodding his glasses into place wins. If you've not read one or two of the bad guys' books, then hot cake. Jackson will be better.

[14:12] Don't get me wrong, the books are great, but the film has its own aesthetic and vibe that really levels it up. And I'm sorry, but the voices in my head and the ones I used to read aloud will just never compare to Stan Rockwell or Mark Merrill, or honestly any of his cast.

[14:24] It's funnier than it needs to be, more heartfelt than it has any right to be, and just the boxing can make me feel... confusing things. But it's also an interesting premise, especially since it's aimed at kids. Because, like, do you want your kids to become thieves?

[14:37] No, probably not. But I really think kids' movies that flip the script on what a hero looks like can leave a deeper impact. I actually made a whole exclusive video about that over on Nebula, where I talk more about K-pop demon hunters Kubo and the Two Strings, Nisha, and Coraline.

[14:49] And you can watch it right now by signing up with my link and get 40% off an annual plan. But that's not all. I have a bunch more exclusive videos on Nebula, as well as every single one of my other videos, some even extended versions, ad-free, uncensored, and without ad reads.

[15:02] But, surprisingly, I'm not the only creator there. Honestly, the best creator on Nebula is no AI slob. Okay, so maybe not a creator so much as a feature that other platforms are severely lacking right now, but JetMag is in South Korea, which is always a phenomenal time.

[15:16] Amy's Dead End Dreamhouse is out now. It's a brand new kid's show for adults from Maggie Mae Fish that is absolutely hilarious. And there's so much more to check out, especially if, again, can't stress this enough, you won't get tricked into watching something that's pretending to be like a real movie trailer,

[15:31] but it's just low-effort AI garbage. So sign up with my link or click the little box over here or in the description and come watch my Game and Kids video. I'm having a baby

[15:47] My baby