Blaziker’s Animation Adventure

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Introduction

Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is here for the first big animation adventure for the second half of this year, and this is another highly anticipated sequel to a top-tier animated movie because today, we are covering The Bad Guys 2!

Taking place some time after the events in the first movie, The Bad Guys are making amends for their past misdeeds after jail time, but as soon as they were adapting to their new way of life, a trio of female criminals known as The Bad Girls rope them into their biggest heist: stealing a spaceship. With The Bad Guys (and Diane Foxington) attempting to stop the heist from happening, will they succeed or will they failed to stop The Bad Girls from stealing their old spotlight?

The Bad Guys was the movie that sparked the comeback of DreamWorks Animation, with this and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish solidifying their comeback in 2022. Now, with The Bad Guys 2, will this be yet another great DreamWorks sequel like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish?

Only one way to find out, let’s get on another spaceship and steal another to find out!

Key Information

Directors: Pierre Perifel and J.P. Sans
Animation Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Country of Origin: United States
Rating: PG
Release date: 31 July 2025 (in Singapore)

Trailer

The Review

Story and Characters

About the writing in this movie, if you have seen the first movie, chances are, it is expected for The Bad Guys 2 to be as hilarious, unpredictable and entertaining, and that was exactly what happened in the writing in The Bad Guys 2.

This is a well-layered movie in terms of the writing, utilising its story elements and combining them to one very strong and very left-field ending that took me off guard. That is the beauty of both Bad Guys movie: it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen and, as a result, the pay-offs for the movie are so unexpected, yet so satisfying. This is why I personally do not like it when I get spoon feed with everything I already knew; The Bad Guys 2 feeds you enough information and exposition, but does not bog you down with unnecessary filler that is hard to get through.

It also helps when the action sequences in the movie are just as fantastic, and while we will dive into how amazing the action sequences are crafted in the animation section, let’s just say that the build-up, the punchlines and the twists in those sequences could not be possible without fantastic writing and pacing, and that exactly what we get in this movie. Seriously, I was on the edge of the seat throughout most of the movie because the action was very thrilling.

That, however, does not discount the comedy in this movie. It is very cheeky but has great set-up, and does not overstay its welcome. Every joke and comedy sequence was done with so much attention to detail that when the punchlines come, it is a laugh riot.

However, it is the characters that carry the entire movie, just like the first one, so obviously the characters are the most important element of The Bad Guys 2. Obviously, the return of the iconic Bad Guys, from the MVP himself Mr Wolf (Sam Rockwell) to Snake (Marc Maron), Shark (Craig Robinson), Pirhanna (Anthony Ramos) and Tarantula (Awkwafina), with also Diane (Zazie Beetz) joining in to make a fun cast. That also does not discount the movie’s villains of The Bad Girls, with Kitty (Danielle Brook), Pigtails (Maria Bakalova) and Doom (Natasha Lyonne) adding so much to the already stellar character cast. They mix well with the delightful chaos the movie has, and the voice acting is one of my favorites of the year.

An animated movie is nothing without fantastic writing, and The Bad Guys 2 has some of the best writing for the big mainstream animated movies so far. It is quite rare for every element of the writing to be this fantastic, but it managed to do that with relative ease.

Animation

With DreamWorks now shifting away from producing animated movies in their in-house animation studio, there are concerns whether the new animation studios hired by DreamWorks can keep up with the fun animation style of the first. I got to say, they managed to do that.

With the animation style and quality in The Bad Guys perfect, the sequel simply needs to top up more of the stylised and dynamic style, and there are a lot more interesting sequences that you did not see from the first one. This is a movie that needs a chaotic animation style to deliver its heist-style movie, and it did so damn well. The character and background designs got an upgrade compared to the first movie, the action sequences, especially the actual heist where The Bad Girls stole a rocket ship, had probably one of my most favourite animated shots of the year. You will know when you get there.

Speaking of chaotic animation style, the animators turn the already fun stylised CG approach and put it on steroids, with one animation sequence at a lucha wrestling event being the best showcase of the controlled chaos that both movies are a master of. While being bombastic and too much visual noise can bring down the overall enjoyment, here, there is enough chaos in the animation style for the movie to shine.

In short, the animation style in The Bad Guys 2 is just as fun and top-quality as the first movie, and it would not be surprising if more animation studios that wanted more dynamic animation would utilise a similar animation style to what this sequel presented.

Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment

Daniel Pemberton, who composed the score for the first Bad Guys movie, returned to score the sequel, and once again, his contribution is just as fantastic as the first. Both the fun and exciting score, coupled with top-tier sound editing, which resulted in a movie that utilise almost every part of the sound engineering in the movie, making an exciting and thrilling atmosphere in the cinema. It should not be surprising he is in charge of the scores for the Spider-Verse movies, including 2027’s Beyond the Spider-Verse, so watch out for him later in the years ahead.

The marketing carried out is quite creative and as extensive. Utilising Mr Shark, the disguise specialist, in parodies of movie posters of iconic movies is a huge stroke of genius, but it did not help that the trailers and posters highlighted the exciting elements without providing many spoilers.

Conclusion

Unsurprisingly, I have nothing major to complain about The Bad Guys 2, because this was just as fantastic as the first one!

Everything that I loved from The Bad Guys was turned up to the max in the sequel. The writing and pacing are top-notch, the humour has fantastic build-up and payoff, the characters carry the entire movie once again, the soundtrack is amazing and the animation is just as fantastic, with some of the best animation sequences of this year to boot.

If you love the first movie, you will love the sequel as much. It is so bad, it’s really damn good.

Thank you so much for joining me on this wild adventure. While we got some animated movies to cover for the remainder of the summer season, plus one animated movie coming in September, I might have a surprise for your adventurers, because I might be talking about an animated movie distributor that might get way more unnecessary hate than what it deserved. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!