THE BAD GUYS

Cert U

100 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild threat, very mild bad language, comic violence, rude humour

Well, this was a considerable disappointment.

The Bad Guys has been in cinemas for quite some time and is one of the top 10 box office hits of 2022 so far.

However, I found it rather laboured and not nearly as funny as its stats would suggest it should be.

Pierre Perifel's animation focuses on a gang of criminal animals, led by the Big Bad Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell).

In the early stages, they are seemingly untouchable, hold a bank up and joyfully lead the police on merry chases.

But then they are caught and the only way out of jail time is to persuade a renowned psychologist (Richard Ayoade) and the state governor (Zazie Beetz) that they are turning to a path of righteousness.

They agree but this is meant to be an elaborate con until the wolf's tale begins to wag when he is being good and he realises it may be a better way forward.

This goes down very badly with his best friend the snake (Marc Maron) and fellow criminals, the tarantula (Awkwafina), shark (Craig Robinson) and piranha (Anthony Ramos).

The battle for their future direction is the focus of the film.

Nowadays we take it for granted that major studios will provide fast-paced, high-quality animation and The Bad Guys certainly offers that.

But both Mrs W and I were surprised that there weren't more laughs from Perifel's movie.

We actually found it a bit predictable.