The Bad Guys Trailer: Sam Rockwell And His Gang Of Bad Animals Try To Play Nice

Universal Pictures has released a brand new trailer for the upcoming DreamWorks animated comedy "The Bad Guys." The film is based on a series of books of the same name and sees some bad animals, led by Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, trying to do some good in the world. But they are very bad at it, as the title implies. 

Let's see what that looks like in practice, shall we?

The trailer kicks off like a heist movie for kids, with a healthy introduction to each member of the crew, who all possess a particular set of skills. Perhaps the best in the bunch is Mr. Shark being a "master of disguise" which is ripe for comedy of the low-hanging-fruit variety. Mind you, I'm not knocking it as I got a good chuckle out of it. The idea here hinges on this group of bad guys getting into enough trouble that they have to pivot to being good guys to stay out of jail. Admittedly, the trailer seemingly lays the whole movie out on a silver platter leaving little up to the imagination.

Universal and DreamWorks have assembled a stacked cast for this one including Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh, and Alex Borstein. Pierre Perifel is making his feature directorial debut, having previously worked on movies such as "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Rise of the Guardians."

DreamWorks has been one of the most consistent producers of animation outside of Pixar over the last 20 years. They are a hit-making factory that produced both "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda," among many other hits. But the pandemic came for everyone and this pillar of the box office is no different. Whatever fate might have awaited this movie in the before times is no longer on the table. The question is, can this still become a hit and potentially generate a new franchise in the uncertain box office landscape? Or is this going to end up becoming a quick streaming play for Peacock?

The fact is, it's better for everyone if this movie can succeed theatrically rather than getting dumped to streaming like "The Mitchells vs. The Machines" or the last few original Pixar movies did. These movies are very important for the viability of the theatrical marketplace.

"The Bad Guys" hits theaters on April 22, 2022.

Never have there been five friends as infamous as The Bad Guys—dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf, seen-it-all safecracker Mr. Snake, chill master-of-disguise Mr. Shark, short-fused "muscle" Mr. Piranha and sharp-tongued expert hacker Ms. Tarantula, aka "Webs." But when, after years of countless heists and being the world's most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal (that he has no intention of keeping) to save them all from prison: The Bad Guys will go good.

Under the tutelage of their mentor Professor Marmalade, an arrogant (but adorable!) guinea pig, The Bad Guys set out to fool the world that they've been transformed. Along the way, though, Mr. Wolf begins to suspect that doing good for real may give him what he's always secretly longed for: acceptance. So when a new villain threatens the city, can Mr. Wolf persuade the rest of the gang to become ... The Good Guys?