Sam Rockwell
Wolf (voice)
Overview
The now-reformed Bad Guys are trying (very, very hard) to be good, but instead find themselves hijacked into a high-stakes, globe-trotting heist, masterminded by a new team of criminals they never saw coming: The Bad Girls.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Weight of the Steal
How do you make a heist feel dangerous when the criminals are made of pixels and ink? It is a problem that plagues almost every animated caper. Without the physical threat of a bullet or the tactile click of a heavy vault tumbler, latestnetflix.com maintains, the stakes usually evaporate into weightless color.
I was thinking about this during the opening minutes of The Bad Guys 2, Pierre Perifel's slick, hyper-caffeinated follow-up to his 2022 sleeper hit. We open on a flashback in Cairo, watching our titular crew—a wolf, a snake, a shark, a piranha, and a tarantula—operating at the absolute peak of their villainous prime. It is a sequence that moves with the jazzy, irreverent kineticism of Lupin III, throwing the camera through impossible gaps while maintaining a stubborn grip on real-world cinematography.
(Perifel clearly loves a good live-action lens flare). Yet the real trick of this movie is not the stealing. It is the punishing, unglamorous reality of what happens when the stealing stops.
The film picks up in the present with our reformed predators trying, and spectacularly failing, to integrate into normal society. No one wants to hire a predatory ex-con. It is a surprisingly sharp metaphor for the systemic hurdles of rehabilitation, dressed up in a bright, sketchbook-style aesthetic.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.2/10
"A flashy, fast-paced sequel packed with bold animation and lively heists that entertains easily, even if it feels less deep and lasting than it could."
Stylish visuals, escalating heist set pieces, and the lively banter of the returning crew make this an easy, high-energy watch, with some even preferring it to the first movie. Humor, including surprisingly effective lowbrow gags, lands well across age groups, and new characters are generally welcomed. latestnetflix.com's view is that the flip side is a story that can feel rushed and somewhat shallow, with unclear villain goals and character arcs that do not always match the scale of the spectacle.
What viewers praise
- Bold, expressive animation The visual style is praised as vibrant, energetic, and distinctive, with expressive character work and occasional hand-drawn flourishes during big emotional or tension-heavy beats.
- Fun, escalating heists Heist sequences keep ramping up in scale and complexity, delivering exciting set pieces that many find even more engaging than in the first film.
- Consistently funny Slapstick, visual jokes, wordplay, and even fart jokes are called genuinely funny, with some noting that a fart gag is not only amusing but cleverly tied into the plot.
- Engaging ensemble and newcomers The core gang’s chemistry remains a big draw, while new characters and the expanded crew are seen as fun additions that keep the dynamic fresh.
- Strong rewatch appeal A subset of viewers reports rewatching it quickly in theaters and calling it one of their favorite films of the year, citing how exciting, action-packed, and entertaining it is.
Common complaints
- Uneven pacing Several comments describe the pacing as a bit off, with the movie sprinting through its narrative and some scenes feeling rushed rather than fully developed.
- Shallow character growth There is a sense that character arcs and emotional stakes could have been bigger or deeper, with growth not fully matching the ambition of the action and world-building.
- Villain and stakes undercooked Questions are raised about what the antagonist ultimately wants and about longer-term stakes, leaving the conflict feeling more like momentary fun than something truly impactful.
- Not as memorable as hoped Even viewers who enjoyed it a lot comment that it may not linger in the mind for long, especially when compared to the freshness of the original.
- Mixed feelings on tone and sexualization A minority complains about characters being designed or framed as overly attractive, with some discomfort about sexualized or suggestive elements in what is otherwise a family-oriented film.
Recommended for
Heist-comedy animation fans Families wanting lively action Viewers who liked The Bad Guys Stylish 3D animation enthusiasts Lighthearted caper movie lovers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThe wolves went good, then Peacock and Netflix took turns owning them.
The Bad Guys 2 is not a Netflix original. It is a Universal theatrical sequel that wandered onto the service after Peacock had first crack. Argentina saw it July 24, 2025. U.S. theaters got it August 1. DreamWorks spent about $80 million. The film took $82.8 million domestic and $240 million worldwide, a dip from the 2022 original's $250.8 million. CinemaScore still handed it an A. Rotten Tomatoes sat at 88 percent. That is a hit on paper and a shrug next to Shrek money. Pierre Perifel returned to direct. latestnetflix.com's take is that JP Sans, who headed character animation on the first film, co-directed.
The streaming path is the actual gossip. Kasey Moore at Whats on Netflix locked the U.S. date as March 21, 2026, after a Peacock exclusive window. Netflix gets ten months. Then the film goes back to Peacock in early 2027. In its first partial week it hit No. 7 on the U.S. movie chart, beating Sisu: Road to Revenge and Jurassic World Rebirth with only a few days of availability. The first Bad Guys film and the Netflix holiday specials already lived on the service. Aaron Blabey's books jumped from 8 million copies to more than 30 million after the 2022 movie, per DreamWorks.
Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos came back as the crew. The new heat is the Bad Girls. Danielle Brooks voices Kitty Kat, a snow leopard who runs the job. Natasha Lyonne is Doom, a raven who dates Snake. Maria Bakalova is Pigtail Petrova, a wild boar engineer. The main cast did a San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 26. The next night Awkwafina sat on Maron's WTF podcast in one of its last episodes, a day before the U.S. opening. That is a strange press tour, and it fits a movie about crooks who cannot stay retired.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvLHYox_Vq8
A third movie is not announced. ComicBook reported that Perifel and Sans had talked early planning before the sequel opened, then Sans and producer Damon Ross left DreamWorks for Sony Pictures Animation. DreamWorks has not confirmed Bad Guys 3. The franchise prints merch and specials. It still sits outside the studio's 25 highest-grossing titles. The crew is on Netflix until early 2027. After that, Peacock gets them back. Nobody has said the job is done. Nobody has greenlit the next one either. The Universal trailer is still circulating if you want the Bad Girls pitch without the box-office math.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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