Nothing about The Bad Guys 2 should work—until you realize it's not a sequel. It's a setup.
DreamWorks just lobbed a glitter bomb into the summer lineup with Trailer #2 for The Bad Guys 2, and here's the kicker: this isn't just another redemption tale or family-friendly caper. It's Ocean's Eleven meets Birds of Prey, if both were animated, criminally clever, and gunning for a “Best Animated Feature” nod with claws out.
The trailer kicks off with a gut-punch line: “We need The Bad Guys for the biggest heist in history!” Immediately, it flips the redemption arc of the first film. Our reformed crew—Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Shark, and Mr. Piranha—are yanked out of retirement for “one last job.” Classic setup? Sure. But here's the twist: they're being manipulated by an all-female crew of slick, stylish criminals—the Bad Girls.
It's a narrative inversion. A role reversal. A genre tweak that subtly says: You thought you knew the rules? Cool. Watch them burn.
The newcomers—Danielle Brooks as Kitty Kat, Maria Bakalova as Pigtail, and Natasha Lyonne as Doom—don't just expand the cast. They hijack the vibe. Kitty Kat, a snow leopard with a plan sharper than her claws. Pigtail, an Eastern European wild boar with Tony Stark-level tech finesse. Doom, a raven who might've just flown in from Fargo's writers' room. This isn't a sequel about bigger stakes—it's about smarter threats.
Hollywood's had a rocky history with sequels flipping formulas. Despicable Me 3 tried it with Gru's brother. Cars 2 forgot who its movie was about. But The Bad Guys 2 takes a different swing: it doesn't just expand the world—it challenges the characters' moral footing.
In the 2010s, we saw a wave of films where redemption was the end goal (Megamind, Wreck-It Ralph). Now, post-Succession, post-Spider-Verse, audiences want tension within that redemption. The trailer suggests that Mr. Wolf and the crew aren't just backsliding—they're being played.
And let's not skip the visuals: DreamWorks' decision to keep that scratchy, stylized look—half noir, half Saturday morning chaos—is a love letter to animation as art, not just a babysitter. The sequence teased in the trailer (a zero-gravity vault break-in?!) looks like Mission: Impossible hijacked by Looney Tunes. And it works.
The uncomfortable truth? The Bad Guys 2 might outshine its original by letting go of the moral training wheels.
So ask yourself—if being good gets you played, how bad would you go to even the score?
👇 Let us know: Are you rooting for the Bad Guys, the Bad Girls—or just in it for the chaos?
