With Sing 2 just around the corner, DreamWorks Animation has shared the first trailer for its next animated movie. Have you ever watched Disney’s Zooptopia and Ocean’s Eleven and wondered what would happen if you put the two films in a blender? Well, you might end up with something like The Bad Guys, which promises to be a hilarious heist movie featuring a team of reformed animal criminals voiced by a cast full of A-List talent. Check out the new trailer above.
The Bad Guys, as based on the children’s book series by Aaron Babey, stars Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, a take on the classic Big Bad Wolf, who leads a team of crack-shot villains. And just in case we didn’t get that, the trailer helpfully makes use of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” to give us a clue. But when a mistake during a job ends up with him looking like the good guy, Wolf starts to wonder if being bad is all it’s cracked up to be. Before long, the whole gang is dressing in onesies and trying to change their public image by doing good.
Joining Rockwell is Awkafina, most recently seen in Marvel’s Shang-Chi, as Miss Tarantula, Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark, Hamilton‘s Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, and Joker star Marc Maron as Mr. Snake. Fellow Joker alum Zazie Beetz plays Diane Foxington, with Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade. Alex Borstein and Lilly Singh also have roles.
DreamWorks has pitched this one as doing for the heist genre what Shrek did for fairy tales and Kung Fu Panda did for kung fu films. It definitely promises to be fun for kids on one level and on another for adults who’ll enjoy picking up on the spoofs of heist and crime caper movie tropes. You can catch The Bad Guys when the film enters theaters on April 22, 2022.
