The Bad Guys (Collector’s Edition) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: Pierre Perifel

Cast: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson (VOICES)

Release Date: June 21, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

Never have there been five friends as infamous as THE BAD GUYS—Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula. After years of countless heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught. Mr. Wolf brokers a deal to keep them out of prison and the Bad Guys set out to fool the world into believing they’ve gone good. Packed with huge laughs and edgy action, being bad has never been so fun in this action-comedy from DreamWorks Animation.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘The Bad Guys’ follows a talented heist crew known far and wide for their daring robberies and desperately wanted by the local Police Department. But when these five criminals known as Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula attempt to steal an item known to be the downfall of countless other thieves, the crew is finally captured. Before the cops can haul them away for good, Mr. Wolf comes up with a clever scheme to give them a chance at redemption in order to avoid prison. Now these five baddies will have to try and convince the world they’re actually Good Guys if they hope to avoid spending the rest of their lives behind bars.

‘The Bad Guys’ delivers a fun, funny and fast paced ride with a group of criminals that must tackle their biggest con yet; trying to make the world think that they’re really good guys. Based on the Scholastic book series, ‘The Bad Guys’ offers a perfect middle ground of criminals getting into trouble, yet still retaining some heart and never coming anywhere close to breaching territory that most parents will find problematic for the majority of school age children. Even better yet is the fact that it brings enough rewarding laughs and over the top fun to the table to make it equally enjoyable for the adult viewers who shouldn’t have any trouble appreciating this one as much as the younger audience. It may not be an outright masterpiece in every way, but it delivers a fairly clever and massively entertaining family adventure that’s well worth giving a chance.

The animated fun and laughs is smoothly guided along by director Pierre Perifel and Perifel’s capable work at the helm is greatly complemented by a talented voice cast that includes Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, and Awkwafina, along with Zazie Beetz, Lily Singh, Alex Borstein, Richard Ayoade and more. Each helps in their own right to make ‘The Bad Guys’ a fun, nicely animated and consistently funny good time for the entire family that you might just find yourself wanting to revisit sooner than later. I would definitely encourage anyone with young ones at home along with those of all ages who are intrigued by it to try and find the time to give ‘The Bad Guys’ a whirl because there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have a great time with these lovable baddies.

Overall, ‘The Bad Guys’ serves up a funny, well animated adventure with a group of criminals who love being bad but are forced to try and do good instead of landing behind bars. With plenty of clever moments throughout and a nice balance of style that works equally well for adults and kids, it’s a solid and undeniably fun ride that’s worth taking. The lighthearted fun and laughs is only further complemented by a solid voice cast that all comes together into a truly enjoyable animated feature that should offer plenty to appreciate for viewers of all ages. ‘The Bad Guys’ is definitely recommended, especially for anyone that enjoys an altogether well-made animated film with plenty of laughs and excitement throughout, along with those who have kids at home that are likely to appreciate it.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘The Bad Guys’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks quite great as a whole and delivers a clean, sharp, vividly colored and richly detailed presentation that looks good down to each animated line and never suffers from any unexpected problems or faults to be uncovered along the way. The HDR-10 addition also helps to create a fresh and vibrant color palette throughout which is one element that stands out significantly in contrast to the Blu-ray edition and helps breathe some fresh life into the presentation. The detail within might not be as noticeable of an improvement but the HDR really makes the 4K option the best choice possible for those capable of playing it. Overall, this is a very nice Ultra High Definition video presentation that looks clean, sharp and quite gorgeous from start to finish and should easily satisfy.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a wonderful complement to the onscreen fun and offers a clean, crisp and often notably aggressive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send action effects, vehicle activity and music, along with crowd chatter and quite a bit more regularly whipping throughout the various speakers whenever appropriate and never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a splendid Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that sounds great and contributes plenty of extra fun to the viewing experience throughout.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘The Bad Guys’ includes a solid collection of bonus content for the whole family to enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Director Pierre Perifel, Producer Damon Ross, Head of Story Nelson Yokota, Head of Character Animation JP Sans, and Production Designer Luc Desmarchelier’, in addition to the new Animated Short ”Marachino Ruby” (running approximately 4 minutes in length) and some ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 11 minutes altogether). We are also treated to some Featurettes, Fun and How To Videos, plus more including ‘Devise the Plan: Making The Bad Guys’ (running approximately 7 minutes in length), ‘Assemble the Crew’ which is broken down by cast members/characters (approximately 7 minutes combined), ‘It’s Showtime: Cast Table Read’ (6 minutes), along with ‘Snake’s Frozen Pop Shop’ which features ‘Frozen Pop Recipes’ (3 minutes) and tricks for ‘How to Disguise Your Frozen Pop’ (3 minutes). Also included are ‘From the Drawing Room’ how-to videos which include ‘How to Storyboard’ (4 minutes) and instructions on ‘How to Draw’ the 5 key Characters (11 minutes in total).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘The Bad Guys: Collector’s Edition’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from DreamWorks Animation & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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