Lisa Johnson Mandell’s The Bad Guys review says this lively, animated movie with a message has something for everyone.

I’d suggest that parents drop their kids off to see The Bad Guys while they go into the next theater and watch The Northman or The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, but The Bad Guys is so much fun adults will want to see it too! The others are well worth the price of a babysitter on another night.

From DreamWorks Animation and based on a bestselling children’s book series by Aaron Blabey, The Bad Guys is an action comedy about an anthropomorphized group of traditionally dangerous animals who band together committing outrageously clever crimes.

Bored with their success, they decide to go for the ultimate heist, and are shocked at the lessons they all learn in attempting to carry it out. The casting is superb, with the pernicious posse members voiced by Sam Rockwell as Wolf, Craig Robinson as Shark, Marc Maron as Snake, Awkwafina as Tarantula and Anthony Ramos as Piranha.

Remember, this is an animated Zootopia kind of world, and it’s not relevant  that Shark and Piranha live on dry land, or that these predators would attack each other in the natural world.

It’s also not relevant that in this animal integrated city, everyone is human except the main characters and a handful of others with major speaking roles. I think it would have made more sense to see more animals living mixing it up with humans in the background.

But in a world where animals can drive cars and work computers and steal jewels and run for mayor, who am I to nitpick about what makes sense? Animators get to create their own realities.

Rookie director Pierre Perifel has created a lively, colorful reality that’s highly engaging and entertaining. The stylish Los Angeles vibe setting is terrific, and with 15 books in the series as of this writing, it’s highly likely that we’ll be returning there in the not too distant future.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 40 minutes

If this The Bad Guys review has you revving your engines to head out to the cineplex and see it, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s The Bad Guys review says this lively, animated movie with a message has something for everyone.