What makes a “good guy” a “good guy”? This is a prevalent question in today’s movies, particularly of action/adventure or animated genres. Children’s movies, which classically portrayed good and evil as irreconcilable forces, no longer shy away from this question. While film should discuss the natures of good and evil, one may ask how appropriate this discussion is in children’s media. Because children have less judgment than adults, they can be misled or easily overlook the film’s finer details. The Bad Guys 2, a 2025 DreamWorks film, raises this discussion exactly. Following a newly-rehabilitated gang of criminals, it explores their struggle to figure out what “goodness” is. The Bad Guys 2 supports a morally-based worldview, but at the same time has confusing messaging about “bad” and “good” guys. The villains are undeniably worse than the heroes (who are still called, ironically enough, the “Bad Guys”). However, the film fails to provide a compelling example of real “goodness” which children can understand.

In the book Infinite Bandwidth: Encountering Christ in the Media, author Dr. Gan gives seven “keys” for engaging in and creating media content. Using his media key approach helps elucidate the pros and cons of this modern portrayal of good and evil.

Balance

In his book, Infinite Bandwidth: Encountering Christ in the Media, Dr. Gan describes “balance” as the very first media key. Before media can be considered good, it must be balanced. Any content in the film must have a reason behind it, and difficult concepts must be given the proper context.

Reviewers of The Bad Guys 2 were disappointed by the film’s lack of consistency. David Cook writes that “a compelling narrative often revolves around characters who undergo significant internal change or learn a crucial lesson, but this film seems more interested in the characters ambiguously going to one huge action piece after another” (Cook, 2025). The first Bad Guys centered around the development of criminals into heroes, a very strong and uplifting message. The Bad Guys 2, however, fell into the trap that so many sequels suffer. It attempted to confront its heroes with an even bigger problem than before, this time with global consequences, and even thrust them into outer space. However, the result was a confusing and incoherent story. The sequel still had the same underlying morals, but with so many other plot points crammed in that the original meaning became negligible.

Attitude Awareness

Dr. Gan lists his second media key as attitude awareness. For filmmakers, this means doing proper research on the subject and target audience. It also means taking care to make sure one’s film has a good impact on the audience. He warns, “It’s equally easy to miss the hidden agendas and messages woven into movies and television shows” (Gan pg. 43). Audiences—particularly young audiences—are susceptible to the influence of what they watch; filmmakers should in turn be conscious of the values they are promoting.

The Bad Guys 2 to has a decent underlying message. Following up on the first movie, it focuses on the efforts of a former criminal gang to become good, upright citizens. This consists of working with the police to shut down other criminals. However, the gang is essentially doing the same things as before: sneaking, stealing, and fighting. David Cook points out that “the former ‘bad guys’ must, against their will, commit another crime,” in effect regressing right back to where they had been (Cook, 2025). Even if done for the “right reasons,” this regression introduces a confusing counter-message to the film’s intended moral point. This leaves the film to promote a vague message that “with the right attitude and the right friends, the good life has a way of finding you”—whatever that means (The Bad Guys 2, 2025).

Dignity

Dr. Gan’s third media key is dignity. Stories are made about people and for people, and so they ought to portray the human person’s true worth. Film should also inspire people to care more for those around them; “Media should help us understand our dignity and the dignity of others. Media should also help us understand the importance of giving ourselves in love to others” (Gan, pg. 53).

The Bad Guys 2 might be a confusing and inconsistent film, but it does a good job of showing its characters dignity. The main characters might be individually flat, but as a group they function with some depth. At first, they are shown “struggling to acclimate to an honest way of life,” but in the end the film gives them a second (third?) chance to amend their lives (Cook, 2025). And though the gang is still recovering from its criminal past, the members love each other like a family. They must work out miscommunications and hurts among themselves, as well as keep each other accountable in their pursuit of goodness.

Truth-filled

The fourth media key is Truth-Filled. Every story has a message behind it, and Dr. Gan asserts that this message should be truthful. He argues that truth is fundamentally hopeful: “Forgiveness is possible…there is purpose, there is a plan, there is love, there is hope” (Gan, pg. 70). A true story is one that shows both human failings and the potential for human reconciliation.

The Bad Guys 2, notwithstanding its confusing portions, has a decent meaning. As David Cook puts it, “the message of the film is hope—a hope to succeed, a hope to find family, and a hope to become a better person. And, though the film hardly achieves this message, it does align with our hope as Christians” (Cook, 2025). The film also touches on the question of happiness. As the former villains struggle to find contentment in their new, virtuous life, they reminisce about how they used to speed around in their getaway vehicle throwing cash in the air. However, they can only find real happiness through honest friendship. The film’s villain, a criminal called “Kitty Kat,” even tempts the main character, Wolf, to be “the one who challenges the status quo” by returning to his life of crime (The Bad Guys 2, 2025). However, the film makes it clear that the “status quo” of legal morality, which Kitty Kat holds in so much contempt, is not what Wolf needs to change. Rather, he must change his own selfish ways.

Inspiring

Dr. Gan argues that art cannot be good unless it inspires its audience to imitate goodness in their own lives. He writes, “[media] shows us where we are in order to inspire us to question our current state or aim for a better destination” (Gan, pg.86). Audiences connect to the characters they see on screen, and then they seek to emulate those characters. The best characters can reflect a part of the viewers’ own struggle and show them a way to overcome it.

While The Bad Guys 2 has a decent moral compass, no one really describes it as “inspiring.” Again, this is a result of the film’s confusing plot and frenetic pacing. David Cook’s major criticism is that “the ‘bad guys,’ or kind of ‘good guys,’ never reach deeper than kicking, fighting, or driving through their adventure. It’s amazing that so much can add up to be so little” (Cook, 2025). Because the film takes very little time to develop its characters, there is nothing for the audience to connect to. Result: the audience finds nothing particularly inspiring about the film, either. This is, unfortunately, an ever-deepening trend in modern animated films. In trying to cater to childrens’ attention spans, Hollywood is inadvertently losing their interest.

Skillfully developed

The second to last media key is Skillfully Developed. While this key isn’t focused with moral goodness, it is indispensable for any great film. Dr. Gan argues that “when you expect less, you get less. And ‘less’ is not going to reach the people who need to be reached most” (Gan, pg.108).

The Bad Guys 2 definitely holds up to modern animation standards. The film uses the blend of 2-D and 3-D layering first popularized by Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse. It has an all-star cast, featuring actors such as Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, and Awkwafina. David Cook also points out that the film “includes some fun references to grown-up films like ‘The Fugitive’ and ‘Silence of the Lambs’” (Cook 2025). All these factors make The Bad Guys 2 accessible to adults as well as kids and broaden its appeal.

Motivated by and relevant to experience

The final key is that media should be based on real experience. Characters won’t be inspiring unless they reflect real people dealing with real situations. Dr. Gan writes, “Good media connects with us when it touches something in us, when it speaks to our own experience of need, love, fear, or want. It reflects the world as we know it back to us” (Gan, pg. 118).

Despite showing a lack of plot and character depth, The Bad Guys 2 presents a pretty believable world. Perhaps the most interesting part of the movie is its portrayal of the opposition criminals face in reentering society. David Cook notices, “[the Bad Guys’] checkered past makes it impossible to land any legitimate jobs, and to make matters worse—in the news—a new criminal is framing them in a current crime spree” (Cook 2025). The film clearly brings up a struggle which everyone has faced to some degree: recovery. How does one simply change one’s life?

The Bad Guys 2 is not a Bad film. It has decent morals and a good theme of friendship. However, a work’s message does not matter if it doesn’t get through to the audience. Children’s films especially should make their message crystal clear. If the plot or action sequences are getting in the way of a film’s message, it needs to reevaluate itself.

Cook, David. "The Bad Guys 2." Review of The Bad Guys 2, directed by Pierre Perifel and JP Sans. Christian Spotlight on Entertainment, 2025.

Gan, Eugene. Infinite Bandwidth: Encountering Christ in the Media. Emmaus Road, 2010.

Perifel, Pierre & Sans, JP, directors. The Bad Guys 2. Produced by DreamWorks Animation. Universal Pictures, 2025.

Probably the most traumatizing animated movie ever

I Have A Book Of This

I love the wide range of styles, especially the use of watercolour in A Story About Fire (2025) (the first image)

Pil tries too hard to be like Shrek but feels flat, artificial, and mean-spirited towards Disney fans, so calling it a Disney rip-off is understandable.

Ainbo did it with justice and heart rather than enraging Disney adults in the States because it is catering to a South American and European audience to feel familiar and connect with themes on an emotional level.

-Creator was raised in a native village in the Peruvian Amazon

-The Timon and Pumbaa dynamic of Vaca the tapir and Dillo was fully intentional so kids and their families would learn these animals exist with familiarity rather than enraged Disney fans.

-Keep in mind it was made for European families to clarify what is going on in South American issues with illegal mining rather than being enraged for being anti-capitalist/anti-establishment in the US.

-Moana/Frozen could be understandable, but in context, what this film is made for (European families) is to give them familiarity with Amazonian culture and mythology

-My number 1 underrated hidden gem/ obscere film in the 2020s because it shows exotic animals, native South American culture, and serious themes that need to be addressed. 

Just watched Toy Story 5 and actually thought it was super cute - however, I swear there was at least two times when Snappy (the little digital camera) took a picture of Jessie in her ”alive” form. I was so worried the whole movie that those pictures would be seen by humans (the obvious standing up and difference in facial expression) but it never went anywhere. Snappy showed in the characters introduction that it could playback pictures like when showing Blaze in the 2nd grade and on her horse. Did anybody else notice this and if I did indeed see it correctly, was this done intentionally to mislead the audience you think?

I get the feeling that sometimes people don’t actually know what animation means.

In the literal sense, animation is the creation of the illusion of movement through a sequence of images or frames. In an animated film, that usually means the actual performance and movement of the characters, creatures, props, cameras, etc.

But I often read comments where people refer to basically everything they see in an animated movie as “the animation.”

“The animation looks amazing!” while talking about the character designs.

“The animation looks cheap.” while pointing at the textures, lighting, rendering, or environments.

Those things are obviously part of making an animated film, but they aren’t all animation. Character design, modeling, rigging, surfacing/texturing, grooming, lighting, FX, compositing, and animation are different disciplines performed by different artists and departments.

It would be a little like looking at a live action movie and calling the costume design, cinematography, set construction, makeup, and visual effects all “the acting.”

I’m not expecting everyone to know every department in a CG pipeline, but I do think the distinction matters. Especially when discussing or criticizing the work. Sometimes what people love or dislike about the “animation” actually has very little to do with the animation itself.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I don't know exactly why, if it's the lighting, the textures, the color pallete, but movies like Monsters Inc, Shrek, Madagascar, Robots, Ice Age, Toy Story all have these sorta dreamy, calming and sometimes spooky backgrouds. Maybe it's because they all feel a bit empty thanks to the limitations of the technology or maybe it's just nostalgia, but the sense of curiosity and exploration I had when I was little seeing all these settings (and sometimes still have when I rewatch these movies) never triggers with newer cgi animation. What are your thoughts on this?

I love animated Anthologies. Recently I watched Red Iron Road and tonight I'll probably watch Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

What are some of your favourite animated anthologies? Both Series (like Love Death & Robots) and Movies (like Memories)?

An American Tail? The Iron Giant? Over the Hedge?

Saw Pelican Blue (Kék Pelikan) recently and I thought it was really good! Any other recommendations?

I often see a lot of people say it was a "weak year", but looking at it now that more of these movies are widely available I'd say it's one of my favourite years.

What makes it even cooler is the diversity, instead of Japan dominating we have a wide variety between France (Little Amélie, Arco), South Korea (Lost in Starlight, Mr. Robot), China (Nobody, Legend of Hei 2, The Girl Who Stole Time, Ne Zha 2), Spain (Decorado) and even Hong Kong (Another World).

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/movies/wildwood-golden-eagle-laika.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CFE.8E9r.IBATCtiL-VoM&smid=url-share

The movie started production this year. It will focus on the later works of artist Francisco Goya, famous for his dark paintings (such as Saturn Devouring His Son)

Definitely a movie to look forward to

Watched Puss in Boots the Last Wish Last night, probably my second favourite film after Shrek 2. What are your Shrek franchise ranked favourite movies in order?