Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Shark are back in theaters with The Bad Guys 2. The animated former felons’ fight to be good guys is once again on the line.
In this sequel, they are faced with a set of new bad girls, pushing them into a high-stakes heist. The film is based on a children’s book series and brought to life by director Pierre Perifel.
There are several themes within the film, but one overriding theme is hope. Perifel told CBN News’ Studio 5 why this theme was so important.
“Yeah, it was important because Wolf is that character who is really torn by what’s happening to him. He’s like, he made a big life change, stepped out of his comfort zone to become a good guy, realizes it’s much worse than he thought it would be. He’s really not fun. Nobody wants him. Wolf, deep down, just wants to belong. He just wants to be accepted by everybody, and it doesn’t work out. And throughout the thing, I mean, of course Diane is always his mentor and she’s saying, keep hoping it’s going to happen at some point just to give them a reason to like you,” Perifel explained.
“Obviously tons of things happen in the movie, in the story, but for him, it’s all about hoping that never losing your optimism and always having optimistic, positive outward on what’s going to come to you. I think that’s the hope. That’s the hope we’re talking about. But at some point, he’s really doubting. He’s losing a little bit of that hope and he’s wondering whether or not he should go back to who used to be,” he continued.
Sam Rockwell (Mr. Wolf), Craig Robinson (Mr. Snake), and Marc Maron (Mr. Shark) are the voices of the Bad Guys. Sam Rockwell shared with CBN’s Studio 5 his experience voicing his character.
“I don’t think it was really lonely because if you’re not working with one of these guys, you’ve got Pierre, who’s a very animated French fellow who directed it. So, he’d give you all you needed usually. And he was sort of always who I was reading with,” Rockwell said. “Me and Natasha did some in-person stuff and were able to get some chemistry going.”
WATCH Our Studio 5 Special on the Film:
Danielle Brooks (Kitty Kat), Natasha Lyonne (Doom), and Maria Bakalova (Pigtail) are the voices of the Bad Girls. Brooks shared what it was like playing a villain in the film and overall, as an actress.
“Wolf 2.0 has been so much fun. I mean, in my career I’ve been in this 12, 13 years, something like that. I don’t know. And I’ve always been the likable character, so to be bad I need more. I need more. Yes. I love it,” Brooks said.
While hope is a major theme in The Bad Guys 2, director Pierre Perifel also promises more action and adventure.
“We have a base that we can build upon. We don’t have to build everything from scratch. We already have assets from the first film. So it was really the perfect ramp to get to this kind of scale in this movie. But yeah, the idea from the beginning was, let’s make a big action film and let’s make it so cinematic that people want to go watch it in theater because it’s really best experienced in a theater.”
The Bad Guys 2 is now in theaters nationwide.
