ANI-MOVIES, *The Bad Guys 2

Being the franchise factory that they are, DreamWorks figured they'd apply the same arrangement for The Bad Guys. Coming out three years after the original, The Bad Guys 2 not only put the brand name back on tracks but also helped launch a prequel animated TV series on Netflix. The animation here reaches an even higher peak than the original did, and they literally raise the stakes by taking the premise and launches it into space which is usually where you take a franchise after you don't know what to do with it anymore (see Jason X for reference). The story takes a good approach on showing how reformed villains are treated after they renounced their evil ways by how no one wants to give them a chance at fitting into civilian society. The story does advance things a little fast as most characters seem to get more advanced in their personal progress that a single sequel should cover, although at least DreamWorks doesn't look like they'll keep this premise jumping through several hoops like they did with the Shrek movies.

Now being good, the Bad Guys have been trying to get legitimate jobs but keep getting shut down. Meanwhile, a crimewave hits town with a new thief called the Phantom Bandit when it's really a trio of female crooks referred to as the Bad Girls who set up Wolf and the others to join them in their latest caper by having them take the fall for a heist involving a luchador wrestling match. The Bad Girls include their leopard leader Kitty Kat, Pigtail the boar, and Doom the raven who manipulates Snake into falling for her. Kitty Kat's big scheme is to steal a space shuttle and collecting a made-up mineral called MacGuffinite to attract all the gold in the world to the International Space Station which for some reason is totally unmanned, and as leverage Kitty threatens to expose Governor Diane's criminal past. The Bad Guys go along with it, but the Bad Girls get the drop on them and expose Diane's hidden history to the internet. With nothing left to lose, the Bad Guys get a lift on the shuttle, win over Pigtail and Doom to their side, and stop Kitty's ludicrous plan. However, they along with Diane fake their deaths and are asked to become part of a special spy team called ISGLOP, while it turns out the entire caper was a plot by the villain from the first movie to get out of jail and is really an alien.

The Bad Guys 2 isn't a common sequel and leveled up the formula by taking it several steps forward. Normally, the first sequel to an animated film has the characters running through the same routine as in the original, but this film continues the story and levels it up to Super-Saiyan 2. The best aspect here is the animation which takes anthropomorphic characters with standard cartoon designs and blends it together with stunning action sequences. The CGI animation is dynamic and takes quite a few hints from Sony with their Spider-Verse outings. The only downside is that it tried to stuff too much into a single film meaning that the third movie will go ballistic with whatever outrageous plot it has in store.