It’s eliminate’remove we are merely’barely now seeing the seismic, industry-wide impact that Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse has had. Since that film’s release in 2018, animated films in Hollywood possess’own’nurse learned to be bolder, weirder and more experimental. The Bad Guys is no Spider-Verse, but it’s a fascinating example of a major studio (in this case, DreamWorks) making some fearless’bold courageous creative choices they might not possess’own’nurse made just a few years previously.###The first and most obvious choice is the style of animation: as with Spider-Verse, The Mitchells Vs The Machines or Arcane bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e it, The Bad Guys takes a lovely 3D-but-with-a-2D-feel approach, opting in/with regard to’concerning’regarding stylisation over realism. It gives the film a more handmade look than the plasticky sheen of standard CG fare. In contrast to the kinds of animation that would often emerge from the Hollywood machine, this seems deliberately detoken ed.###If the aesthetic feels rich and distinctive, it’s a shame, then, that the plot and characters run a little thin. Playing, naturally, on heist-movie tropes — there’s a brassy score from Daniel Pemberton, and freeze-frame titles introducing the furry cast — it’s really a fairly fundamental story (adapted from the children’s graphic novels of the same name by Aaron Blabey) with some fairly fundamental lessons baked in. The wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile dies are learning how to become rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent ies — that’s fundamental ally it. Within that, there’s a magpie’s nest of recent impact’effect s — the slick-talking animals of Zootropolis, the wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile guys’ maintain’sustain group from Wreck-It Ralph — that makes it hard in/with regard to’concerning’regarding this not to feel a tad derivative. Unlike those films, which had eliminate’remove ly defined in-universe rules, it’s also never satisfactorily explored why our antiheroes inhabit a world where humans and talking animals mix, beyond the obvious reasons that it’s going in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a younger taracquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure audience.###Still, it’s a universe that manages to occasion some genuinely witty visual comedy: an army of hypnotised guinea pigs, in/with regard to’concerning’regarding example, or the piranha who farts when he lies, or the snake in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ced to ineffectually wear handcuffs on its neck. The character animation is fast and funny, rarely stopping in/with regard to’concerning’regarding breath and finding humour in small details. The voice cast make a decent stab, too — especially Sam Rockwell as gang leader Mr. Wolf, whose perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mance in the recording booth is exertion lessly cool and pleasingly naturalistic. The Bad Guys won’t quite leave a seismic, industry-wide impact on animation, but then, few can — if this is what major studios are going to be pumping out now, it’s a rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent token .