The Bad Guys

[Matt2112]

An Easter holiday visit with the little 'un to the flicks.

Yes, it's unlikely my friends here will be hurrying to see this unless it's with their grand-kids or something, but I'm posting for the record anyway. 

This Dreamworks animation is good, solid family fun, essentially a slickly-executed knockabout kid-friendly crime caper and redemption tale, but with a level of sophistication that credits its primary school-aged audience with plenty of intelligence.

Sam Rockwell heads the voice cast and does an excellent job as principal character Wolf, channelling George Clooney-as-Danny-Ocean's charming rogue routine pretty much faultlessly ("Clooney" is even used as a verb at one point).  And that's one of a number of enjoyable references to classic crime thrillers that film-savvy parents will notice amongst the frenetic slapstick and set-pieces.

So while this isn't quite in the same league as the best Pixar movies, and is certainly no Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, this is nonetheless 100 engaging minutes of quality popcorn fun.

Rating: ***