The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday is the story of characters who love their job but are very bad at it. The events of this short film are placed before the 2022 film The Bad Guys, and since I haven’t seen that, my review will be based on just this narrative of 20 minutes. Basically, Wolf, Tarantula, Snake, Shark, and Piranha are good at planning and everything, but in their bid to overcomplicate things, they end up doing more good for society than bad. Also, not many seem to understand that being a villain is hard work. Sure, they are the most interesting characters in any universe, but they lack empathy and possess a simple desire to watch the world burn, which extends beyond basic selfishness. But characters like the ones in The Bad Guys or Despicable Me just see the iconic lines and start craving that lifestyle. They don’t bother to do an empathy or priority check beforehand, and that is the great tragedy of our times and their lives.
We haven’t watched the 2022 film, but knowing the bad guys are going to turn good, the events of this 2023 short film simply have us rolling our eyes at these people’s attempts to be so bad. You can just predict that the wolf’s eyes are going to turn big and round, and he will look like a lost puppy that will convince everyone to look past his pretentious despicability and just give him a tight squeeze and lots of kisses. There is the snake who uses his tail as a finger to sass around and make a point, and that is a very resourceful thing to do. We have almost begun to understand how some people are able to hold the snakes in their hands when visiting the zoo. Shark is a cutie. He sees blood but retains intelligence instead of getting hungry, which is already proof that he has a lot more emotions as well. Piranha and Tarantula are the muscles and brains of the group, which is already an indication that nothing is really serious, but our favorite character is Tiffany Fluffit, the reporter. She is just so silly overall that she has made us laugh as much as all the bad guys put together. The teeth and glasses are a nice touch. Either way, the following is a summary and ending of The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday.
Spoiler Alert
Why do the group plans of a Heist-macular go awry?
The gang is looking forward to Christmas because all the security guards will be on holiday, and they will get free rein to rob the banks as much as they want. This makes sense according to the rules of this made-up world. But it all changes when the group’s car accidentally catches the inflatable Santa, who is the city’s mascot, and it catches fire after they manage to release it. The holiday spirit has entirely gone down, and people have decided that they will come back to work since there is nothing to look forward to. That means that the gang won’t be able to carry on with their heist as planned. Therefore, they come up with a plan to restore the holiday cheer so that they may rob the city as planned. But that proves to be easier said than done since none of them are able to recreate the Santa mascot, and that leads to some terrifying-looking inventions, including a scary Santa balloon and a junky Santa robot. None of these are substitutes for the adorable Santa they burned, so Wolf has the idea to rob the department store and give those gifts to everyone in the city as an early Santa present. That would cheer them up. While there are hiccups with that as well since the gang members are more used to stealing gifts than delivering them, they eventually complete this mission, and people feel positive about the upcoming holiday. But Wolf wants to make sure that people are as excited about it as before to ensure their heist, and that is when they plan to use the ice-shaving machine to create snow for the entire city.
Are the bad guys able to pull off Heist-acular?
Wolf sets the machine to 10, when he was just supposed to set it to 5, because he simply wanted to go the extra mile to restore Christmas celebrations. That backfires, and the entire city gets engulfed in a snowstorm as the machine backfires. The bad guys must turn it off at any cost, and the robot proves to be the answer, since that is the only thing strong enough to withstand the storm. Wolf has to operate the robot from within while the rest of the members hold on to each other for dear life. Finally, Wolf manages to turn off the machine, and the city has snow once again, without the storm, and everyone is happy. It also helps that they have found a new mascot in the robot, which none of the bad guys were expecting, so it is a personal win for Tarantula as well.
However, at the end of The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday, the gang finds that they can’t do a heist because all of them have fallen sick. Finally, the consequences of their own accidents prevented them from carrying out their plans, and the annual tradition of Heist-acular is canceled forever. To put them all in a further bad mood, they find that Santa has left presents for them since their efforts for the city have placed them on the ‘nice list.’ The gang leads a sad life, but they know how to bounce back, and they immediately start making plans for getting onto Santa’s ‘naughty list’ for next year.
Final Thoughts
It is easy to tell why these gang members are so likable. We have been convinced to watch the film after this whole thing to see where the bad guys manage to consciously make a turn to be the good guys. Hopefully, in the meantime, we will get more short films from this franchise in the future.
