Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538315
FALL 2025 31 FALL 2025 31 The Bad Guys 2 images courtesy of DreamWorks Animation opposite page and this page: In The Bad Guys 2, fitting all the characters into various cars was its own unique challenge. CAR CHASES ARE THE BACKBONE OF ANY GREAT ACTION MOVIE. THERE'S AN INHERENT TENSION. WILL THE CHARACTERS GET WHERE THEY'RE GOING, OR WILL THEY BE STOPPED JUST SHORT OF THEIR DESTINATION? AND IF THEY DON'T GET THERE, WHAT HAPPENS THEN? After more than a century of moviemaking, one might think there are no new ways to turn a wheel, but animation filmmakers are still creating exciting, suspenseful chase sequences that keep audiences perched on the edge of their seats. First, though, you need the car. In DreamWorks' new heist film, The Bad Guys 2, each major vehicle is a narrative device as much as it is a prop. In the opening flashback sequence, Mr. Wolf and his criminal crew steal a sleek, shiny muscle car, reminding the audience of how successful they were in their criminal heyday. Then, in the present, reformed and trying to walk the straight and narrow, they drive Betty the Beater, a busted-up hatchback, making it clear how far they've fallen. In designing the various cars, and especially Mr. Wolf's little junker, "the real challenge for us was how vastly different our characters are in terms of morphologies and size," says Director Pierre Perifel. A well-designed animated car needs to have room on the inside to fit all of its passengers without scaling down the models—audiences tend to notice if a character that was previously twice another's size suddenly shrinks to fit comfortably into the middle seat. But Perifel realized they could use the characters' size discrepancies to push the comedic and narrative weight of the car, squeezing Mr. Shark into the backseat and perching Ms. Tarantula on her own mini seat. The Bad Guys don't fit into their new life, literally. It's no surprise that they'll do anything to change their circumstances, not to mention find a new car.