The Bad Guys 2

image for The Bad Guys 2

Short takes

Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 11 (violence, scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for The Bad Guys 2
  • a review of The Bad Guys 2 completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 9 September 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 10 Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 10–11 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: The Bad Guys 2
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes, animated violence and coarse language
Length: 104 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

It is five years since the Bad Guys were jailed for stealing a classic motor car in Cairo. Now free again, the five friends, Wolf (voice of Sam Rockwell), Shark (Craig Robinson), Snake (Marc Maron), Tarantula (Awkwafina) and Piranha (Anthony Ramos), are determined to be the ‘good guys’. It isn’t easy, however, for any of them to find employment or trust in the community. Meanwhile, Snake meets up with Susan, aka Doom (Natasha Lyonne), a blue raven. Susan, however, is part of a trio of female bandits led by Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), who are intent on getting the Bad Guys to help them with one last job – the greatest heist of all. Kitty Kat, aka the Phantom Bandit, is stealing a particular metal which, when melted down, will create a gold magnet strong enough to attract all the gold on Earth.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Good versus Evil; Animated action; Robbery; Crime.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a lot of stylised, animated violence in this movie in which no-one gets seriously hurt or injured. Some examples include:

  • Characters are knocked out in slapstick style.
  • Fighting between opponents using kicking, punching and throwing.
  • High speed car chase during which buildings get crashed through, much havoc on the streets, police cars crash into the river, a crane falls onto a police blockade, etc.
  • A bomb explodes, blowing up a building.
  • Wolf boxes with the Governor, a female fox named Diane, leaving Wolf with a black eye.
  • A wrestling match at the Lords of Lucha tournament sees a large man wrestle a very large pig who grabs the man by the neck and throws him across the ring. A very stylised wrestling match follows.
  • Tranquiliser darts are used several times.
  • Knives are thrown at characters and guns are also pointed but not fired.
  • A man is seen tied up with duct tape around his mouth, quivering in the back of a van.
  • The Bad Guys are seen tied up in ropes and in handcuffs. They are pulled up to the ceiling by a magnetic force and left hanging there. They are then dropped to the ground and raised up again – this occurs several times.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Some of the characters are quite scary-looking. Wolf, who is usually cool and calm, can make himself look quite scary and intimidating by snarling and growling and letting his claws come out.
  • Snake can look quite scary at times when he’s being charming.
  • The police commissioner is a very large, angry woman who is always yelling and barking orders.
  • Marmalade, a criminal guinea pig, laughs manically.
  • The pig is very large and intimidating – dressed in black and gold, she is very forceful.
  • Kitty Kat is a female puma who is quite scary-looking with green eyes and long claws.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • There are lots of loud, sudden noises. Many action scenes are shown in slow motion.
  • A car chase is quite intense with many characters getting knocked out of the way, cars crashing and general havoc.
  • The wrestling match audience blame the Bad Guys for stealing the prize metal award and come angrily after them.
  • A rocket launches, causing huge explosions and clouds of smoke. The police commissioner flies a helicopter with the Bad Guys into the smoke.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • No-one is prepared to trust Wolf or the other Bad Guys who are trying to become good. One man says, “once a con always a con”. There seems to be no way for redemption.
  • Wolf returns to the van to find all of his friends knocked out by a tranquiliser. He is then also fired at with a tranquilised dart. They are all taken into captivity.
  • Diane goes to visit Marmalade in prison. He is in a dark dungeon and all you can see is his eyes glowing.
  • The Bad Guys and Diane are inside a shuttle, hurtling back to Earth. They are thrown all about and fear their bones might turn to water.
  • A funeral service is held for a major character, where all of the congregation is crying.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is a romance between Snake and Susan. They meet while drooling over a hamster.
  • Diane flirts with Wolf.
  • One of the characters says that with romance you need to, “start gently, work your way into the centre and then all of the defences will melt away”.
  • Snake says that Susan, “is so hot now”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Snake has his mouth all over Susan’s head in a very wet kiss.
  • Wolf and Diane are seen hugging and kissing.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Snake appears drunk.
  • Susan gives the Bad Guys lollies that have a tranquiliser in them.
  • Drinking at a wedding.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Jackass
  • Hell
  • Crap
  • Fart.

In a nutshell

The Bad Guys 2 is an animated action comedy based on the books by Australian author Aaron Blabey. The movie is fast-paced but maintains a comedic undertone throughout, and while the plot is far-fetched, it is all very tongue-in-cheek. Due to the level of violence and scary scenes, the movie isn’t suitable for under 10’s and is more suited to teens and older children.

The main messages from this movie are to not let bumps in the road stop you from moving forward and that goodness does have some rewards.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Friendship
  • Loyalty
  • Working as a team
  • Redemption and forgiveness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The difficulties associated with trying to reform from doing a bad thing and what society could do better to help people in these circumstances.
  • Crime does have consequences but doing a bad thing doesn’t always make you a bad person.