Staying good isn’t easy

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Friday, August 1st.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a movie for all ages.

DreamWorks' latest animated film, The Bad Guys 2 is out starting today. Reviewer Joseph Holmes discusses how the film balances being entertaining for kids and adults, as well as the film’s positive messages.

JOSEPH HOLMES: All family films have a tricky balancing act to pull off, worthy of a movie heist. They have to be entertaining for kids and adults. And they need to be good—or at least safe—for the kids. Happily, the film The Bad Guys 2 manages to hit most of these marks with flying colors. It's a funny, heartfelt, well-animated heist movie. And it’s a movie with a conscience that handles some deep topics about how hard it is to stay on the straight and narrow—but how worth it that is.

KITTY: One last job. Whatcha say?

MR. WOLF: [Laughs] What do we say? Well, no, is the short answer. We’re flattered, but the thing is–

MR. SHARK: We’re good now.

MR. PIRANHA: Yeah. We don’t steal stuff anymore.

MR. WOLF: So yeah, if you could just untie us, we’ll let ourselves out and we can just call it a noche, okay?

KITTY: (laughs)

[Nervous laughter]

KITTY: Not exactly asking.

In the new action-packed chapter about a crackerjack crew of animal outlaws, our newly reformed Bad Guys are trying very, very hard to be good. They instead find themselves hijacked into a high-stakes, globe-trotting heist masterminded by a new team of criminals they never saw coming: the Bad Girls.

On an entertainment level, you know The Bad Guys 2 is going to work within its first moments. The jokes fly a mile a minute, silly enough for kids to enjoy but smart enough for adults to appreciate. The heists are thrilling and give each character a chance to shine. The combination of 3D and 2D animation is gorgeous, exploding with energy and expression. And the film doesn’t rush through its more serious moments, allowing the characters and themes to have weight.

MR. WOLF: Alright, here we go. First time for everything, right? [Screams]

Even better, the film’s positive messages are deeper and more insightful than standard family fare. Having made the decision to stop a life of crime in the last film, Mr. Wolf and the Bad Guys team are forced to wrestle with the difficulties of continuing to stay on the straight and narrow path even when it’s hard. The film spends a lot of time contrasting how much fun and how much success they had being criminals, with the dull life, full of rejection and disrespect, they face as law-abiding citizens. The film allows its viewers to sit in this reality and empathize with the former criminals as they get tempted back into their old lives. But then celebrates them for resisting that temptation.

This is something the scriptures talk about extensively also. “Why do the wicked prosper?” while good people so often suffer is a common question the biblical authors struggle with. And the Bible also warns that the enemy will come to try to take advantage of our suffering to tempt us toward evil . By telling a story that acknowledges this reality, The Bad Guys 2 reminds us that suffering for doing good isn’t a sign that we shouldn’t be good, but that we should persevere through suffering anyway.

DIANE: You know, I’m very hands-on. Especially when someone tries to frame my friends. I know everything. The Maguffinite, the magnet.

KITTY: You talked to Marmalade.

DIANE: Actually, he did most of the talking. I’m more of an action girl.

The film isn’t perfect. Some of the situations are a bit contrived to move the plot forward. And when the movie tries to land its message about why the good path is better than the bad path, it comes off as a tad trite. Mr. Wolf says that doing what’s right gets you respect and doing what’s wrong gets you fear, and the difference is that respect is earned. But the film never develops that idea.

The film also isn’t entirely unobjectionable. Characters engage in innuendo in multiple instances, played for laughs—sometimes when flirting with another character, which also once leads to a sloppy makeout session, also played for laughs, and sometimes when talking to or about luxury items like cars. Rude humor includes a running gag where a character passes gas when nervous, which actually becomes a major part of the third act.

SNAKE: Lockpicking is like romance. You’ve got to start gentle, playful, work your way into its little cold heart, until all those defenses melt away.

SUSAN: Oh, sounds kind of fun.

[Snake and Susan laugh]

MR. PIRANHA: Are we still talking about the lock?

In an age of the internet where everyone’s entertainment is individualized by algorithms, movies that everyone can watch together are harder than ever to come by. The fact that The Bad Guys 2 is able to provide a service like that, which brings people together, is worth celebrating.

I’m Joseph Holmes.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.