The bad guys!

Never have there been five friends as infamous as dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), seen-it-all safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), chill master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), short-fused “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and sharp-tongued expert hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) aka “Webs’ who make up a crackerjack criminal crew on the verge of attempting their most challenging con yet: becoming model citizens.

Under the tutelage of their mentor Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), an arrogant (but adorable!) guinea pig, The Bad Guys set out to fool the world that they’ve been transformed. Along the way, though, Mr. Wolf begins to suspect that doing good for real may give him what he’s always secretly longed for: acceptance.

So when a new villain threatens the city, can Mr. Wolf persuade the rest of the gang to become … The Good Guys?

Peep the trailer below:

Based on the New York Times best-selling book series by Aaron Blabey, ‘The Bad Guys’ is directed by Pierre Perifel (animator, the Kung Fu Panda films) with co-stars Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh, and Emmy-winner Alex Borstein.

“The basic theme [of the movie] would be, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” said Perifel in an interview with Looper. “To me, it’s all about: Look a little bit behind the curtain before judging someone and know what you’re judging — first of all, judgments are never great – but there’s always room for a second chance, room for redemption on anyone. You’re not branded a bad guy because you do something bad. If you can correct this, if you can change, [and] therefore, you’re a flawed human that can learn.

It’s a theme that we need to really embrace and kids need to understand. It’s not because you do something wrong that you are a bad person. If you can correct it, if you realize you did something wrong, correct it, then your actions speak for yourself. It’s okay. We are redeemable, and that’s very important for kids, at least. You’re not defined by one action or what you’re born like or what you look like. It’s much bigger than this and it’s much more optimistic than that.”

We caught up with Craig Robinson and Marc Maron who talk the animated Adventure/Comedy ‘The Bad Guys,’ being misunderstood, the makings of a good villain, and more in our interview below:

‘The Bad Guys’ opens in theaters everywhere this Friday, April 22nd.