This summer, Animation Scoop attended the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and met with filmmakers from around the world. Ahead of DreamWorks’ highly anticipated The Bad Guys 2 (coming to theaters on August 1st), I sat down with director Pierre Perifel to talk about the film’s distinct visual style, specificity of character movement, and a handcrafted approach to animation and storytelling—elements that just might make this sequel every bit as good, if not better, than the original. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Watch the full conversation below.
Lauren Ashton: The characters in The Bad Guys have a lot of heart, aside from being “The Bad Guys,” which is why we love them. So now that they want to be good, my question for you is: in the sequel, how did you approach expanding the fun and action-packed story, while also serving the emotional arc for the characters?
Pierre Perifel: That’s a good question. We’re using a little bit of a trick for this one. We’re starting with our Bad Guys being at the top of their game—they’re awesome, terrifying everybody, and stealing their beloved car. That’s the way we open the movie, in Cairo, five years before the events of the first movie. Then we cut to today. They’ve just been released from jail and are trying to re-enter society as “good guys”. But it’s very hard for ex-cons to be trusted. And Wolf just wants one thing in life: to be accepted. But how do you make an action-packed movie when the characters are just trying to go to job interviews? So we trick it: the guys are pulled back into a life of crime by a trio of Bad Girls—super-criminals luring them into one last job. That beat, where Wolf is trying to adjust to society and is exhausted by job interview after job interview, shows us how he’s feeling. He’s struggling with change. Change is hard. He made a big decision in the first movie, and now he’s doubting it. And I think he wishes this new life was a bit more fun.
LA: I think it looks like there’s going to be a lot of fun in it!
PP: A lot of comedy there.
LA: A lot of comedy, and I think everyone’s secretly wanting to see them be bad, you know?
PP: Yeah, of course. That’s where they’re great—it’s when they’re bad!
LA: I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your personal connection to the film. And this might be a tough question to answer, but are you more or less excited for the sequel—or is it equal?
PP: The first movie was my first feature film as a director, and it’s hard to beat that excitement. But the sequel is another animal. When you make your first film, you just go for it—not knowing fully what it takes. But with a sequel, you know the mountain you have to climb. The naivete is gone. So you start thinking, “Am I going to make a movie that’s at least as good as the first one?” Sequels tend to be less good, and that was a big drive for us—we wanted to make something the audience would be super happy with. And I think this one, I do believe, is probably better than the first.
LA: Wow. That’s exciting!
PP: It’s a big thing to say, but I’m incredibly excited about it. So proud. If not better, it’s definitely as good.
LA: There’s a lot of talk about sequels being a bit of a scary undertaking– a little risky. But when they’re good, it’s wonderful.
PP: It’s so rewarding. But there’s a lot more scrutiny—from audiences, the studio, and yourself as a filmmaker. Everyone has expectations, and you have to live up to them. And I think we did that with this one.
LA: You have some amazing credits, and DreamWorks overall has a great body of work. What do you think is special about The Bad Guys—not just in the DreamWorks universe, but in animation today?
PP: It’s very unique. It has a tone that’s slightly irreverent, a little cool, fresh, and sophisticated. That sets it apart from a lot of animated films, whether from DreamWorks or other studios. It also has a strong visual identity, which is exciting for me as an animator. It draws in both adults and kids. Adults will see the film winking at cinema in clever ways—not just big emotions—and the kids come in because of the books and how appealing the characters are. It’s based in the real world—Los Angeles, Cairo—but with animals doing outrageous things. The books go very far, and so do we. It’s a really fun world.
LA: Speaking of the visual style, that’s something that stood out to me. It seems like a combination of 2D and 3D—very illustrative. And the movement, the animation, is so expressive. How do you think that plays into the comedy and action?
PP: I’m an animator, and I’ve always wanted to see characters move that way, because I’ve been inspired by animation from the U.S., France, and Japan. French animation and graphic novels have incredible visual storytelling. And Japanese animation—anime—has a stylized specificity I love. You don’t get that if you think of animation in a vacuum. Movement comes from design. If your characters are too realistic, it’s hard to be silly with them. So we designed these characters with specific shapes and proportions to allow for that freedom. My background helped me guide the team there. And they really took over and ran with it.
LA: Yeah, that totally makes sense. If it’s too detailed, it doesn’t sit right with the viewer’s eye.
PP: Yes, and if it’s too bare, it can cheapen it. That balance is tricky. That balance is hard to find—and easy to lose. Our artists are incredibly well-trained, with sharp eyes, and they kept that balance across 95 minutes.
LA: Is there anything you can share that we should be most excited about?
PP: Oh my God—this movie is a crazy ride. It starts with a taste in the Cairo opening, then we catch our guys struggling with everyday life… and then it just builds and builds. We even go all the way to space! I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this in animation before. It’s super cool.
The Bad Guys 2 hits theaters on August 1st, 2025.
Lauren Ashton is a Los Angeles-based writer. She has also taught stop-motion animation and film history since 2020, and holds a BFA in Acting from The California Institute of the Arts. Lauren has previously worked with Walt Disney Imagineering, and since graduating from CalArts, she has worked at Spellbound Inc. (a YouTube Production Company), Gnomon School of Animation, and written plays and sketch comedy for various theaters.
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