Parents' Guide to

The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday

By Jennifer Green, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Book-inspired short film has cartoon violence, mild insults.

Movie NR 2023 25 minutes
The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday movie poster: Christmas baddies.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

  • The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday: The gang in their car.
  • The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday: Standing by the car.
  • The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday: The plan.

Community Reviews

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age 6+

Based on 3 parent reviews

Leigh C.
Leigh C. Parent of 7-year-old
February 3, 2024
age 5+

Azanash M.
Azanash M. Parent of 8 and 12-year-old
December 20, 2023
age 7+

Big Christmas Heist Turns into a Heist for Good. Feels OK for Kids 7+

The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday is a prequel to the 2022 heist film The Bad Guys. The film's prequel talks about how Wolf and his pals try to keep their Christmas morning bank heist in motion after Christmas was unexpectedly canceled (all because of a stupid balloon!) But the road to un-cancelling Christmas takes a violent turn. Tarantula aka Webs opens up the radio and booms out rock music. Shark and a DJ fight while Tarantula and Piranha are at the radio station feed putting on a "sweet holiday mix." A fire happens once Wolf and the gang untie the balloon from their getaway car. Tarantula's robot Roboclaus shoots out fire from his hands. An ice machine goes out of control once Wolf spins the dial up, causing a spinning vortex that will "suck up all surrounding life." All of the scariness takes out one star. Shark's clothes get out once he gets in the vortex. He says, "Cover your eyes! Don't look at me!" But they don't. Also has rude language such as brat, freak, gross, and normies. Wolf and his pals want shops and banks to close so they can rob them on Christmas morning. That also takes out one star. But there is some good content in this film/book. It talks about "giving" which is being good. Wolf and his pals always stick together in situations. The Bad Guys could be positive role models. They give presents to unexpected people's houses. And there's no romance or drugs because, look on the bright side, this is a kid's movie! That's my message to y'all directors and producers who do all that kind of stuff! I recommend this to ages 7 and up because I hate the violence in this film/book.
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In THE BAD GUYS: A VERY BAD HOLIDAY, a gang of wannabe bad guys waits in anticipation for Christmas day, when store and bank closures offer a perfect occasion for a heist. But when Wolfie (voiced by Michael Godere), Snake (Chris Diamantopoulos), Webs (Mallory Low), Pirahna (Raul Ceballos), and Shark (Ezekiel Ajeigbe) cause a beloved Santa balloon to explode, it looks like Christmas won't happen -- and neither will their Holiday Heist-tacular. The gang does everything they can to bring Christmas back.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (3 ):

This very funny short film has enough goofy dialogues to make you want to hit replay after its 25 minutes ends, just to see what you might have missed. There's a certain mature humor to The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday that also won't be lost on kids. A security guard with daddy issues, characters who want to be bad but are actually good deep down, and the shame the "bad guys" feel when Santa puts them on his nice list are all laughable scenarios. This action-packed tale lampoons the way people seem to have no resistance to feel-good Christmas tunes or a snowy holiday ambiance, but it does so in the spirit of an inside joke built around a warm familiarity. We're laughing at ourselves too, and that feels good.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether the heist gang in The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday is actually bad. Why or why not? What are their plans?

  • Why are there so many Christmas movies but not as many films about other religious holidays?

  • What does Santa represent, in your opinion? How about in this film?

  • What do you think about short films like this -- did you want it to keep going, like a feature-length film, or was it the right length? Why?

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