Bad Weasels, an Amazon original cartoon, puts a modern spin on a classic cartoon storyline. It features two weasels, Slim and Glutton, trying tirelessly to catch three chickens, Free Range, Uncle Waddles and Small Fry, and eat them for dinner. As the film moves through four separate, but sequential, storylines, viewers witness Slim and Glutton’s comedic attempts to catch the chickens at Funny Farm with random items they find at the junkyard.
From the chicken’s perspective, the weasels are just a nuisance; they don’t seem to be very scared of them. Gradually each chicken develops a much more individual personality than was initially introduced. The relationships between characters become very clear. Free Range, Uncle Waddles’ nephew, takes jiujitsu lessons from him while Small Fry focuses only on video games. Uncle Waddles is lazy and may not know as much about jiujitsu as he lets Free Range believe.
Bad Weasels is a funny cartoon, but it seems to lack a bit of originality. The storyline favors classic cartoons like Tom & Jerry, the Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries and Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. This may or may not have been intentional—classic cartoons are very successful and are not as frequently made as time and technology move forward. Bad Weasels seems to be an attempt to re-create these classics.
The plot of Bad Weasels leaves little room for the incorporation of Christianity; its plot is just too generic and straightforward. While it’s not an explicit film, it does include some mild name-calling. Mild violence is present, but only in ways that are funny and pertinent to the plot. In addition to this, no blood or gore is shown on screen and even instances that should have been deadly—like a firecracker blowing up in the hands of one of the characters—are not. The characters are able to bounce right back from all of their mishaps.
Even though the characters mouths don’t always line up with the audio, Bad Weasels is a well-made animated film. The animation is made to look as though it is an original cartoon, but modern technology does show through in some places—especially toward the end. The character development is well done. Viewers get a good idea of each character’s role from the very beginning, and as the timeline continues so does the characterization.
Bad Weasels is a family-friendly movie. It does not require much attention to understand the plot, so it is also really great for some comic relief after a long day of work. The authors did a great job mixing humor with appropriate material, making this film Dove-approved for All Ages.
The Dove Take:
Bad Weasels is a modern cartoon featuring the classic storyline of animals trying, and failing, to eat each other.
