Movie Info
Movie Name: The Boss Baby
Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Genre(s): Animated/Comedy/Family
Release Date(s): March 12, 2017 (Premiere)/March 31, 2017
MPAA Rating: PG
Now I would watch a movie based around a team of covert infants
Tim Templeton is an only child and enjoys having his parents to himself. When he learns that he’s going to get a baby brother, he finds his new brother isn’t like other babies. While dominating his parents time, the new baby also is plotting a major operation with other babies in the neighborhood involving his parents’ jobs at Puppy Co. While Tim’s parents write off Tim’s claims as jealousy and an overactive imagination, Tim is about to learn the truth about where babies come from and why his new “brother” is on a mission to save the future of the world!
Directed by Tom McGrath, The Boss Baby is an animated family comedy. The film is based on the 2010 children’s book The Boss Baby by Marla Freeze. It was released with mixed to positive reviews and a strong box office return. The movie received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.
The Boss Baby just kind of looked like one of those generic animated features that you plop kids down in front of to keep them occupied. While the show does have some merit, that isn’t an inaccurate assumption. The Boss Baby represents what is good about recent animated features and what is bad about recent animated features.
Ahoy…step on board for average kid adventures!
The story for The Boss Baby kind of plays with the whole idea of where babies come from (in a round about way) and could evoke some tough questions or real confusion from kids who see it. It kind of loses its message about a new baby joining a family and how that changes the dynamic due to the puppy adventure at points. The corporate rivalry by the “Boss Baby” and the other people in Baby Corp will amuse adults, but there are enough jokes for kids. The film while situation and story-wise skewers to kids, the jokes are aimed at adults (there probably aren’t many kids understanding an Elvis convention…but might still laugh at it).
The cast is strong. The “Boss Baby” is played by Alec Baldwin who plays with his famous Glengarry Glenn Ross line “coffee is for closers” with cookies and combines that character with his business-minded Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock. Toby Maguire provides the voice of the adult Tim while Miles Bakshi is the young voice of the character. Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel are the parents while Steve Buscemi plays the heavy Francis E. Francis.
This animation is far more interesting than the real animation…just sayin’
The movie looks good, but I find a lot of DreamWorks Animation’s art very generic computer animated art. The movie (like many movies) really excels visually in the sequences that are fantasy sequences by Tim that take on a different style of animation. I wish that the whole movie could have been done in the stylized work because it would stand out from the standard animation…but it is either too costly or studios are worried that it wouldn’t appeal to the standard viewer (something computer animation seems to do).
The Boss Baby overall isn’t a bad film, but it also isn’t an astounding film. It doesn’t really seem to do anything new and most of the jokes are obvious and basic. The movie has potential to be overly sappy and borders this at points…thankfully it generally doesn’t cross that line. The movie’s success has led to plans for a sequel. The Boss Baby 2 is scheduled for 2021.
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