{"id":9807,"date":"2024-12-09T23:54:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T04:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9807"},"modified":"2024-12-09T23:54:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T04:54:21","slug":"the-boss-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/09\/the-boss-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"The Boss Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Boss Baby <\/strong>(2017)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th<\/sup> Century Fox\/Comedy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (some mild rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tom McGrath\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Michael McCullers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 31, 2017 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Miles Bakshi, Tobey Maguire, James McGrath, Conrad Vernon, ViviAnn Yee, Eric Bell Jr., David Soren, Edie Mirman.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $175M (US)\/$528M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve been dreading this one for months. It looked horrible in the trailer. The title alone The Boss Baby<\/strong> made me think of one of those bad story ideas that get pitched to hit-seeking studio executives in comedies that skewer Hollywood (e.g. The Player). It also brought to mind Beck Bennett\u2019s recurring Baby Boss character (a man with the body of a baby) on SNL, easily the most disturbing SNL character since Pat. Either way, it looked bad. They even give away the movie\u2019s best line in the trailers and TV ads, the latter of which have been running for weeks ad nauseam. You know the one I\u2019m talking about, right? Altogether now, \u201cCookies are for closers\u201d. Well, the makers have to throw something in for the parents forced to sit through The Boss Baby<\/strong> with their wee ones. It\u2019s not like Glengarry Glenn Ross is big among the grade school set.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In any event, I prepared myself for a painful experience. I endured a handful of trailers I\u2019ve seen many times before. If I see the one for the new Smurfs movie one more time, I\u2019ll scream. The movie started and then a funny thing happened. Not all at once but still. I began to enjoy The Boss Baby<\/strong> a little. It wasn\u2019t exactly the movie I thought it would be. I mean, it has all the usual dumb jokes about potties and babies\u2019 tushies. That always a given in movies aimed at kids. No, I\u2019m talking about the narrative framework, the bigger picture if you will.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In terms of execution, The Boss Baby<\/strong> is actually rather clever. It\u2019s told from the point-of-view of older brother Tim who, as an adult (former Spider-Man Maguire), recalls a crucial episode from his childhood. 7YO Tim (Bakshi, grandson of Fritz the Cat director Ralph Bakshi) is a happy kid with an active imagination. Every day is an adventure for him. He enjoys a close relationship with his parents Ted (talk show host Kimmel) and Janice (Kudrow, Friends). Everything changes when his baby brother joins the family. He doesn\u2019t arrive into the world in the usual way. He\u2019s dropped off in front of the house by a taxi cab. Wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, it\u2019s clear that this baby means business.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At some point, every kid asks his parents where babies come from. The Boss Baby<\/strong> provides an interesting explanation. They come from a place (presumably in Heaven) called Baby Corp. It\u2019s a huge corporation where babies on conveyor belts are put through a tickle test to determine their place in the world. If they giggle, they\u2019re sent to a family. If not, they\u2019re promoted to management which is where Boss Baby (Baldwin, Blue Jasmine) finds himself. He\u2019s sent down to Earth, in the guise of the newest member of the Templeton family, to deal with a crisis that could do serious harm to the baby-making business.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It seems that puppies are getting more love than babies. It\u2019s about to get worse thanks to the evil machinations of Francis E. Francis (Buscemi, Monster House), the nefarious CEO of Baby Corp\u2019s main competitor Puppy Co. Tim\u2019s mom and dad happen to work for Puppy Co. Boss Baby has the perfect cover. Who would ever expect their infant son is a spy for the competition? The older brother, of course. Tim suspects something is off about his baby brother, but his parents dismiss his concerns saying that he\u2019ll come to love and accept him as his brother. Tim is the only one who knows Boss Baby talks and acts like an adult when nobody else is around. He holds meetings with other toddlers to discuss what needs to be done about the puppy situation. When Tim records one of their meetings, the babies wage all-out war (in the backyard) to stop him from handing the tape over to his parents.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Eventually, the two brothers strike a deal. Tim will help Boss Baby with his mission (which will earn him a major promotion if successful) but only to get rid of him. Once finished, Boss Baby will return to Baby Corp and Tim will have his parents to himself again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Borrowing a page of two from Pixar\u2019s Inside Out, The Boss Baby<\/strong> gets inside the mind of a child and illustrates his deepest fear, the perceived loss of his parents\u2019 affection. The movie plays on every kid\u2019s anxieties over a new baby in the family, about how the tiny intruder will knowingly command all the attention and take over the house and their lives. It\u2019s not as intelligent or intricately plotted as Inside Out. It\u2019s not as hilarious either. It\u2019s amusing which is far more than I actually expected from it. I like that the action scenes include references to classic TV shows like S.W.A.T. and The Six Million Dollar Man. I\u2019m surprised they didn\u2019t use the Mission: Impossible theme when Tim and Baby Boss infiltrate Puppy Co. headquarters and attempt to steal an incriminating file. There is a nice nod to Raiders of the Lost Ark though.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Baldwin\u2019s vocal talents are a true highlight. He voices the titular character who often behaves like a miniature tyrant (like a certain President he regularly impersonates on SNL?). His vocal demeanor is calm with a detectable hint of malice. He\u2019s like any ruthless adult businessman except for the noticeable difference in height. Buscemi is also good as the primary antagonist, but I wanted a bit more from him. They\u2019re the only voices that really stand out; the rest of the vocal cast does an adequate job.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The animation in The Boss Baby<\/strong> is colorful and vibrant. The movie is energetic and has several good ideas like the boys using an Elvis convention to sneak onto a flight to Vegas. The central idea of babies vs. puppies is almost unbearably cute. The storyline plays out predictably, especially with the boys developing a brotherly bond as a result of working as a team. The Boss Baby<\/strong> is a testament to imagination mixed with a message about family. I didn\u2019t expect the former; it\u2019s the key reason the movie isn\u2019t terrible.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I say this about The Boss Baby<\/strong>. It\u2019s hardly a future classic, but it\u2019s a nice alternative when Beauty and the Beast is sold out and you don\u2019t want to just turn around and go home. It works better than it has a right to. Kids will enjoy it, parents won\u2019t hate it.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Boss Baby (2017)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Comedy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (some mild rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tom McGrath\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Michael McCullers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 31, 2017 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Miles Bakshi, Tobey Maguire, James McGrath, Conrad Vernon, ViviAnn Yee, Eric Bell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/The-Boss-Baby-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9807"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10025,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9807\/revisions\/10025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}