When The
Boss Baby started playing in cinemas, my friends and I decided to go see
it, believing we’d laugh hard and maybe even piss our pants. In reality, what
happened was I fell asleep 20 minutes before the ending and had to be nudged
awake so I wouldn’t miss the not-so-dramatic or special ending—which, honestly,
I would’ve preferred to miss.
This DreamWorks animated fantasy, based on a 2010 book of the same name by Marla Frazee, missed the mark on funny and instead put way too much effort into making an already ridiculous situation even more ridiculous. The whole idea of the animation seemed to be to pass off a concept that would sit well with children: removing the idea of sex from baby creation and replacing it with a baby factory in the sky. While this might work for kids, the only reason this movie did well at the box office is because of the voice casting.
Alec Baldwin was
cast to voice Theodore Templeton, aka The Boss Baby. Baldwin’s distinctive
voice grabs your attention, and you can’t help but stay curious about how far
the writers were willing to push it. The writer and director did a decent job
of pushing Baldwin to make some comments and sounds that tickled me, especially
as I pictured him doing it in person. A less noticeable voice is Tobey Maguire,
who voices an older Tim (The Boss Baby’s brother).
Other than that,
the animation wasn’t special, the story was lackluster, and even the pacing
could’ve been better. Another annoying addition by the writers was the cut
scenes into Tim’s fantasies—an idea that wasn’t well-executed and became more
of a distraction than anything else.
The movie’s plot
revolves around a suit-wearing, briefcase-carrying baby who’s sent from Baby
Corp. to stop a plot that could lead to parents preferring puppies to babies. The Boss Baby is sent to the Templeton family, where he has
an older 7-year-old brother, Tim, who’s struggling with the new addition to the
family.
Tim soon
discovers that his baby brother isn’t a regular baby, but has the mind of a
full-grown adult and is on a mission. Tim’s desire to get rid of his brother,
who’s now competing for the same love and attention he used to get from his
parents, leads him to offer help in stopping the villain trying to wow parents
with puppies.
There are better
things to do with your time and money than sitting down to watch this movie.
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