The Boss Baby Review - Charming, A Romper Room of Silliness and Fun

Details

Category: Film

Published on Friday, 31 March 2017 08:32

Written by Janet Walker

The Boss Baby, from DreamWorks Animation, presents the story of family, of brothers, of imaginative adventure of two brothers who learn the world needs more dynamic duo’s and is more fun when there is someone to share the voyages.

Directed Tom McGrath, The Boss Baby stars the voice talent of Alec Baldwin as The Boss Baby, Miles Bakshi/Tim, Jimmy Kimmel/Dad, Lisa Kudrow/Mom, Tobey Maguire/Adult Tim, Steve Buscemi/Francis Francis, James McGrath/Wizzie and Elvis Impersonator.

The Boss Baby begins with the adventures of Tim, voiced by Miles Bakshi, as in his he imagination he is the hero, he saves his family from the dangers of inter-galactic monsters, he is the sole conqueror, the protector, defender of his innocuous world of three.

His parents for the last seven years have shared bedtime tuck-in duties, with mom reading and dad playing his favorites family song. Life for our Tim couldn’t be sweeter. He is the subject of great adoration, love and affection.

While the three are talking before lights out, Tim is asked how he would feel about a baby brother. To which, he offers a slightly sleepy reply. “Why?” he says as the camera pans his very pregnant mother.

Soon a taxi cab arrives with a very special delivery? That’s right. Our special bundle of, well bundled package comes rolling up in a taxi.

If you’re wondering if somehow this isn’t quite how babies are delivered to expectant families, fortunately for all of us, The Boss Baby reviews the procedures of baby delivery. So, pay close attention as the newborns are powdered, diapered and prepped for home delivery.

For the Templeton’s, soon our bundled package arrives. Pint sized management scion, The Boss Baby, voiced by Alec Baldwin, takes over as a new baby often does. With Tim feeling second, and left out, he is sure there is something going on, even as his Mom, voiced by Lisa Kudrow and his Dad, voiced by Jimmy Kimmel, are blind to the eccentricities of their newest addition who loves his clean suited image.

A fairytale story, The Boss Baby is on a top-secret mission to find the reason babies, whose cuteness rankings around the world have always scored the highest, have recently been nudged out of the top spot by puppies, always a strong challenger.

With Tim ready to defend his domain from the likes of this new mini-totalitarian, he becomes the expert investigator. Spying he finds out the truth. The Boss Baby is no ordinary newborn. He is on a mission, one that when completed will take him back to Baby Corp, the corner office, the perks, new binkies on demand, a place in the Baby Corp Hall of Fame.  

Magic transports the two back to Baby Corp so Tim can see for himself the magnitude of the task. Soon the two have made a deal and a new found pseudo-friendship is formed.

As the story progresses, and our two boys are making their way through toward completion, our Tim is given a rare gift, the opportunity to see what life is like without the intrusion, the mini-totalitarian, the boss man himself.

I really liked The Baby Boss. My reasons aren’t going to be the ones that your children will talk about after they see the film. DWA has created a world where babies, produced on an assembly line, are waiting to be shipped to eager parents and less then eager siblings.

With Baby On Board, the DWA team managed to meld, weave, braid, and capture every baby slogan, phrase, all the ooh’s and aah’s of life when the new baby, the bundle of joy for parents who see the magical cuteness, arrives.

The animation is modern, sharp, and if this is possible to have two conflicting ideas, it also appears to have a retro styling, elongate characters, and landscapes. The Boss Baby doesn’t have the same style of animation as any of the previous DWA animated film.

The story is interesting and having screened the film with children it was fun to hear the laughter at the silliness of the situations.  A couple of mixed message scenes will be lost on the children and have parents walking out remembering the scene as “a bit much.” I’ll leave the discovery to the individual.

The Boss Baby will leave you guessing to the end as the cleanup crew, the diaper genies show up, so what’s it going to be?

The Boss Baby is charming, silly, and delightful. The “production numbers” at Baby Corp are amusing, entertaining, and fun. A wonder filled adventure as the two brothers learn to lean on each other and their imagination.

The Boss Baby opens in theaters everywhere March 31, 2017.