Director: Tom McGrath
Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Duration: 97 minutes
The Boss Baby (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
DreamWorks Animation might be one of Disney’s biggest competitors when it comes to animated movies, and while they don’t squeeze out as many movies as they used to, the studio shows no signs of slowing down. After adventures with a green ogre, a colony of ants, a martial artist panda and of course a dragon trainer, we get the chance to experience something new, namely a movie revolving around a baby in a suit, who is clearly on a mission. Nonetheless, the trailers never truly made clear what this movie would be about, and while not breaking any records, The Boss Baby was rather surprising.
The Boss Baby revolves around Tim (Miles Bakshi), who leads a perfectly happy life at age seven, with his parents, who give him their undivided attention. Nonetheless, a change is brewing when they mention a baby sibling and to no surprise, soon after Tim finds himself in the company of his little brother, who goes unnamed for the biggest part of the movie. This mysterious baby (Alec Baldwin) who was dropped off by a taxi, is slowly but surely making sure Tim’s parents don’t give him as much attention as they used to, and it even feels like they don’t love him anymore. That being said, Tim is convinced the baby is up to something, as he’s wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase, something not that common when it comes to babies. Soon after Tim finds out the baby can talk, and he is actually working for a massive ‘baby’ corporation, Tim wants to tattle on him. Of course an impressive, albeit imaginary, battle breaks loose and the baby is forced to reveal his plans to Tim, namely that he is investigating a certain company, the one Tim’s parents work for, in order to discover why puppies are being loved more and more by humans, even more than babies. Especially since the company is going to reveal a new type of puppy, time is of the essence.
Before long you’ll notice that this story is a take of Tim’s view on how he saw a new baby come into his life, with the usage of his extraordinary imagination. It’s clearly a tale of brotherly love, told by an adult Tim (Tobey Maguire), who narrates the sections in-between or highlights certain events. The movie isn’t slow at all, but it’s also not one of those movies that revolve all around humor, it’s actually more intended to be a ‘pretty’ story, rather than one that revolves solely around a slapstick type of funniness. There aren’t really any boring segments in the movie, which is all done in a very beautiful type of animation, where realistic meets silly in harmony. Nonetheless, those expecting to find the same level of humor as for example in Shrek, might be left wanting a bit more.
This movie is filled with interesting cast choices, ranging from the narrator, Tobey Maguire, to the actual voice of the Boss Baby, which is done by Alec Baldwin. For some reason, even with the very adult and silky voice of Alec Baldwin, you still see the character as an actual baby. The parents, voiced by Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel, also add a lot of value to the movie. Even Steve Buscemi has a role in this movie, which all adds up forming a very impressive cast for an animation flick.
The Blu-ray edition of The Boss Baby comes with a hefty amount of extras, albeit in the form of short featurettes, ranging from a small snippet about Babycorp, a PuppyCo infomercial, a baby vs puppies feature, a scene about Tim’s imagination and so on. Most of the features are meant to be entertaining, rather than solely informative, such as making of sequences or other items that revolve around how the movie came to fruition. Overall the extras are fun to watch through, but they don’t add that much extra value to the movie itself.
Conclusion
The Boss Baby is an interesting animated movie, which revolves around growing up and the way how a kid sees the world, albeit with an extra pinch or two of imagination. While the movie silently passed by a lot of people when it aired in the theatres, it’s still worth a watch, not only because of the adorable character design, but also for the somewhat picturesque story the movie is trying to tell. If you’re looking for a movie filled with gags and silly antics, this one might let you a bit down, as it surely isn’t a successor for movies such as the entire Shrek series.
Related Items
1 Comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] 2017 the world got acquainted with Dreamworks’ new franchise, The Boss Baby. The movie was quite well received and the creators saw potential in fleshing out the world of The […]