The Boss Baby

The Boss Baby is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards. I enjoy a good animated film from time to time and watched it one night when I just wanted to be entertained and not think too much about anything.

This was a good story, and one that both adults and children may relate to. It is rated PG for some mild rude humor. How babies arrive on earth in this story is not quite as crazy as the stork bringing them in a folded diaper, but it is still of course a far-fetched scenario, updated for today’s technology inundated public. Babies are sent to earth if they are deemed to be family types, and the ones who are not become “management.” Such is the fate of Boss Baby (Alec Baldwin) who arrives in a taxi at the doorstep of the home of the Templeton’s: Dad (Jimmy Kimmel), Mom (Lisa Kudrow), and Tim (Miles Bakshi). (Tobey Maguire is the voice of adult Tim and the narrator of the story.)

Tim has had his doting parents all to himself for seven years, and is not exactly excited about having a little brother, especially one who is as demanding and time consuming as indeed all babies are to start with. He discovers that his brother is a baby when Mom and Dad are around, but the Boss Baby comes out when they aren’t looking, complete with a mission to execute on earth along with the help of five other babies living nearby.

The evil CEO Francis (Steve Buscemi) of Puppy Co, coincidentally where both Mom and Dad work, has a dastardly plan to scientifically give a formula to puppies so that they will never become adult dogs! Horrors! That way, babies will become obsolete, because who doesn’t love a puppy? Forget babies! I told my husband about this plot twist and he also thought it very funny (although he did not watch the film with me). Babies on one side of the scale, puppies on the other side? Which would win out? Really close call here.

So it is up to Boss Baby, his five cohorts and Tim to save the day and make sure that the puppies don’t get that magic formula. Otherwise babies on earth are a thing of the past. Oh no!

You can probably tell that I am amused by this story line, but what is really poignant is what both Tim and Boss Baby learn about themselves through this shared experience. Being brothers is not easy, being sisters is not easy, and I think that children may empathize with these characters, as they are parts of a typical family, one that grows and works together.

It was really a sweet story, the casting of the voices for the characters was spot on, and the magical fantasy nature of the film really worked. Allow the inner child in you to have some fun with The Boss Baby, and watch it while it’s still readily available.