Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Boss Baby (2017)

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-30-2017, 10:30 PM:

A movie with a very interesting premise, "The Boss Baby" has a lot of good laughs, a good amount of heart, and enough over-the-top action scenes to keep the kids entertained. That's the bottom line, of course, but the plot is pretty convoluted to the point where after seeing it, most kids would probably be hard pressed to explain what they just saw.

The story mostly (or maybe completely, it's hard to tell) takes place within the mind of Tim, a 7-year-old boy with an overactive imagination. When he finds out (or imagines) that he's going to have a new baby brother, a scenario unfolds in which said baby arrives wearing a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase, and orders everybody around while "taking over the whole house." (Which, except for the suit and tie, is pretty realistic when you get right down to it.)

There's a cloak-and-dagger angle, about a "baby factory" trying to defeat a wily "pet factory," which is out to make smelly, poopy, expensive babies obsolete by introducing of a new uber-cute, indestructible puppy. This leads to several breakneck Dreamworks® action/chase scenes involving Tim's parents (who work for the pet factory's marketing department), who have been kidnapped by the CEO of the baby factory in a bid to stop the puppy's introduction.

All of which seems sort of like a sidebar to the real story, which is about how Tim comes to terms with having to 'share the love' when a new baby arrives in the house. It just seems like it takes an awful long time to get there.

Our neighbors across the street have a 10-year-old daughter who came to this movie on Friday night. Afterward I asked her, "On a 1 to 10 scale, if 10 is the best ever, where would you rate this movie?" She said "Umm, NINE!" So that's about all you need to know right there.

Me, on my usual five-star scale, I'd give it about 2, with an extra half-star for Alec Baldwin, who is pretty hilarious in the title role. Much funnier than his recent SNL schtick.

So 2.5 stars from me.