The Boss Baby - movie review

The Boss Baby

Plot: A suit-wearing briefcase-carrying baby pairs up with his seven-year old brother to stop the dastardly plot of the CEO of Puppy Co.
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel
Director: Tom McGrath
Certificate: U (very mild comic threat, rude humour)
Runtime: 1hr 37 mins
Release Date: Friday 7th April 2017

Let's face it; this is basically a watered down and mild mannered interpretation of Stewie Griffin. I am, of course, talking about my most anticipated movie, not just of 2017, but possibly of this past decade. Move over Star Wars, Marvel, DC and anything Disney. The Boss Baby is where it's at. A movie centered on a baby, with the voice of Alec Baldwin, is tasked with infiltrating a family and stopping puppies from taking away babies' love. I'm just going to let that plot sink in for a while. It's ok. I'll give you some time. Still baffled? This isn't a hallucination. It's real. That's a real plot. This is a real movie.

Getting onto some of the positives regarding Boss Baby, the most joyful is Alec Baldwin as the voice of said baby. Channelling his 30 Rock media mogul and adding a sprinkle of the aforementioned Stewie Griffin's cockiness, Baldwin shines as this voice. Clearly, he's having oodles of fun in the role and seemingly this is a common factor with Baldwin's career in general (see his Donald Trump sketches on Saturday Night Live). Logic is completely suspended for the entirety so as soon as you can be settled in for that tone, enjoyment can be found in Baldwin's wildly crazy portrayal of a business baby. It usually takes a fair amount for a film to get me belly laughing but seeing a animated baby dressed in a suit complete with a Rolex watch and briefcase has me chuckling. That's another strength of Boss Baby; it's pretty damn funny. The comedy is dotted throughout ranging from simple and effective slapstick to entertain the younger audience members to clever comedic wording that may provide the elder members with a couple of laughs. At times, all of the toys have been chucked from the buggy and they have thrown caution to wind with the humour. It goes beyond the point of ridiculousness when small children are taking part in high speed chases amongst explosions, catapulting kids at windows and henchmen pursuing on tricycles. The only issue when some of these outrageous scenes take place, is a difficulty to understand what's real and what's all part of Tim's imagination. In the opening, we are introduced to Tim and his wild creativity as to how he perceives playtime with his parents (Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow). A washing basket would become a pirate ship. His bed transforms into a magic carpet. All of these instances are great to watch and uniquely animated with a 2D styling however it becomes too bewildering trying to understand if what you're witnessing is actually taking place or a simple exaggeration of Tim's mind. Are the babies actually talking? Is there such thing as Baby Corp, a company that manufactures babies and decides whether they will be regular children given to adults or hired as bosses? And did they actually just make a birds and the bees joke? There was never a clear distinction which left a slightly sour taste (wasn't the Sour Patch Kids) in my mouth as the film never found a clear balance between the two.

FACT: The Boss Baby's line, "Cookies are for closers" is a parody of Alec Baldwin's famous line from Glengarry Glen Ross, "Coffee is for closers!"

Humour, alongside Baldwin, is where the majority of the praise I can give Boss Baby germinates. Unfortunately, as seems to be the norm with many of the DreamWorks animations, the humour outweighs the story making the entire film incredibly uneven. For what could have just been quite an intimate tale about love and brotherhood as a new child comes into Tim's life and looks as if everything he loved is being taken from him is not the whole story. That does happen but only for the first act. It then goes to the extreme (which is saying something for a film about a talking baby) and introduces corporate espionage as Baldwin's Baby is tasked with infiltrating Puppy Corp, a rival to Baby Corp. He has to figure out their new plan and report back with a memo. As this story progresses, Steve Buscemi comes into the fray as Francis Francis (not a typo) and his character comes completely out of nowhere. The final act then becomes a total hodgepodge of weirdness and ridiculousness as henchmen are chasing after babies with the intention to kill or maim and then, finally, a James Bond esque finale involving a rocket ship full of puppies. Obviously, I am by no means the target audience for this film but even a child in the row in front of me leant over to his mum to ask what was going on. The look on her face as she tried to explain it was priceless. So with the obscurity of coherent storytelling being put to one side, pace is the biggest of Boss Baby's concerns. It feels so long and it's only a fraction over ninety minutes. There are so many suitable places where it could have wrapped everything up but sadly, and to the films detriment, it just keeps going in the hope of pushing the boat out that little bit further. On the plus side, Boss Baby is gorgeous from a visual perspective. 3D CGI is the primary form of animation but, as referenced earlier, when we enter Tim's imagination, classic paper-like animation was used which provided the film with a fresh feel. Even the 3D itself was quite impressive and utilised effectively.

All in all, there is fun to be had and I by no means hated Boss Baby in the slightest. Baldwin is the primary reason to see this with his brash attitude and strong comedic chops shining through. On the downside, there is too much reliance on thinking that if they can make the film funny enough, we could overlook a stupidly over-the-top plot complete with major pacing and storytelling flaws. Another notch on that belt of mediocrity that DreamWorks have been stuck with for a while.

My Verdict: 6/10

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