Adapting stories to the big screen is a time-honored tradition for animation. Walt Disney started and arguably perfected the practice and now it’s very commonplace. But, there’s a difference between adapting a 250-page novel and adapting a 36-page children’s book.
While other films have had success in adapting short form books to the big screen (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “Horton Hears a Who,” “The Little Prince”), can Dreamworks make “The Boss Baby” work, or should the audience throw a tantrum?
Tim is an only child, until The Boss Baby moves in with his family. While he’s never given a name, Baby does have a decent amount of charm, due to both being given a lot of great lines and being voiced by Alec Baldwin.
The rest of the cast is fine, stand outs including Baldwin and Miles Christopher Bakshi as Tim. Their chemistry is great, though the material they were given could have been much greater.
Looney Tunes-esque humor prevails throughout the entire film, with characters bouncing everywhere and acting like rubber cartoon characters. The entire movie also maintains this cool, off kilter '50s styled aesthetic that really works, letting imagination prevail and technology cower.
There’s a great focus on imagination, where we travel with Tim into his mind for some great sequences, accompanied by a cool cel-shaded visual look. When Baby arrives, there are also some great action set pieces, like a car chase in the backyard and an epic fight throughout the house.
Unfortunately, that car chase is the best scene in the film, truly taking the imagination and child’s whimsy concept to heart. However, it’s in the first 30 minutes of the movie.
Once the kids leave the house at around the midway point, not only does the pacing grind to a halt, but so does the humor that works.
Padding out the rest of the film is a poorly written subplot about revenge and a magical baby formula. One of the movie’s biggest issues is that, while it says that it’s about imagination and fun, it constantly over-explains its concepts so that the audience is never left to think for themselves.
Not only that, but the ending is 10 minutes too long. Normally, that isn’t an issue, but there’s even a fade to black scene and then 10 more minutes of the movie that add nothing to the plot.
Couple that with an attempted, but failing emotional arc, and “The Boss Baby” really starts to smell.
While the film has some great physical humor in a Looney Tunes-esque way, along with some cool looking ‘imagination’ inspired animation, the film is saddled with a thin plot, forgettable characters, poor emotional arcs, and a lackluster third act.
While not as bad as Dreamworks’ worst, by the end, you just want to put this baby back to bed. 2.5/5
Photo courtesy of DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox.
