Either a metaphor for how all bosses are babies or why babies shouldn’t be bosses, The Boss Baby’s eponymous infant bears more than a passing resemblance to a another big-headed blond with tiny hands. But this is less an indictment of big corporations than the self-satisfied suggestion that the traditional nuclear family can somehow solve the ills of capitalism. The jokes are decidedly one-note, but still, I admit: I laughed.
Based on Marla Frazee’s slender picture book and directed by Tom McGrath (of DreamWorks’ Madagascar series), its world is one in which babies are manufactured, not born. At “Baby Corp”, newborns are sorted into a life destined for either “family” or – wait for it – “management”. An only child with an overactive imagination, seven-year-old Tim (Miles Christopher Bakshi) is furious when his new baby brother turns out to be a grumpy suit-and-tie-clad ankle-biter (Alec Baldwin).
The overcomplicated, ensuing heist plot will go over kids’ heads (and isn’t worth explaining here), but they’ll enjoy the rainbow-hued excursions into Tim’s fantasies. Meawnhile parents and former 30 Rock fans might be receptive to Baldwin’s sleazy vocal charms.
.png?w=600)
