We’ve been told about the concept on where do babies come from. This plot element has been told in a couple of cartoons whether you’re watching a Looney Tunes cartoon or a bedtime story with your parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc. As a child, we want to know where we come from and how we as human beings exist in the first place. Once we mature as young adults, we learn the truth of our existence. One animated film explores the lore of this element with The High Concept or as they say, The What If Scenario. Today’s movie is best described as, What If a baby from the clouds is actually a successful businessman going undercover as an actual baby? This High Concept is none other than The Boss Baby.
The Boss Baby was released in March, 2017. It received mixed reviews from critics while movies goers praise the film. Despite the mixed reception, it was also a commercial success. Rumor has it that a sequel is in development and it’s slated for a 2021 release date with Alec Baldwin reprising his role. That means the first Shrek movie will be twenty years old!
The following article contains no SPOILERS whatsoever. You are allowed to read this blog in case you haven’t seen this movie.
Yay: Alec Baldwin did a great job on his voice over performance as the titular character.
Other Cast Members such as Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, & Steve Buscemi, all did a good job on their performances.
Tobey Maguire narrates this film as an older Tim, who is one of the main characters. Every time I hear his voice, I expect him to narrate about his crime fighting career or anything Spider-Man related.
The Opening introduces the lore of babies as businesspeople. Even at one point they made a reference about where babies actually come from, without going into much detail.
Baldwin’s character is based on a combination of his Emmy Award winning portrayal of Donald Trump on SNL, and his character Blake, from David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.
Character Development involving Boss Baby & Tim.
The Best Line for this movie is “Put that cookie down, cookies are for closers!” Which is also a reference to Baldwin’s quote from Glengarry Glen Ross which is about coffee, but in Boss Baby, it’s replaced with cookie.
Fun Fact: This isn’t the first time Baldwin spoofed his role in Glenngary Glen Ross. At the time he was hosting SNL, there’s a sketch that made fun of the film, instead of an ordinary office, it takes place in Santa’s Workshop involving elves.
A fart scene got me laughing out loud.
The Animation for the film felt beautifully smooth without any low buffering quality. Despite being labeled as a computer animated film, it does have certain hand drawn elements similar to Dreamworks’ King Fu Panda series which is also known to shift between 3D and 2D animation to give each scene a distinctive atmosphere.
A Pause Worthy Moment featuring a Voltron action figure. An animated reboot series is currently on Netflix.
One scene paid an homage to Ironhide’s slow motion scene from the 2007 version of Transformers. To put the cherry on top, an explosion appears due to the fact that Michael Bay has a fetish for explosions. By the way, the sequels are piles of scrap.
A Pug is in this movie when it sniffs on Boss Baby. Pugs are my favorite breed of dog.
Nay: One scene shows Boss Baby getting kicked out of the house. A few seconds later, he somehow teleports back. Was he like Goku off of Dragon Ball Z using his Instant Transmission to teleport from one place to another? There’s no explanation on why he came back.
Without giving too much away, one flaw I’ve found involves a cliche in most Buddy Films, there’s always a “We’re Through Moment,” until The Third Act starts. One minute later, Boss Baby & Tim get back together. I think this cliche was unnecessary to squeeze in a dramatic moment involving their partnership.
The Final Verdict: B for BIG FAT PAYCHECK!
In my opinion, I honestly thought the film was great despite the two flaws found in this particular picture. I really don’t get that fact why most critics despise it. This ain’t on the same level as Norm Of The North or The Emoji Movie. If you haven’t seen The Boss Baby, go ahead and give it a watch with your family.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 