O Poderoso Chefinho

DreamWorks has always favored frivolous humor over meaningful insight. They aren't Pixar. This isn't necessarily always a bad thing as they have had some solid hits in the recent years. Kung Fu Panda remains my favorite of the series from the studio. With The Boss Baby, their signature humor remains intact. I laughed quite often in the early stages of the film. Alec Baldwin is hilarious voicing the baby at the center, however, while I admire DreamWorks for getting ambitious with the concept of the film, it is almost so high-concept, that the core audience will be completely lost and the adults will shrug at how convoluted the many twists in the plot are. Still, The Boss Baby is frequently bouncy and frenetic and will entertain the kiddies, even if they don't get all the plot points. In the end, however, the need of the directors to pile on a thickly saccharine ending that keeps rolling on, makes the film end rather disingenuously.

I saw this move with three children, 8, 7 and 3 years of age. They all wanted to see this movie rather than watch 'Beauty and the Beast'. When given the option, it was a uniform cry of "boss baby, boss baby". So off I went. I thought it would be awful. There were single male and female adults of all ages in the audience, as well as parents with children. My 3 year old laughed a lot in the beginning saying "boss baby is funny". After that, she got a bit lost and restless, but got settled again in the second half. The others were focused throughout and said they liked it more than than the 'trolls movie'.

I laughed a lot. The reference to other movies and adult themes was very clever and funny (ie Matrix, Elvis impersonators, etc). The Boss baby character is hilarious. I loved the reflections on parenthood, feeding the baby, dummy sucking, milk bottles, diapers (nappies), vomit, lack of sleep, etc. Sibling competition for parental attention is demonstrated well. The new baby is always the 'boss baby' in any family! The story made me wonder- was it all the child's imagination? The ending was heartwarming and overall, this movie was a nice surprise.

The Boss Baby is an excellent movie for kids and a great movie for families too. When I saw the trailer I REALLY wanted to see the movie and I felt like the happiest person on Earth when I saw it. The movie has funny characters, babies, and more things that would make anyone laugh. Most of all, I enjoyed the movie because of the relationships and jokes. The Boss Baby is sure to make brothers and sisters get along.

Alec Baldwin stars as the titular character of this much hyped Dreamworks animation and though it's not exactly going to blow anyone away it's an entertaining fluff piece.

Predictably sappy, following the usual tropes of the genre and with the type of humour customary for these types of movies you can do a lot worse with 90 minutes.

One thing I liked was just how much adult humour they got in, that kind of lightweight stuff to appease the parents watching these kind of films with their kids.

The only shocking thing to come away from this is the fact the sequel isn't available until 2021! Fun stuff but don't expect any surprises.

The Good:

Quaint in that predictable way

The Bad:

Quaint in that predictable way

Things I learnt from this movie:

Puppies are evil

Babies coming from women's vaginas is a false rumour (Never did sound right)

First of all, recognize that this is a children's movie. So, a completely coherent plot isn't even the icing on the cake. It's more like one extra and very beautiful icing flower on top of the icing on the cake. What I'm saying is not all kids' movies totally make sense, so don't get too mad at Boss Baby for not totally making sense.

The standard movie of this ilk is littered with inconsistencies and overlooked logical flaws. In that sense, Boss Baby is a standard movie.

In a much different sense, Boss Baby is far, far from standard. It's brimming with creativity and bold stylistic choices. Not everything works, but enough does to justify the attempts.

The creative dynamic comes from the nature of the storytelling. The movie unfolds through the wildly inventive eyes of 7-year-old Tim. His boundless imagination makes him a questionable narrator, like Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, except he's not a psychotic murderer.

At any moment, Tim can suddenly morph into a ninja (to give one example) and his perceived world morphs accordingly to fit his current fantasy. This creates a number of whimsical and forceful action sequences that will mesmerize children and should keep adults at least mildly amused.

Digging a bit deeper, the movie is really about the love between brothers. Well, that and the obvious yet still funny metaphor that babies are really in charge. The brotherly moments work surprisingly well for the most part. They even elicited in me some of the intended emotions during a few key scenes when the baby realized that Tim cared for him and vice versa.

Despite being completely predictable, these moments are still touching. Maybe it's the cartoon cuteness or maybe the filmmakers tactfully achieved something here. Either way, it works.

Overall, I came away more satisfied than I anticipated, partly because I accepted Boss Baby for what it was. Your kids will enjoy this movie. If you relax your critical analysis, and most importantly give into the cuteness, you may enjoy it too.