Marla Frazee's book, The Boss Baby, gleefully exaggerates the working conditions of new parents under demanding infants. Now they're corporate drones under demanding tycoons. That I can believe. Dreamworks' animated expansion of this story raises a lot of perplexing questions.
The Boss Baby (Alec Baldwin) is an upstart executive at Baby Corp, an organization run by babies who act like adults because of their Secret Baby Formula. Their job is to make sure babies get lots of love and attention. But the evil Puppy Co. has been cutting in their love margin. That company's CEO Francis E. Francis (Steve Buscemi) has a deviously cute puppy in the works. Mom and Dad Templeton happen to work for Puppy Co. Boss Baby and Timmy will have to act like brothers to stop this evil plan. Otherwise, Boss Baby is out of a job.
A press summary of this bizarre story flat-out calls Tim an unreliable narrator. Timmy gets a few imagine spots of daring adventures that dissolve to reality. Is the whole movie an imagine spot for Timmy's promotion to big brother? The finale doesn't clarify what all the elaborations represented. Its last shot makes it look like some of it happened. So, what?
It still raises a disturbing, satirical point about people who view puppies as "accessories." No, not taking away all the baby love margin. It's the surplus. Francis E. Francis even unveils the new puppy like Steve Jobs would unveil his new Apple product. It's not explored all the way, but the inference is still there.
The voice actors make the story bearable. Alec Baldwin's clearly having fun as Boss Baby. He's the enthusiastic corporate raider we'd love to hate if he were any older. As he shows his sympathetic side early on, he becomes the corporate raider we'd love to admire. Bakshi is also perfectly cast as the over-imaginative protagonist. Buscemi's Francis E Francis, while delightfully evil, has an understandable backstory. Conrad Vernon is also great as Francis's henchman/brother Eugene.
So what about the technical work? Well, the colors and animation are good. The imagine spots provide some wonderfully bizarre visuals. Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazarro's score is lively and Cheek to Cheek is a nice leitmotif. The sound was OK, though one line sounded dirtier than what it was because it was barely discernible. It was nothing Oscar worthy, but it worked for what it was.
The Boss Baby's weird story may certainly entertain impressionable kids. They'll think about life's little mysteries years from now; adults will think about this film's mysteries once they're done. It's an OK matinee for a flatscreen showing. Just don't think about it too much.
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