The Boss Baby
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie and felt like I was high, which is not what I expected when I popped this one into the player. It looked innocuous enough, sitting on the video store shelf, and the description really doesn’t warn you: “A suit-wearing, briefcase-carrying baby pairs up with his 7-year old brother to stop the dastardly plot of the CEO of Puppy Co.” Sounds a little stupid, actually, but I was willing to put up with it because my friend likes any kind of animated kid movie.
The opening credits gives you all the backstory of the suit-wearing baby plus sets up the milieu, and includes a visual joke about butt plugs. Yeah, you heard me. We thought that was a little weird and over the top for the typical The-Adult-Jokes-Hidden-In-The-Kid-Movie, and then the film got a little boring for a while. Just about the time I was going to turn it off I noticed that floaty feeling in my head, which got stronger as time went on. The adult humor wasn’t so hidden, and it veers back to kinky now and then.
There are a lot of allusions to other movies, including a good parody of the most famous Raiders of the Lost Ark scene, a $6 Million Dollar Man gag including the sound effect and you may notice the homage to that old kid game Mousetrap. The older brother, Tim, is voiced very well by the grandson of Ralph Bakshi in this fitting tribute to his pioneering work on mind blowing animated film, and Alec Baldwin lends his perfectly jaded voice to the Boss Baby. I guarantee you will want a Gandolf alarm clock like Tim’s that wakes you with a steely, “Wake up, halflings”. I found this especially clever as, you will recall, Strider describes the Hobbits to someone as, “Seeming as children to you.” This alarm also hands out great life coaching that Tim takes seriously.
You might want to think twice before showing this to a young person, if that young person is particularly savvy and bright beyond her years. And you may want to go easy on the alcohol or other mind altering drugs because the movie is trippy enough on its own. By the end I had decided I like this movie quite a bit, but I understand it’s definitely not everyone’s cuppa, so enter at your own risk.
LINKS:
The Boss Baby
CFR: In Addition: I looked at the preview and thought no way! You don’t pitch dogs against kids! Looked too creepy for me. Glad you liked it if you did.
Chick Flicking Reviews 