The Boss Baby | Film review - Alec Baldwin's pushy infant takes charge

Born leader.

As any parent run ragged by a newborn will confirm, the baby is boss. Taking the notion an ingenious step further, this animated comedy gives us a tie-and-suit-wearing baby with the gravelly voice of Alec Baldwin.

The Boss Baby is the new arrival in the family of imaginative seven-year-old Tim (voiced by Miles Bakshi), who is dismayed when this unwanted sibling starts demanding the attention of his adored mom and dad (Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel) – and even more appalled when he discovers the infant interloper can talk.

The movie has some nice rough and tumble fun with Tim’s constantly thwarted efforts to expose his rival’s real nature to his parents, but the story turns into a more conventional quest narrative when Tim learns that The Boss Baby is actually on a mission from Baby Corp HQ to stop puppies becoming more popular than babies. Predictably, the pair then team up in a bid to foil the schemes of Puppy Co.’s nefarious CEO (Steve Buscemi).

Things do get a bit sappy later on, but there’s enough visual and verbal wit on show to keep younger and older viewers entertained.

Certificate U. Runtime 97 mins. Director Tom McGrath

Available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k397HRbTtWI

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A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.