I recently watched the movie The Boss Baby and I was shocked. It was not as much as a kids movie as it had been advertised. The previews made light of the plot and as I watched it occurred to me that the movie was made by someone who clearly doesn’t have any kids. If you follow me then you should already two things about me 1) I don’t have any kids but I often watch kids and 2) I’m a bit of a movie fanatic.
I initially saw the previews for the movie while watching Beauty and the Beast. They were cute and I didn’t really think anything into them. Who wouldn’t like to see a talking baby wearing a suit? Flash forward a couple weeks to opening week, which happened to fall right before Spring Break in some areas. I had the pleasure of entertaining a few Spring break-ers during this time, it was rated PG so the opportunity to watch the movie was convenient, to say the least.
The movie opened with an assembly line of babies splitting them into two categories. This was a bit disturbing, as the categories were “Family” or “Management”. Yea, if you weren’t lovable or ticklish then you didn’t deserve a family you were more suitable for management. The movie then proceeds to place the Baby, who was being mounded for management, into a family. What happens next is probably one of the only things I agreed on.
From the time the baby entered the home their was a struggle between him and his older sibling. The older kid tried to tell his parents of his new baby brothers motives but they weren’t trying to hear it. It was a set up to introduce your typical sibling rivalry and the adjustment phase when a new person, process etc is introduced in a home. It’s hard sometimes adjusting and sharing the spotlight and I appreciated them tackling that. I know first hand how it feels. Remember, my sibling and I are eleven years apart.
Dreamworks really did a number on this one (along with numbers in the box office). The baby did everything you could imagine a baby doing with a side of Chuckie. He had money. He wanted power. He wore a suit. He did what he had to do to try to get what he wanted, which was strangely a management position. I think he even cursed one time.
Once you saw how he treated his sibling and the other babies in this commando style, I couldn’t believe Dreamworks had gone in that direction. The most interesting thing I saw was the baby throwing money at his problems. There were so many mixed reviews. I was very disappointed. They hadn’t thought about demographics or the age ranges of the children who would probably be watching.
Soon after, he and his brother devise a plan to get to Vegas to stop the villain from promoting his Forever Puppy along with their parents. Which also ties into him getting his shiny new office. His departure is proceeded by a Men in Black type of memory erase to cause his family to forget he ever existed. Once he’s in that management position he realizes that management wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. The Boss Baby eventually ends up back at the factory to be sent back to his loving family.
The movie talked about everything from marketing to a secret formula to keep him in that talking baby phase and competing with other “Boss Babies”. It was a little everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, it was no where near Sausage Party and I am well aware adults deserve cartoons too. I just wish people were a little more mindful of how they marketed things to the general public. The main marketing I saw had the catch phrase “Cookies are for closers”. It was cute but if you paid attention he was plain and simple a jerk.
We don’t need more movies for kids that teach them to compete for love, attention or a job. We need more movies that will teach them morals. Movies that will teach them how to be kids. There are enough twisted people out there and we don’t need to give anymore ammunition for them to start earlier. If I had to summarize the movie, I would say the main message I received can be summed up in a quote:
“Things are not always what they seem;” — Phaedrus
Hope this helps someone!
CH
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