‘The Boss Baby’: Great Viewing for Siblings

Grab your sibling and celebrate sibling rivalry, for better or worse, by seeing the Dreamworks computer-animated comedy film, “The Baby Boss.” The movie features Alec Baldwin as the titular badass baby and looks at the secret war between babies and puppies as well as the rude displacement the first-born feels when the new interloper makes an appearance.

For the sake of full disclosure, I am the second-born in my family, but got displaced as tey baby of the family three years later, when my younger brother was born. I’ve seen the pattern play out in the family of friends as well as among my dogs. This is a universal theme and as written by Michael McCullers, the most-predictable plot is still fun and family-friendly, and has a heart-warming ending that might not sit well with animal lovers.

The movie is based on pictures books, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee, but what makes the movie work is the gravelly voice of Alec Baldwin coming out of the animated Baby Boss’ mouth.

Timothy Templeton (Tobey Maguire) looks back on his idyllic childhood as the center of attention between his loving mother Janice (Lisa Kudrow) and father Ted (Jimmy Kimmel). In his overactive imagination,  he transforms his every day life into strange adventures with pirates, as a spy or in a safari. One day, when he’s seven, Timothy (now voiced by Miles Christopher Bakshi), a business suit-clad baby arrives by yellow Baby Corp taxi. His parents don’t seem to notice anything strange about the baby, but Timothy discovers his is a baby that acts like an adult and has a mission: To find out about the secret new project at Puppy Co, the company where Timothy’s parents both work.

The Boss Baby was one of those babies who didn’t land right on the baby conveyer belt and didn’t respond like a normal baby. Such babies aren’t sent to earthly families; they are inducted into Baby Corp, an organization where babies with adult minds are kept young by a Secret Baby formula  as they work to keep the world in love with babies. The Secret Baby formula  keeps babies physically young and prevents them from growing old.

The greatest threat to worldwide baby love is the love of puppies. The founder of Puppy Co., Francis E. Francis (Steve Buscemi), is set to unveil a new puppy at a big Las Vegas convention and the Baby Boss is determined to gain access to the secret plans to thwart this threat to worldwide baby domination. Francis also has a brother, Eugene (Conrad Vernon) and the relationship between both sets of brothers is part of the fun along with the contrast between babies and bureaucracies.

“The Baby Boss” will make you remember your siblings or siblings you’ve seen and watching the movie might even help patch up a few old wounds. If you celebrate #NationalSiblingsDay or #BrothersDay, this is your movie.

 

 

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