THE BOSS BABY (2017)

Genre: Animated
Running Length: 1:37
Cast (Voices): Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Tobey Maguire, Miles Christopher Bakshi
Director: Tom McGrath
Screenplay: Michael McCullers based on the book The Boss Baby by Marla Frazee

When the trailer to THE BOSS BABY first dropped, it didn't really appeal to me. But I went on to watch it anyway hoping the entire movie would be a much better experience. But alas, compared to the other Dreamworks Animation productions, it wasn't as clever as How To Train Your Dragon series or as entertaining as The Kung Fu Panda trilogy.

In terms of animation style, it is closer to Sing. And both relies heavily on kids kind of humour (read: there are some laughs but not terribly funny). But the difference is that Sing had this one major unexpected scene in Act 3 which made me burst out in spontaneous laughter. And thereafter, the movie just got better and better up to the rousing finale. Wheres, The Boss Baby didn't have any of such surprises.

Plot wise, when a briefcase-carrying, suit-wearing little baby arrives at seven-year-old Tim’s home, his life changed forever. No longer he's the centre of attention with the arrival of his baby broooooother. Tim who has an outrageous and over active imagination, then starts plotting a way to get rid of the new addition. But somewhere in the middle of the movie, Tim and his little "Boss" brother managed to put their differences aside to work out a win-win agreement (ahem..corporate lingo).

Yeah, it sounds rather simple but yet complicated at the same time because in this universe, babies are not born but manufactured at Baby Corp (Storks did a much better job at this, plus it's OTT LOL funny). To be fair, there are some things that this movie did well such as casting Alec Baldwin (in full SNL President Trump mode) as the titular character. He is perfectly enjoyable here. And there are some beautifully rendered sequences of Tim's imagination. As mentioned, there are laughs and some heart in there but it's few and far between.

RATING: 5.5/10