Jackson Booth-Millard
I saw the trailer for this computer-animated film at the cinema, it looked like a relatively amusing kids' movie, I became more interested in seeing when it became part of the Awards Season nominations, directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar, Megamind). Basically seven-year-old Tim Templeton (Miles Christopher Bakshi) has an over-active imagination, and enjoys life with his parents, Ted (Jimmy Kimmel) and Janet (Lisa Kudrow), who work for a puppy factory called Puppy Co. founded by a man named Francis E. Francis (Steve Buscemi). Tim is surprised to see an infant wearing a black business suit carrying a briefcase arriving at his house in a taxi, Tim's parents tell him it is his baby brother. Tim is envious of the attention the baby is receiving, he is also suspicious when the infant acts odd around him. Soon Tim learns that the Baby (Alec Baldwin) can talk like an adult, he introduces himself as "The Boss". Seeing an opportunity to get rid of him, Tim records a conversation between the Boss Baby and other toddlers who are in Tim's house for a meeting (under the guise of a play date) to do something about puppies receiving more love and attention than babies. The Boss Baby and the other infants catch Tim with the recording, the cassette tape is destroyed, the Boss Baby threatens to tear up Tim's favourite stuffed animal if he crosses him. With no evidence to support him, Tim is grounded by his parents, much to his and the Boss Baby's dismay. The Boss Baby apologises to Tim, giving him a pacificer that will transport him to the place he comes from, Baby Corp., where infants with adult-like minds can preserve their youth. The Boss Baby explains that he stays intelligent and youthful with a "Secret Formula", if a baby does not drink it after a period of time, he or she becomes a regular baby. The Boss Baby also explains that he is on a mission to infiltrate Puppy Co., which is unleashing a new puppy, which threatens the love and need for babies everywhere. If he succeeds in discovering what the new puppy is, he will get a portrait on a wall, and a new corner office, with a high chair and a private potty. Tim and Boss Baby overhear the Big Boss Baby (Edie Mirman) threatening to fire him for not bringing information, which would strip him of the formula and strand him with the Templetons, he and Tim agree to work together to keep that from happening. Tim's parents lift the grounding, seeing him bond with the Boss Baby, they take them to Puppy Co. to the "take your child to work day", there they are able to sneak into the backroom where they find plans for a "Forever Puppy". But this turns out to be trap, set by Francis, who used to be the head of Baby Corp. and Boss Baby's idol, he was forced out after becoming lactose intolerant which stopped the formula working properly. Vowing revenge, Francis founded Puppy Co. and intends to have the Forever Puppies overshadow babies by stealing the Boss Baby's secret formula and infecting puppies with it. Tim's parents are tricked into a trip with Francis to Las Vegas, where he plans to launch the Forever Puppy, Francis and his brother Eugene (Conrad Vernon) pose as a babysitter to keep them from interfering. Without a steady flow of formula to maintain his intelligence, Boss Baby starts becoming a normal baby, but they manage to escape Eugene, but they are too late reaching the airport to stop the parents getting onto the flight to Vegas. Tim and Boss Baby let out their frustrations with each other, but they quickly make up, and sneak onto another plane heading to Vegas, filled with Elvis impersonators. They reach the hotel and stall Francis' presentation, furious at their interference, Francis traps Tim's parents under the rocket tat will launch the Forever Puppy worldwide. Tim and Boss Baby defeat Francis, knocking him into a large container of formula, Boss Baby opens the rocket to let out all the puppies, the parents are saved, but his return to baby state is complete, but Tim sings a song to help him down from the rocket, before it launches, now baby Francis is taken away by the authorities. Boss Baby gets promoted and leaves the Templetons, the parents are hypnotised to forget about him, Tim chooses not to forget him, he goes back to being an only child, but he and Boss Baby miss each other. Tim writes a letter to Boss Baby convincing him to live with him as his brother, he returns to the Templetons as a regular baby, named Theodore Lindsey "Ted" Templeton. In the present day, adult Tim (Tobey Maguire), also narrating, finishes his story, he is now father to two daughters, one of which acts like Ted when he was Boss Baby, wearing a business suit. Also starring Eric Bell Jr. as Triplets and ViviAnn Yee as Staci. Baldwin is a good choice as the wisecracking power-hungry tycoon tyke, it is a fairly good story of bickering forced siblings who slowly join forces to win a baby-puppy cuteness war, the script is witty and funny, only occasionally mawkish, and the animation is pretty good, overall it is a fun and reasonable family animated comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Animated. Worth watching!
