Complete A-Z list


Boss Baby, The (3D)

4/10

Stars: Voices: Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Miles Bakshi, Tobey Maguire, James McGrath

Director: Tom McGrath

Chances are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde would have appreciated SKG’s animated tale of a young lad whose idyllic family life is disrupted by the arrival of a new baby brother.

Jekyll and, especially, cinemagoing youngsters in search of plentiful crass comedy involving pratfalls, snot humour, projectile vomiting and the sight of someone with spaghetti emerging from a nostril – to say nothing of a plethora of shots of naked baby bottoms with unsubtle humour to match, all delivered in finest subtlety-lacking American cartoon style – will doubtless have a ball watching seven-year-old Tim (doubling as narrator) trying to deal with the infant invader.

As for Hyde, he should be delighted thinking of the prospects of parents having to explain the eponymous infant invader who, dressed in a suit and with all the charm of an untreated haemorrhoid, is actually the CEO of Babycorp, the organisation responsible for the creation of all babies who are then sorted into two types before joining their earthy families…

I don’t envy those accompanying adults whose kids might already be studying sex at school and who will now need to be assured that Boss Baby is only Hollywood at it most crass, not something new in human procreation and basically simply an excuse for Baldwin to reprise his hit role as cynical and sarcastic Jack Donaghy from the cult TV sitcom 30 Rock, without needing to wear make-up or costumes but simply speaking for the single-minded midget baby factory exec.

The animation is excellent, as is the 3D cinematography.

That said, undemanding kids will doubtless enjoy themselves watching this fast-moving, frequently illogical adventure which, starting with ‘Cheek to Cheek’ on the soundtrack, gets cheekier and cheekier by the minute and chucks in scads Elvis impersonators, plus a luxury executive aircraft designed to arouse justifiable envy among all those who not profiting from this gaudy SKG merry-go-round.

Adults, however, might consider taking either (a) sleeping tablets) or (b) an e-reader or (c) a long walk in their foyer.

(And talking of profit, the on-screen plug for Duracell batteries is unduly vivid, even by the usual cynical Hollywood standards of product promotion).

Alan Frank

USA 2017. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox. Colour.
97 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: U.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 09 Apr 2017