It's not hard to believe Alec Baldwin looked and acted like this as a baby...
Tim is your average, well-behaved nine-or-something-year-old; he likes bedtime stories, loves his parents and loves hugs from them even more and doesn't really want anything else. He's the perfect child that probably doesn't exist, and will likely become the most unrealistic teenager off-screen after the credits roll too. But when his parents bring a baby in a suit home (Alec Baldwin of course), his world is turned inside out and he's no longer the centre of his parents' universe. And when he learns that the baby can also talk in an adult voice and is a bit of a douche, things go from bad to worse for Tim. But also for the film.
First of all, I just can't stress enough how most kids' CGI films since Toy Story (and its sequels) have simply failed to capture the essence of humanity with its digi-humans. Is it just me? I don't think it is. Maybe it's because the humans didn't take up much screen-time in the Toy Story movies, but actually, as the series progresses, they kind of do. After all, Andy is the heart of the very story itself, and while his mum - at least in the first instalment - is almost given that "legs-only" Tom & Jerry-esque treatment by way of honing in on the toys' perception of the world, she's still very believable, as are all the other humans throughout the franchise, and it's this that most if not all kids' CGI films have missed by an unforgivable distance ever since. I'm not saying that Andy, for example, looks real. Humans weren't made to look real in any such films film. It's just something I can't quite put my finger on.
I don't include the likes of Frozen or Tangled in my complaint either because they needed decent dolls to sell for those films, but that doesn't mean Pixar are immune. Sure, they gave us Toy Story, but Big Hero Six, Inside Out, Up and Ratatouille are as bad to me as the likes of the discount-Pixar flicks such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Megamind, Despicable Me, Shrek or Hotel Transylvania. I suppose the most obvious thing is the stupid-shaped heads that make up most of the aforementioned films' human characters, but perhaps more irritatingly, and particularly in the case of Boss Baby, is the film's decision to cast yet another giant-eyed, bobble-headed, gap-toothed, anime-haired kid at its core, clearly nothing more than a blatant attempt to also target the film towards the lucrative Japanese market.
Anyway, back to my review... Boss Baby is occasionally funny, with the film's only real saving grace being the sharp, wise-cracking Alec Baldwin as the titular character. It's light-hearted stuff though and warrants no real complaint (except for the huge rant above), but being a semi-hater of most kids' CGI films, I instantly saw how, for the most part, Boss Baby is nothing short of run-of-the-mill, cliche-ridden nonsense that rehashes the formula of countless others in its genre - a mad and evil inventor with a plan to dominate the world and a main character and sidekick who don't get along but are the only ones who can thwart the villain's plan and save the day.
A forgettable film you've seen a hundred times before which kids will surely love, and no doubt if you have any you'll be forced into watching it over the Easter holidays. After all, they're the boss.
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