Boss Baby

''The Boss Baby'' is a 2017 American animated spy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Loosely based on the 2010 picture book of the same name by Marla Frazee, it was directed by Tom McGrath from a screenplay by Michael McCullers, and stars Alec Baldwin as the title character, with Miles Bakshi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Steve Buscemi and Tobey Maguire in supporting roles. The first installment in ''The Boss Baby'' franchise, the film follows a boy helping his baby brother who is a secret agent in the war for adults' love between babies and puppies.

''The Boss Baby'' premiered at the Miami International Film Festival on March 12, 2017, and was released in the United States on March 31. It was one of the final DreamWorks Animation films distributed by 20th Century Fox, following the former's acquisition by NBCUniversal in 2016. The film received mixed reviews from critics upon release, who praised its animation and voice performances but were divided on its screenplay, and criticized its plot and humor. It grossed $528 million worldwide against its $125 million budget. The film received a Best Animated Feature nomination at the 90th Academy Awards, but lost to ''Coco'' (2017). The film also received nominations at the Annie Awards, and the Golden Globes.

The success of the film kickstarted a franchise, including two Netflix television series: '' The Boss Baby: Back in Business'' (2018-2020) and '' The Boss Baby: Back In the Crib'' (2022-2023), and a sequel film, '' The Boss Baby: Family Business'' (2021), which was distributed by Universal Pictures, and was less critically and commercially successful.

Plot

In the 1970s, Tim Templeton, a creative 7-year-old, is taken aback when his new baby brother, Boss Baby, arrives. Baby wears a suit and tie and acts like a normal baby around parents and adults, but walks and talks like an adult when parents are absent. One day, Baby holds a staff meeting with other infants, under the guise of a neighborhood play date. Tim attempts to record them on a tape before Baby and his cronies spot and chase him, resulting in it being destroyed. With no evidence to support him, Tim is grounded for three weeks for trying to get rid of Baby and is ordered to stay in the house with him until he learns to get along, much to both of their dismay.

Later, Baby reveals the truth as to why he is in his house and where he comes from. He and Tim suck a special pacifier that allows them to see Baby Corp, where babies come from. Most babies go to families, but those unresponsive to tickling are sent to management, where they are given a special baby formula that allows them to think and behave like adults while remaining young forever. Baby explains he is on a special mission to investigate the declining love for babies due to puppies, and came to the Templetons as Tim's parents work for Puppy Co. Once his mission is done, he will leave. However, the boys hear Baby's boss threatening to fire him if he fails, which would mean Baby would have to stay and grow up with the Templeton family. Tim and Baby team up to prevent this.

On Take Your Kids to Work Day, the parents lift the grounding and take Tim and Baby with them to Puppy Co. While investigating, they are caught by Puppy Co.'s CEO, Francis E. Francis, who is then revealed to be Baby's longtime idol Super Colossal Big Fat Boss Baby, a former CEO of Baby Corp who got fired due to aging from lactose intolerance. He takes Baby's formula to create a "Forever Puppy" incapable of aging, which will take all love from babies and give him his revenge on Baby Corp.

Francis takes Tim's parents to a Las Vegas conference and leaves his brother Eugene to pose as a female nanny to watch them. The boys attack Eugene with fake vomit and escape from him with the help of the neighborhood toddlers. They reach Las Vegas, where they find Francis ready to launch a rocket of Forever Puppies out into the world. Tim's parents are trapped below the rocket to be burned. Tim and Baby fight Francis on a catwalk, making him fall into a vat of formula that turns him back into a baby. Tim and Baby save Tim's parents and eject the Forever Puppies from the rocket before it launches.

Baby goes back to Baby Corp and becomes CEO. Baby Corp workers erase evidence of Baby and the parents' memories of him. One of these workers asks Tim if he would like to forget about Baby, but he declines. Tim and Baby soon realize they miss each other deeply, and Tim invites him back, saying that he wants him back as his brother. Baby returns as a regular baby named Theodore "Ted" Templeton, realizing love is something that grows, instead of being divided.

Years later, in the 2000s, an adult Tim and Ted tell the story to Tim's daughter, Tabitha, who is apprehensive about the arrival of her newborn baby sister, even though she wants a pet pony Precious. After the adults leave, the newborn girl, named Tina, is revealed to be an employee of Baby Corp, like her uncle, surprising Tabitha.

Voice cast

* Alec Baldwin as Theodore Lindsay "Ted" Templeton Jr./The Boss Baby, an infant with the mind of an adult, who works as a Baby Corp executive and gains his intelligence and speaking ability from drinking a "Secret Baby Formula".
* Miles Bakshi as Timothy Leslie "Tim" Templeton, Boss Baby's 7-year-old brother.
** Tobey Maguire as Adult Tim, the narrator.
* Jimmy Kimmel as Theodore Lindsay "Ted" Templeton Sr., Janice's husband and Tim and Ted Jr.'s father.
* Lisa Kudrow as Janice Templeton, Ted Sr.'s wife and Tim and Ted Jr.'s mother.
* Steve Buscemi as Francis E. Francis/Super Colossal Big Fat Boss Baby, the CEO of Puppy Co, the former CEO of BabyCorp and the Boss's nemesis
* Conrad Vernon as Eugene Francis, Francis's older brother and minion.
* James McGrath as Wizzie, Tim's Gandalf-esque alarm clock.
* David Soren as Jimbo
* Nina Zoe Bakshi as Tabitha Templeton, Tim's daughter.
* Tom McGrath as Julia Child (TV Chef)
* Walt Dohrn as Photographer
* James Ryan as Story Bear
* Eric Bell Jr. as The Triplets
* ViviAnn Yee as Staci
* Edie Mirman as the Big Boss Baby, Boss Baby's boss.
* James McGrath and Joseph Izzo as Elvis impersonators
* Chris Miller as Captain Ross

Production

Upon reading the original book on which the film is based McGrath felt a connection to it, as he had an older brother and felt like "the boss baby of the family". In keeping with that theme he stated, in an interview with Den of Geek, that "My personal goal with this was to watch this movie with my brother, and to see how it affected him!", which resulted in McGrath's brother being moved to tears by the completed film.

The look of the film was inspired by design techniques popularized in the 1960s, as well as animated films from both the 1950s and 1960s. This was due to McGrath's belief that contemporary animated films focused too much on realism. To help his staff McGrath would play the opening scene of ''Lady and the Tramp'' (1955) for new hires specifically noting that the film "should be easy on the eyes and really lead your eye to what's important in the shot.

In September 2014, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey joined the cast of the film, with further casting news announced in June 2016, including Steve Buscemi replacing Spacey. Baldwin previously worked with DreamWorks Animation as the voice of Makunga in 2008's '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'', which was also directed by McGrath, as well as the voice of Nicholas St. North/Santa Claus in 2012's ''Rise of the Guardians''.

Miles Bakshi, son of DreamWorks Animation producer Gina Shay and grandson of the film director Ralph Bakshi, known for directing animated films such as ''Fritz the Cat'', provided the voice of 7-year old Tim. Having been often present at DreamWorks, McGrath initially asked Bakshi only to provide a temporary voice for Tim to see if the character "worked". The producers listened to 30 to 40 children to choose the scratch voice. McGrath explained their decision: "No one sounded as authentic as Miles did. A lot of child actors are great, but they are over-articulate for their age. Miles was just natural and charming. He had a little slur to his voice at the time and it was very endearing." Three years later, Miles was told that he got the part. Bakshi was 10 when he began recording the voice. During the long process, his voice started to change and "by the end it got pretty tough", according to Bakshi, who was 14 when the film was released. He had to get his voice "very soft, but when I got that perfect tone it was great."

Music

The film was scored by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro, Jacob Collier, and various artists. It marks as Zimmer's fifth collaboration with Tom McGrath after the ''Madagascar'' trilogy (2005–2012) and ''Megamind'' (2010), and his 12th overall film he scored for DreamWorks Animation, which includes ''The Prince of Egypt'' (1998), ''The Road to El Dorado'' (2000), '' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' (2002), ''Shark Tale'' (2004), and the first three ''Kung Fu Panda'' films (2008–2016). The film's soundtrack was released on Back Lot Music & iTunes. " Blackbird" by The Beatles is used as part of the plot at various points throughout the film. During the end credits, Missi Hale recorded a cover of the Burt Bacharach song " What the World Needs Now Is Love" (first performed by Jackie DeShannon). " My House" by Flo Rida is also used in the trailer for the film.

Release

Theatrical

''The Boss Baby'' was initially scheduled for release on March 18, 2016, but was later pushed back to March 31, 2017. The film premiered at the Miami Film Festival on March 12, 2017, and was released in the United States on March 31, 2017, by 20th Century Fox. The film was later released in Japan on March 21, 2018 by DreamWorks Animation's sister company Universal Pictures. The Japanese release is accompanied by the DreamWorks animated short '' Bird Karma''.

Home media

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released ''The Boss Baby'' for digital download on July 4, 2017, and on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and Ultra HD Blu-ray on July 25. Physical copies contain a short film, ''The Boss Baby and Tim's Treasure Hunt Through Time''. From November 2017 to May 2019, the film was available on Netflix, and the film returned to the streaming platform after 4 years on May 22, 2023. It was also released in a 2-movie pack alongside its sequel '' The Boss Baby: Family Business'' on DVD and Blu-ray by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2021.

Reception

Box office

''The Boss Baby'' grossed $175 million in the United States and Canada and $353 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $528 million.

The film was released with ''Ghost in the Shell'' and '' The Zookeeper's Wife'' on March 31, 2017. ''The Boss Baby'' grossed $15.5 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. The film then earned $50 million from 3,773 theaters during its opening weekend. Its second weekend earnings dropped by 47% to $26.3 million, and followed by another $15.9 million the third weekend. ''The Boss Baby'' completed its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on November 2, 2017.

Critical response

''The Boss Baby'' has an approval rating of 53% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 180 reviews, with an average rating of . Its critical consensus reads, "''The Boss Baby''s talented cast, glimmers of wit, and flashes of visual inventiveness can't make up for a thin premise and a disappointing willingness to settle for doody jokes." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned ''The Boss Baby'' a score of 50 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Neil Genzlinger of ''The New York Times'' praised Baldwin and the adult humor, saying: "The contrast between the helpless-infant stage of life and corporate-speak is funny but fairly high-concept for a kiddie movie, and the plot grows denser as it goes along and the baby and Tim reluctantly join forces to stop a conspiracy by which puppies would corner all the love in the world." Pete Hammond of ''Deadline Hollywood'' gave the film a scoring of 3 out of 5, calling it "a funny and frenetic animated comedy which is blessed to have Alec Baldwin calling the shots as this little bundle of power who looks he should be running Exxon Mobil, not sucking his thumb."

Accolades

Academic scholarship

In 2021, interest in the original film was renewed when a philosophical symposium dedicated to the film was announced. While the announcement was widely believed to be a prank at first, organizers Jaime McCaffrey and Tore Levander insisted this was not that case. Responding to the early criticism, McCaffrey stated to The A. V. Club that "Its messaging, the way that it tries to convey ideas, you almost can't discern what the position of the movie is. And all the artistic decisions in the movie seem to be conflict with each other in such a way that as a viewer you are like 'I don't know what I'm supposed to feel and therefore I must analyze.'"

The first conference was done virtually and featured speakers from Northeastern University, Middlesex University, the University of York, Cambridge University, and a medical doctor from the University of California Riverside. JP Karliak, the TV show's voice actor, and Brandon Sawyer, writer and executive producer of '' The Boss Baby: Back in Business'', both spoke at the event. The "Second First Annual" conference was hosted in January 2023.

Franchise

Sequel

On May 25, 2017, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel, which was released on July 2, 2021, with Alec Baldwin reprising his role. On May 17, 2019, it was announced that Tom McGrath will return as director and Jeff Hermann, who produced '' Bilby'', '' Bird Karma'', and ''Marooned'', will produce the sequel. Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro returned to write the music for the film.

Television series

On December 12, 2017, both Netflix and DreamWorks Animation announced the release of the TV series based on the film. '' The Boss Baby: Back in Business'' was released in 2018.

Notes

References

External links

*

''The Boss Baby''
at Fox Movies
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boss Baby
2017 films
2010s adventure comedy films
2010s business films
2010s children's comedy films
2010s English-language films
2010s spy comedy films
2017 3D films
2017 American animated films
2017 comedy films
2017 computer-animated films
20th Century Fox animated films
3D animated films
American 3D films
American adventure comedy films
American animated films about revenge
American business films
American children's animated comedy films
American computer-animated films
American spy comedy films
Animated films about brothers
Animated films about families
Animated films based on children's books
Animated films set in the 1970s
Animated films set in the 2000s
DreamWorks Animation films
Films about babies
Films adapted into television shows
Films directed by Tom McGrath
Films scored by Hans Zimmer
Films with screenplays by Michael McCullers
The Boss Baby (franchise)