Boss Baby

Undoubtedly, the making of Boss Baby (2017, dir. Tom McGrath) involved some moments of imagination and creativity. Choosing Alec Baldwin to voice the boss baby certainly was a promising move. But Baldwin's voice, and his cheeky satirical persona, are poorly used. They are hardly used at all. I think Baldwin was chosen to attract viewers familiar with his work in 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live. Children, young children particularly, may find this film entertaining. As an adult who came to it with some hopes of comedy and satire, I didn't find much. It was a silly film that must've been made mainly in the hopes of large ticket revenues. I don't know if that goal was accomplished, and it really doesn't matter. The motives behind it might involve tax breaks or greed, but they didn't involve the creation of anything truly interesting or entertaining or artful. Would I show this film to a child? No. I wouldn't want to expose a child to such a cynical, crass, low, and exploitative entertainment.

What can I say about this film that's worth saying? I'm thinking long and hard. I didn't like it. I had difficulty staying awake while watching it. I hated it. This film is a good example of why the film industry is in crisis, why really good films are not being made, or only rarely being made. If I compare this film to some of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, I might find a remote connection. But the really good Warner Brothers cartoons were artful, and well made, and entertaining. There's nothing, nothing, in this film that approaches the best of the Bugs Bunny or Roadrunner or Daffy Duck cartoons, nothing, nothing at all. Nothing in this film that comes close to being comparable to the good animated films being made by Disney Studios or by Pixar or by other companies that emulate them.