The Boss Baby

A two word premise that’s been stretched out to 97 minutes with a fair number of borderline nihilistic and confused messages going on, The Boss Baby has got to be one of the worst movies ever nominated for an Oscar. There’s clearly a very muddled message about an older sibling’s feelings of resentment and fear of replacement at the heart of this movie, but it’s far too concerned with cynical jokes to even bother exploring that. It’s as if DreamWorks is the Asylum of animated feature studios in comparison to the more thoughtful and unique boutique studios like Laika, Pixar, or GKids. They get a unique premise and then never bother developing the idea beyond that initial premise, load it up with numerous pop culture references, unearned emotional moments, and then send it out with the established plans for an eventual franchise. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, this is a film that positions there’s only so much love to go around in the world and tries to make us laugh at the concept of a special milk formula that keeps babies developmentally stunted while they engage in office culture. Hard to think that this entertained any kids, but at least there’s a few moments of creative animation to liven things up while it spins its wheels.