Boss Baby

2017 animated movie

Rating: 13/20 (Buster: 15/20)

Plot: The arrival of a baby brother threatens an imaginative 7-year-old's halcyon existence.

Expectations were very low for this, and to be honest, I expected to be annoyed by the whole endeavor; however, I was hooked by some imaginative 2D-looking animation and vibrant characterization for the main character who is not, as you'd probably imagine, the titular infant. Tim is the kind of 7-year-old you can like, probably because his adult version is voiced by the irresistible Tobey Maguire. The animation style matches the overload of imagination that makes children around that age so much fun. Think Andy in Toy Story, but there might be a little Sid mixed in with him, too.

Like another Pixar classic (yes, I'm referring to Up), if you take all of this at face value, it doesn't make any sense, too far-fetched to take seriously at all. And I like to take my animated movies seriously, friends. This narrative works much better as a metaphor for the emotions an only child goes through when a new sibling comes into the household and the eventual bonding of those siblings than it does a wildly unbelievable tale of a talking entrepreneurial baby and his older brother trying to save the world--and some weird puffy and pristine baby-producing heaven-esque world--from a Buscemi-voiced character who wants to unleash puppies that never age. It all gets way too silly even if you go into your animated films expecting nothing but colors and silliness.

I laughed a couple of times, and Buster seemed to enjoy herself. There might be too much of a dependence on fart jokes, but I guess that's what the little tykes are enjoying these days. The whole thing breezes by, and although it does fall apart a bit in its last third, it doesn't do it nearly as offensively as a lot of animated features I could name. And it does end in a sort of sweet way although there's one big moment featuring the opening of a package that almost made me sick to my stomach.

Like all animated movies I've seen recently, I spent a lot of the movie wondering which voice actors have sexually harassed or even assaulted women. Is that healthy?