The Boss Baby

Somewhere in the clouds, a company called Baby Corp. runs an adorable newborn assembly line, where babies are manufactured and families are formed. At least that's according to the overactive imagination of 7-year-old Tim Templeton (voiced by Miles Bakshi), who is the totally content only child of doting parents (Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow) who read him endless bedtime stories and sing the Beatles' tune “Blackbird” as his lullaby. But Tim's perfect little world is disrupted by the arrival of a baby brother named Theodore. In Tim's mind, the demanding infant is a tiny tyrant, dispatched by management, arriving in a business suit, wearing a Rolex, and carrying a briefcase. And he can talk. Theodore manages to remain infantile by gulping a magic formula and sucking on a psychedelic pacifier. “One thing was clear,” now-grown Tim (Tobey Maguire) recalls. “He was the boss.” When his cohorts arrive in the guise of a play date, the titular tot explains that, since their parents work at Puppy Co., they need to infiltrate the company to eliminate the inherent threat of its newest product: an adorable Forever Puppy that will never grow up. Loosely based on Marla Frazee's charming 2010 picture book, director Tom McGrath's animated The Boss Baby is a hit and miss effort that skewers sibling rivalry, but often seems more aimed at grown-ups with its multitude of pop culture references, including the line “Cookies are for closers,” referencing Alec Baldwin's seminal scene in Glengarry Glen Ross. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (12 min.), the behind-the-scenes segments “Cookies Are for Closers: Inside Babycorp” (4 min.), “The Great Sibling Competition” (4 min.), “Babycorp and You” (3 min.), “Babies vs. Puppies: Who Do You Love?” (3 min.), “The Forever Puppy Informercial” (2 min.), and “The Boss Baby's Undercover Team” (2 min.), the mini-adventure “The Boss Baby and Tim's Treasure Hunt Through Time” (3 min.), and a gallery. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so animated family film.] (S. Granger)