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Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

The Boss Baby

also known as “Baby-bossen,” “Boss beebi,” “Bébi úr,” “Dzieciak rządzi,” See more »
MPA Rating: PG-Rating (MPA) for some mild rude humor.
Moral Rating: not reviewed
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Family
Genre: Animation Family Comedy Fantasy 3D
Length: 1 hr. 37 min.
Year of Release: 2017
USA Release: March 12, 2017 (festival)
March 31, 2017 (wide—3,773 theaters)
DVD: July 25, 2017
Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporationclick photos to ENLARGE Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Copyright, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
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Featuring Alec BaldwinBaby (voice)
Steve BuscemiCEO Francis E. Francis (voice)
Lisa KudrowMother (voice)
Jimmy Kimmel … Father (voice)
Miles Christopher Bakshi … Tim, Boss Baby's seven-year-old brother (voice)
Tobey MaguireOlder Tim / Narrator (voice)
ViviAnn Yee … Staci (voice)
Eric Bell Jr. … Triplets
Director Tom McGrath — “Megamind” (2010), “Madagascar” (2005), “The Penguins of Madagascar” (2008-2015)
Producer DreamWorks Animation
Ramsey Ann Naito
Distributor
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Trademark logo.
20th Century Studios
, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “Meet a most unusual baby. He wears a suit, speaks with the voice and wit of Alec Baldwin, and stars in the animated comedy, DreamWorks’ ‘The Boss Baby.’ The Boss Baby is a hilariously universal story about how a new baby's arrival impacts a family, told from the point of view of a delightfully unreliable narrator, a wildly imaginative 7 year old named Tim.

Loosely based on the children’s book The Boss Baby by Maria Frazee, ‘Boss Baby’ is a fantastical family comedy about the bossiest member in every family—the new guy. From the day his baby brother arrived (in a cab… wearing a suit), seven-year-old Tim knew this fast-talking briefcase-carrying baby (voiced by Alec Baldwin) was trouble—after all, there’s only so much love to go around, right? But as Tim embarks on a mission to win back the sole affection of his parents, he stumbles upon a secret plot by the CEO of Puppy Co. that threatens to destroy the balance of love in the world—and this brash baby executive masquerading as his new brother is at the center of it all. Now, they must come together as true brothers to stop the dastardly scheme, save their parents, restore order to the world, and prove that love is indeed an infinite force.”

  • Violence: Mild
  • Profanity: “God” (2), “heck” (1), “darn” (1)
  • Sex/Nudity: Moderate
Volunteer reviewer needed for this movie

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—I don’t know why this movie is getting such a negative rap on this site. I thought it was hilarious! Yes, many of the jokes went over the kids heads, but I don’t see what the problem is. There were quite a few Easter Eggs in this movie, as well, and it paid major homage to Mary Poppins. When Boss Baby and his brother had the exchange about Jesus Christ, I didn’t take any offense at all. Boss Baby did come back and say he was not JC.

This movie I thought shown a wonderful light on family and how important family really is. Sometimes we do not realize how blessed we are to have the family we do. I went with my sister and 4 kids. 13, 12, 9 and 3. I would take them to see it again. Really it wasn’t that bad of a movie. Suffice it to say I am a born again Bible believe Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven believer, and I didn’t get offended at all by this hilarious movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4
—Rebecca, age 44 (USA)
Neutral
Neutral—I watched this with my husband, I would NOT watch this with children! There are SO many adult jokes and comments in this that may go over a kid’s head and may not, I wouldn’t take the chance. The movie is very funny, high paced and constant action. It keeps your attention unlike some animated movies. If you look at it as the baby is not really a baby, he is a grown person acting like a baby, then the raw humor is a little more bearable. I was SHOCKED at the amount of religious comments they had, calling him the devil baby (because the little brother didn’t like him, and he was making his life difficult), then they made a reference to him being the baby Jesus which was totally uncalled for.

Also, no clue what they had to show a baby’s butt many times throughout the movie! And they had a cross dressing man, who wasn’t pretending to enjoy it, he was just acting like the nanny but still that can be confusing. There was also quite a bit of violence in it and scary scenes of some pretty angry characters. And, of course, they can hardly any of these movies without talking about killing someone with intense anger. So even after writing all this, I wonder why a person would even watch it, however I see those things as what is going on with the world and being aware of the state of it is important too. I would never watch this with children.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Stephanie, age 43 (USA)
Negative
Negative—My two kids and I went to watch this movie on Saturday. Besides the fact that it is lacking substance, there are a couple of scenes in which they are making fun of our LORD and Christianity. I’m sorry to have supported them with our tickets!!
The baby and the older brother have a conversation about where babies come from. The older brother asks him: are you baby JESUS? And he answers: “Yes, I’m baby JESUS.” After a small pause he adds: “No, I’m not.”

The second instance was when the two of them are at the airport and are in need of a fast intervention. One of them says: “We need a miracle.“ The next scene shows a bright light in the shape of an angel coming down the escalator. After the camera zooms in, we see a man impersonating Elvis Presley. I thought that was really unnecessary and did feel like they were making fun of our values.

It is so frustrating, that Hollywood laughs at us Christians and includes so much junk in their movies, and, for a great part, we just laugh along because we have become so used to it.

The other thing was showing the two of them jump over a train in motion while on a bike. Someone was pursuing them. Another scene showed the older boy jump from a trampoline directly into the house, through the window of the second floor. And lastly, the older boy got ready to throw the baby out the window, using a baby bouncer. Considering that this was a movie for young children, it seemed inappropriate.

We are originally from a different culture, and I might perceive offensive things that are acceptable in North America.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: no opinion
Ela, age 36 (Canada)
Negative—The first thing I noticed is the abundance of triangles in this movie, which is an Illuminati symbol. When Tim puts on the 3D glasses, he initially sees horrific babies; this references a horror movie. The baby takes God’s name in vain, and there is a mockery of Jesus Christ. The magic pacifiers, the “what would big colossal boss baby do” mocking what would Jesus do. Francis sits on his brother’s/father’s lap. Cross dressing, Tim is given an alcoholic beverage, the wizard who kept trying to cast spells—this movie is FULL of anti-Christ conversations and symbols!

Ephesians 5:11: “Have nothing to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Nancy, age 54 (USA)
Negative—The first time I watched it, I thought it was cute and harmless and really a great way to open up the dialogue about sibling rivalry and the most important parenting advice I was ever given… Love isn’t divided; it’s multiplied. I loved the emphasis on the value of imagination and how much more fun life is with it. That being said, as most kids do, we’ve watched it a few… million times. The more I watch this movie, the more I recognize some rather suggestive things.

Right off the bat, there’s a scene that boss baby fears being sodomized by a binky… and then gets batted around when they’re trying to determine his gender. Boss baby hands Tim a binky and tells him to suck it… “Don’t you want to find out where babies come from? Suck it. Faster!” Tim and boss baby come out of their binky-sucking trance going, “This is so wrong, but it feels so right.”

The big brother, Eugene, dresses like a woman and apparently gets in touch with his feminine side, because he softens at the end with a very motherly approach to his new baby. These are just a few examples of moments that made me raise an eyebrow. With so much going on in our world today, I am concerned that there are certain things that movies like this are trying to normalize and desensitize us to that are in direct violation of God’s Word.

On the surface, it’s just a funny kids movie… but with the discernment of the Spirit, I have to recommend against watching this film.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 5
Shelly, age 33

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

Movie Critics
…Instead of taking us deeper into a child's reality the way “Inside Out” did, “The Boss Baby” is at once overly busy and oddly detached from a child's reality. …
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
…ruin your kids’ weekend with an unsettling talking-infant farce that doubles as an unsettling Pop Capitalist saga for the age of the corporate citizen. …with the voice of Alec Baldwin in full slithery-syrup elitist mode… [C]
Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly
…“The Boss Baby” has some hilarious moments. If, that is, you’re a grown-up. It’s a movie whose story is aimed at the siblings of newborns—the 8-and-under crowd, more or less. They’ll follow the plot for most of the way; they just might be puzzled by their accompanying parent’s reactions. “What’s so funny, Dad?”…
Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
“The Boss Baby” is a bun needing more time in the oven, some rethinking of what sort of animated comedy it wishes to be. …
Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times
…A meme pretending to be a movie… [1½/4]
Oliver Jones, Observer (NYC)
…It’s a great premise for a movie, but it could have been so much more. …layers on the jokes, and the ideas, and the feels. It indulges in chaos. …
Megan Garber, The Atlantic
Comments from non-viewers
Negative—I have not seen the movie. I was very skeptical when I saw the trailer, during another film. I found a number of things inappropriate for children. It appears to me, as with most of Hollywood, that there was more focus on keeping adults entertained and engaged. It’s bad enough that this and other movies are rated PG. They could at least stick to appropriate content.

I read another comment that perceived some of the comments as making fun of the faith. I honestly don’t think they intended to do so. I think the comments about God and Jesus exemplify society’s lack of respect and reverence. See all »
LH, age 47 (USA)
Neutral—I just want to thank the movie goers that wrote in to Christian Spotlight, enabling me to make the choice not to financially support this movie. I watched a 30 minute video of trailers and clips on “Boss Baby,” prior to reading any reviews, and was planning to take my family to see it.

It’s uncanny that they chose to leave out the sacrilegious reference to baby Jesus, from any of the trailers and clips that were advertised. If that had been a reference to Mohammad, or Allah, there would have been a firestorm of backlash, but as usual, Hollywood feels at complete liberty to be flippant about the Christian religion.

And why shouldn’t they, the majority of Americans professing “Christianity” don’t seem to care, so why should they. It’s just a shame that we westerners do not exhibit the same degree of passion and/or reverence for our Christian heritage as do the Muslims in the east.
Harry, age 45 (USA)