The Boss Baby
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: March 31, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
20
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenMar 12, 2017
Words like "inventive" and "inspired" are very rarely applied to the parade of cookie cutter animated features that pass through the multiplex each year, but The Boss Baby proves a refreshing exception. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyMar 30, 2017
That the plot is totally stupid is Boss Baby’s saving grace. It’s the rare cartoon that actually feels like a cartoon, propelled by its goofiness and sheer energy and rarely bogged down by boring, polemical lesson-learning. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerMar 30, 2017
This delightful, silly animated romp makes for a really fun time in the theater. Read full review
75
Washington PostPat PaduaMar 30, 2017
The Boss Baby (adapted from the 2010 book by author and illustrator Marla Frazee) is a sweet adventure tale about sibling rivalry that ultimately becomes a moving tribute to family and brotherhood. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 28, 2017
I connected with its out-there take on the first days of sibling rivalry, the acknowledgement that humanity is utterly distracted by cute puppy videos on the Internet and with Baldwin, a silky-smooth comic bully whose onscreen bark is always a lot worse than his bite. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMar 29, 2017
Not surprisingly, the best thing about The Boss Baby is Baldwin’s imperious vocalization as the authoritative rugrat with a head the size of a bowling ball, punctuated by Margaret Keane eyes. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJody MitoriMar 30, 2017
Based loosely on a 2013 children’s book by Marla Frazee, Boss Baby has a convoluted plot, but young viewers will be amused by the slapstick humor, the action-packed chase scenes and the sheer ridiculousness of a cute baby barking out commands. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshMar 30, 2017
The Boss Baby is great fun for parents, but it remains to be seen if kids will get it at all. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoMar 30, 2017
At least a plot point about “secret formula” is sort of clever. The rest comes across as gibberish. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaApr 3, 2017
All other films hoping to become the official cinematic standard-bearer of #TheResistance, take a seat. This is the most damning political narrative of 2017. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMar 30, 2017
The animated feature The Boss Baby has some hilarious moments. If, that is, you’re a grown-up. Read full review
60
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMar 30, 2017
It is a reasonably clever, fairly high-concept 'toon that boasts a satisfying emotional component. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsAllen SalkinMar 29, 2017
Everything is perfectly entertaining. Too perfectly. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 12, 2017
The Boss Baby, the jokey new 3D animated lark from DreamWorks Animation (it’s being distributed by 20th Century Fox), is a visually brisk, occasionally clever low-concept comedy that’s also trying, half-heartedly, to be some sort of Pixarish masterpiece. You may wind up wishing that it had been one or the other. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeMar 29, 2017
Basically, this movie is exceedingly clever until it isn’t, finding creative ways to explain outrageous plot points until it gets tired and starts bombarding its young target audience with chase sequences instead. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMar 12, 2017
There’s so much to like in this movie, but its best qualities are ultimately subsumed in formula. And not the nutritious kind. Read full review
50
The Film StageJohn FinkApr 3, 2017
The Boss Baby is a run-of-the-mill offering from DreamWorks who have prioritized frantic action and one-liners over the rich complexity of its competition. Read full review
50
Village VoicePete Vonder HaarMar 30, 2017
Aside from the slightly fresh take on a familiar concept, The Boss Baby is barely a moderate success as a kid's flick. Perhaps it will come as good news to studio and audience alike that it works much better as an existential horror movie. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichMar 30, 2017
Like many DreamWorks movies, The Boss Baby‘s most imaginative moments are the random asides. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubMar 30, 2017
It doesn’t help that there are strong similarities with Sony’s equally disorganized yet superior 2016 film “Storks.” Both films work off the same premise — that humans don’t bear live young. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 29, 2017
Alas, this isn't the Trump-trolling toon you're looking for. People may search for protest art hidden among the potty jokes, but the closest they're going to get to a subtextual statement is the Beatles' "Blackbird" on the soundtrack – and that's been repurposed as a lullaby. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaMar 29, 2017
Much like any child, even a supposedly surefire nugget of an idea requires careful nurturing. In this case, The Boss Baby often tries too hard and succeeds too little. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 28, 2017
The Boss Baby is a bun needing more time in the oven, some rethinking of what sort of animated comedy it wishes to be. Read full review
50
Screen DailyJohn HazeltonMar 12, 2017
Hyperactive, oddly premised and never quite as endearing as it should be, The Boss Baby is an animated family comedy that seems to have all the right elements but just doesn’t deliver. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 12, 2017
The film is never funny, and its attempts to wink at the adults in the room are so lame that you wish they’d been left on the cutting room floor, but the deeper the film delves into Tim’s imagination the less imaginative it becomes. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonApr 3, 2017
The Boss Baby is one of those snarky, post ‘Shrek’ cartoons that desperately wants to appeal to parents as well as kids, but its snappy, pop-culture-referencing script feels workshopped to death. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushMatt SingerMar 28, 2017
McGrath and screenwriter Michael McCullers are too preoccupied piling on chase and action scenes to exploit their title’s potential to its fullest. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMar 28, 2017
The Boss Baby is a movie made for few audiences, inconceivably inept in its ability to blend adult references with children's immaturity. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerMar 24, 2017
The Boss Baby is hopped up on energy but never harnesses it effectively. There are laughs and heart buried in this idea somewhere. Shame the film is too hyperactive to find them. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEric HendersonMar 30, 2017
Every Republican regime gets the ludicrous devious-baby saga it deserves. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMar 30, 2017
Mistaking cliché for comic insight, and lacking the kind of conceptual rigor that a Pixar intern could probably muster, the script falls back repeatedly on the kinds of assumptions about human behavior that are meant to be cute and relatable to grown-ups and kids alike, but which instead offer an unflattering glimpse into the movie’s lazy, cynical soul. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 30, 2017
It’s all very bizarrely, pointlessly complicated. Read full review
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