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
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
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