Movie Review: Boss Baby

 Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Movie Grade:C+

Review: DreamWorks has proven with the Kung Fu Panda trilogy (yes I know there are more coming and I am excited), that they can make an idea that seems bad on paper actually work. While this movie is not on the same level as Kung Fu Panda the filmmakers takes a seemingly terrible idea and makes a movie that is quite enjoyable.

While so many animated features today go out of their way to make their fantasy worlds seem as real as possible and for us to accept them as such, Boss Baby simply embraces the fact that it is a cartoon by simply having fun with how absurd it all is, and having a field day with their imaginations. This is the film's biggest asset. This is especially shown through Tim's various fantasies and daydreams. Taking a page out of Maurice Noble's design work for the Ralph Philips cartoons of the 1950's all of those working in DreamWorks art department create a vivid, but very stylized look to these daydreams, that is honestly a joy to look at. Also great to see is the fantastic design of Baby Corp., which is so imaginative that it creates a great sense of fun here. The idea of babies and puppies being created by companies rather than well you know is a great one that just helps add to the fun.

The characters are quite likable. While they might not be the best fleshed out characters in animation, they are not just the one joke characters that you might think they are from the previews.

On the downside for a comedy this film has very few laugh out loud moments. This isn't to say that the humor is bad, but I giggled and smiled more than I actually laughed out loud. There are some laugh out loud moments ("Your parents are Lennon and McCartney"), but there are just much fewer than there should be for a movie like this. Also while the film is full of imagination, it is not lacking in Clichés. There are many moments where you know just what is going to happen and I think many people will see the ending coming.

So this isn't Kung Fu Panda by any means it is a fun movie, and definitely worth a watch.

-Michael J. Ruhland     

Silent Film of the Month: The Big Show (1923)

Run Time: 17 minutes. Studio: Hal Roach Studios Director: Robert McGowan. Writers: Hal Roach, H.M. Walker . Producer: Hal Roach. Main Cast: Mickey Daneils, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Jack Davis, Allen "Farina" Haskins, Mary Koreman, Ernest Morrison, Richard Billings, Andy Samuel . Cinematographer: Len Powers.

Since I post a Silent Film of the Month article every 1st of the month, I feel it is only appropriate to post about a slapstick comedy short every April, in honor of April Fools Day. Last year I wrote about a classic Laurel and Hardy short, and this year I am writing about a classic Our Gang short. Who knows what I will post next year (Maybe Charlie Chaplin, maybe Harry Langdon, maybe Charley Chase, Maybe Buster Keaton, Maybe whoever else I feel like, I haven't decided about next year yet).

When one brings up Our Gang (or the Little Rascals), most people will think of Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat. However the team existed well before these characters. In fact the team was formed in 1922, back in the silent era. Since the series centered around kids actors and characters had to change (especially since the series ran until 1944). The group of kids from when The Big Show came out included Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Jackie Cindon, Jack Davis, Allen "Farina" Haskins, Mary Koreman, Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Richard "Mugsy" Billings, and Andy Samuel. This is in fact the first Our Gang short for Andy Samuel. Andy had previously worked as an extra in Charlie Chaplin's classic 1921 feature film The Kid. While working on that film he learned how to imitate Charlie Chaplin. The basis for this short came as an excuse to let him show off his impression of Chaplin.

The film begins with the gang wanting to look at the county fair for free. They are naturally chased out of the fair. Because of this the gang decides to put on their own carnival with rides, animals and movies.

For all my fellow movie buffs, the highlight of this film is their moving picture show. Joe has a nonworking moving picture camera and pretends to project the film, while other kids on stage do impressions of various movie stars. These impressions include Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart and Harold Lloyd. The most elaborate of these is the Harold Lloyd impression. This sequence is a very elaborate redoing of various scenes from the 1922 feature Grandma's Boy only with kids as the actors. One gag is decidedly different though. In Grandma's Boy Harold is annoyed by cats and uses a statue of a dog to scare them off. However in this film the character is being annoyed by pigs, and holds a card that says "butcher" to scare them off. That feature film was done at the same studio as this one was and that may more than explain this. The Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks sequences are also based on certain films those actors starred in but are much less elaborate. The Charlie Chaplin sequence recalls Chaplin's classic 1918 film Shoulder Arms, while the Douglas Fairbanks sequence recalls his performance as D'Artagnan in the 1921 film version of The Three Musketeers. As stated before the Chaplin imitation was done by Andy Samuel. The Douglas Fairbanks impression was provided by Mickey Daniels. While it is not certain who played the imitation of Harold Lloyd, Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann (according to their book Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals) believe it was played by a child actor named Billy Lord. However this is still not certain.  

It has been stated that what makes Our Gang so great and beloved is that they have had the child hood we all wish we had. This is never more clear than it is in this film. After all who didn't as a kid want to create something like these kids created  here. What kid doesn't want to make their own movies, or work with wild animals, or simply have adventures like these kids do. Beyond all the great humor, this film is so charming because it is wish fulfillment for the child in all of us.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

Our Gang: The Life and Times of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann