The Boss Baby

A family’s new baby (voiced by Alec Baldwin) is a Type A executive who shows his true nature only to his 7-year-old brother (Miles Christopher Bakshi); not only that, but he’s on a secret mission from Baby Corp. to foil a plot by archrival Puppy Co. Directed by Tom McGrath and adapted by Michael McCullers from Marla Frazee’s book, the movie is clever and diverting—but also a missed opportunity. It cries out to be a musical; it bristles with obvious cues for plot and character songs and production numbers, but even when the story expressly demands a song, McGrath & Co. have to go all the way back to the Beatles to come up with one. Walt Disney or Howard Ashman would have known what to do with this material, but that kind of talent is in short supply among today’s animators. Still, there’s fun to be had. J.L.