Thursday, March 30, 2017
The Boss Baby (SPOILERS) Adoption Movie Review
Tim Templeton has the perfect life for a seven-year-old boy.
His parents dote on him, play games with him, engage his imagination, and send
him to bed each night with stories, hugs, and a special song. One day, Tim’s
parents ask him if he would like a baby brother – he says that he doesn’t want
one – because after all, he is enough. But, the baby shows up anyway. Tim’s new
baby brother – The Boss – dresses sharp and, as Tim finds out later, can talk.
The Boss is concerned that there will not be enough love for babies in the
world because people are starting to love puppies. In the meantime, Tim starts
to fear that there will not be enough love for him in his parents’ hearts
because they’re falling in love with the new baby.
SPOILERS AHEAD THE REST OF THE WAY
The Adoption
Connection
There is no talk of adoption in the film. However, any child
who has welcomed a new sibling into their family might relate to Tim’s fear
that his parents won’t be able to love him enough. The movie harps on that
fear. The Boss Baby tells Tim, (roughly paraphrasing) “You’re seven and a half.
You’re old. It’s time to make way… There’s only so much love to go around.” Tim
suggests that they could share, but the Baby says, “There’s not enough love to
go around, and if you don’t adjust, there eventually won’t be a place for you.”
This leaves Tim wondering whether he can be fired from his own family; in order
to protect his place in his parents’ hearts, Tim sets out to rid himself of the
new baby, first by trying to prove that the Baby is sinister, and then by
trying to catapult him out of a window.
Some kids who have been neglected prior to coming into
foster care might connect with a question that Tim asks The Boss Baby, “You missed
childhood? You never had someone to love you?”
Strong Points
Eventually, Tim and The Boss Baby come to care about each
other, and see the value of family. Tim is ultimately assured that he’ll never
be fired from his family.
Tim eventually comes to nurture his brother; he even sings
his baby brother the song that his parents used to sing to him.
Challenges
In a heaven-like celestial baby factory, The Boss Baby is
designated for management instead of belonging to a family because he doesn’t quite
fit in, and doesn’t appear to be ticklish.
The Baby’s words to Tim are very unkind, and they could be
painful for some kids to hear. Tim’s attempts to defeat his new baby brother
could be very dangerous if a young child mimicked them with a real-life baby;
in particular, after the baby threatened to destroy Tim’s treasured stuffed
animal, Tim prepares to use his baby brother’s swing chair to catapult the baby
from a second story window onto the street.
Tim’s parents don’t seem particularly sensitive to Tim’s
feelings; they cover Tim’s pictures on the fridge with pictures of the new baby.
Tim feels rejected when his parents don’t do his regular bedtime routine with
him.
Tim wishfully remarks that his parents might be able to
return the baby to the store and get their money back. It’s a quick remark, but
it could catch some sensitive ears by surprise.
At one point, Tim expresses a sentiment that other big
siblings probably have said or thought at times, but it still could be hard to
hear; he tells the baby, “My life was perfect till you showed up. I wish you’d
never been born.” The baby, who did not appear hurt by other things Tim said,
appears cut by this remark, and walks off.
One character intends to make it so that “no one will ever
want a baby again.”
A kid behind me cried during a scene when it appeared that
an infant was imperiled.
BIG SPOILER ALERT: When the Boss Baby leaves Tim’s home, small
kids wave magic wands to make Tim’s parents forget that he ever existed.
Although they do this to Tim’s parents without their consent, Tim is given the
option whether to forget The Boss; he chooses to remember his brother. Later, The
Boss decides to be born into Tim’s family. It’s nice to see that the brothers
have chosen to accept each other, but it could be hard for some kids to think
that their parents could easily forget them – this could be particularly painful
for kids who wonder whether their birth parents remember them, or who fear
losing their adoptive parents. On a side note, Tim has a very active
imagination, and it’s possible that his entire experience with The Boss Baby
was imagined in response to his mother’s apparent pregnancy; the film doesn’t
make that clear, though, and most kids probably won’t make that assumption. END
SPOILER
Recommendations
The Boss Baby had some funny moments and ultimately ended
happily, but it didn’t live up to the hopes I had for it, and it’s got some
aspects that make it hard to recommend for young or sensitive viewers. Most
kids 11 and up should be fine, but younger kids – especially those for whom
permanency hasn’t always been a sure thing – might find certain aspects of this
one very troubling. It would be helpful for parents to directly remind their
children that the children will never be fired from the family, and that there
is enough love to go around, no matter how many kids come into the home.
Questions for
Discussion
Can parents love more than one child with “all of their
heart?” Can a child love more than one parent (or more than one pet) with “all
of their heart?”
Where does love come from? Do you only have a certain amount
to give, or can you make (or find) more?
What are the good parts of having a new brother or sister?
What parts scare you?
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This movie is not about a baby being adopted...
ReplyDeleteNotice the night before he came the parents were putting Tim to bed when the mother is pregnant and the baby is kicking.
Also, when the Boss Baby comes back into the world, he enters through a spiral or figuratively the birth canal.
This is a story of loss of a baby sibling.
Also note that when he goes back, he falls into an angel decorated cake and makes angel wings. Thus implying the child had died and went back to heaven or "baby Corp" where babies come from...
Hi! Thanks for your comment. Your perspective is interesting, and you might be right. I don't think the story intended to be about adoption, although I did see some similarities to adoption.
DeleteWhat I think was actually going on in the story, and I wonder your take on it, is that Tim has a pretty active imagination. I think the Boss Baby never happened, and it was just how Tim was processing getting ready for a baby brother. That's why no one but Tim remembers the Boss Baby -- what do you think?
Who else came here from the New York Times article? Great resource for previewing film content. This discussion of Boss Baby can get really deep! It's the Inception of Adoption Movies...but not really an adoption movie...Whoaaa!
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