The brothers have drifted apart, while still harboring Ted’s secret that he was an agent for Baby Corp., a conglomerate that makes an adult-intelligence-giving baby formula. Older brother Tim (James Marsden, taking over for Tobey Maguire) has grown up to be a stay-at-home dad married to the high-powered Carol (Eva Longoria), with their science-obsessed, high-achieving daughter, Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt), and infant Tina (Amy Sedaris).īoss Baby Ted (Alec Baldwin, adding to his closet of suits, including Donald Trump, Jack Donaghy and Blake in “Glengarry Glen Ross”) has, naturally, turned into a hedge fund CEO. Those nostalgic underpinnings are also nicely incorporated into the appropriately bubbly score by Hans Zimmer and frequent collaborator Steve Mazzaro.Director Tom McGrath (the “Madagascar” movies) returns for “The Boss Baby: Family Business” (in theaters and streaming on Peacock on Friday), and fast forwards to adulthood. Visually, there’s a retro look and feel to the animation that plays affectionate homage to Looney Tunes legends Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Friz Freleng, while simultaneously drawing upon new wrinkles in computer animation that allow the action to follow the lead of Tim’s vivid fantasy life. They include Steve Buscemi as a former Babycorp exec harboring a serious grudge Tobey Maguire, handling narration as Tim’s older self and James McGrath (the director’s nephew) as Wizzie, Tim’s amusingly theatrical, Gandalf-like, talking wizard alarm clock. While Baldwin, who seems to have cornered the market when it comes to playing conceited man-babies, handily crawls away with the picture (it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role), he gets solid backup from his fellow voice cast.

Even the obligatory bodily function jokes are tastefully executed. Annecy: DreamWorks Animation Screens First Footage of 'Boss Baby'Īnd it’s one that delivers the entertaining goods while addressing universal truths about family bonds and the fertile, limitless boundaries of a child’s imagination that, like those emotional touchstones in the Toy Story films, feel honest and organic to the storytelling.

Boss baby movie