The casting as Alec Baldwin as the lead voice in The Boss Baby might seem an inspired move, it isn’t

REVIEW: The casting of Alec Baldwin as the voice of a conniving, corporate infant in The Boss Baby seems like an inspired move, but its becomes a strange sell.

The Boss Baby (G)

Director: Tom McGrath (Madagascar)

Starring: the voices of Alec Baldwin, Miles Christopher Bakshi, Tobey Maguire, Steve Buscemi.

Rating: 2 stars

No goo-goo, ga-ga or ha-ha

Alec Baldwin is cast as the voice of a conniving, corporate infant in the animated comedy The Boss Baby.

The casting of Alec Baldwin as the voice of a conniving, corporate infant in this average animated comedy for children seems like an inspired move.

Until you hear it.

All novelty value mined from Baldwin putting blunt business-speak in the mouth of a cute little bubba is spent very quickly here indeed.

The filmmakers of The Boss Baby appear to have forgotten that their target audience is primary schoolers hopped up on fizzy drinks and sugar snacks.

That lot couldn’t give a hoot the title role went to the guy currently famous for impersonating Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

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Mark this down as a mild let-down and move on.

So much space is cleared for Baldwin to do the brusque-brat-in-nappies thing that the rest of The Boss Baby feels quite cramped and cluttered.

That means the hopes of a relatively ambitious plot (involving an overimaginative seven-year-old child discovering a secret organisation exclusively run by babies) are dashed from too early on.

There are probably enough straightforward sight gags and slightly surreal montage sequences to keep non-discerning viewers of a certain impressionable age distracted, if not fully engaged.

Nevertheless, the feeling that a more balanced blend of star power and stellar storytelling would have improved the prospects of The Boss Baby considerably.

Mark this one down as a mild let-down, and move on.