Title: The Art of The Boss Baby
Author: Ramin Zahed
Publisher: Insight Editions
ISBN-10: 1-6088-7682-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-6088-7682-2
Disclosure: A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.
This is the latest in a series of lavish, full-color, coffee-table art books about the production of a major studio’s big-budget CGI animation theatrical feature. Although they are from several different publishers, they are identical in format. The Cartoon Brew website for animation industry news recently revealed that they are all supervised by their studios’ publicity departments. “Most art-of books don’t make their money back, have limited reach, and add unnecessary costs to a film’s marketing budget. But they do have intangible benefits, like boosting morale among studio employees and helping build stronger relationships with the studio’s most passionate fans.” (Cartoon Brew, February 11, 2017)
“The Boss Baby”, a 97-minute DreamWorks Animation computer-graphic theatrical feature with several celebrity voices (Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Edie Mirman), was released on March 31. This book is a massive keepsake for its fans. A long introduction (to page 32) recounts the DreamWorks creative team’s overall philosophy for the movie. The feature is based upon a popular 36-page children’s picture book by Marla Frazee (who writes this book’s Afterword), but that wasn’t long enough for a feature-length motion picture. DreamWorks decided to change it from a story about the chaos that a new baby brings to a home into a tale of the sibling rivalry that develops when a 7-year-old only child suddenly gets a baby brother.
Director Tom McGrath (who writes this book’s Preface) explains that he is a fan of the classic Warner Bros. theatrical cartoons of the 1940s and early ‘50s directed by Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett, and he wanted to bring that style of visual humor back without resorting to over-the-top slapstick. The second half of the 20th century was used for the opening setting: the Templetons’ suburban home, and the neighborhood they live in, to give the viewers a comfortable feeling. When the movie moves into its second half, showing the fantastic BabyCorp in the heavens, its rival PuppyCo that is stealing humanity’s love with increasingly-cute puppies, and the stylized, exaggerated Las Vegas where the climax takes place, the movie’s artists went wild, inspired by the backgrounds of Warner Bros. cartoons’ abstract designer Maurice Noble, and by mid-20th-century industrial predictions of the bright, shiny, automated future.
Each of the movie’s major and supporting characters is given several pages of character designs, showing both preliminary sketches and the finished CGI appearance. This section is also useful for fans who do not remember a minor character’s name; it’s listed here. Each of the movie’s locations is also shown. There are sections of storyboard art, color keys, modeling and surfacing, and more. Each sketch is identified by the artist who drew it.
Some of the mutual backpatting and praise of DreamWorks’ brilliance gets pretty heavy, but this book wouldn’t exist if it part of DreamWorks’ marketing of the movie. If you’re a fan of the movie, or you have any interest in how today’s big CGI-animated theatrical features are made, “The Art of The Boss Baby” (168 pages; $45.00) will be a worthwhile purchase.
