DreamWorks Animation's new film "Boss Baby," which features the voice of Alec Baldwin, recently opened in theaters. It's highly expected as a fun offering for families but some say it triggered painful memories for adopted and foster kids or parents who lost babies.
"Boss Baby" has an amusing premise about a baby operative who wants to ensure families still prefer babies over puppies. Beyond this storyline, however, the film is also about a young boy named Tim who felt left out when his parents welcomed a new baby in the family.
"Boss Baby" is not an adoption movie per se, but it delves into how finite or infinite parental love is. The movie's message ticked off adoption and fostering advocates as it highlighted children's insecurities about relating to new families, whether biological, adopted or fostered, as per New York Times.
The fear of losing a parent's love is a reality for kids who go through adoption and foster care. "Boss Baby" reinforces this fear in two ways: when Tim started questioning how much his parents really loved him and when the baby, who became a part of a family for the first time, has to say goodbye to this life.
The family from Boss Baby is the most generic looking Animated Movie Family I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/77OT8TRkwj
— Octo! (@Octopimp) March 31, 2017
At the movie's climax, the baby planned his escape and disappearance because he needed to get back to his real life. He erased any traces of his existence, including the memories of the parents, except Tim's memories.
Tim couldn't talk about the baby's loss because no one will understand. Carrie Goldman of Chicago Now wrote those Tim scenes triggered feelings of when she lost her own child.
"After losing a baby, you feel like you can't talk about it," Goldman said. "You are isolated in your grief. There is a hole that can't be filled, and nobody wants to talk about it."
Despite the triggers, Goldman assured "Boss Baby's" ending is a happy one. She, however, added that for parents who went through baby loss or families with adopted or foster kids to be prepared before watching. Check out the teaser for the film below.
