Baby On Board

I loved this movie! Using the baby as the main character was very clever and absolutely hilarious. The dialogue was perfect. Loved how things were portrayed from the baby's understanding in regards to what was happening in the car. Very, very well done!

A baby, in a car, narrates the significant moments of the previous 5 minutes of his life and the dubious character of his parents. Yeah, this is pretty good. Very slick, well-paced and full of laughs. It certainly carries a Boss Baby/Baby Herman type vibe given the voice acting...and it works. Plenty of "Awwws" from sections of the audience swept up in the cuteness of the lead. The flashback sequences were entertaining and such a great job at capturing reactions from the baby to match. This is the type of film that makes CHCH finals and does very well. My only note is that over the last couple of years Dragon V Mouse have made a habit of poking the 48HR bear. This film is quite self-aware and gives nods to the competition which is risky. I started to write down "why does the baby have this voice?" and as my pen hit the paper the baby told me why! Clever or giving the audience the middle-finger? Deserving of the audience fav but points off for making the kid cry. :)

Yip, classic Dragon v Mouse.... and we all loved it. The baby was a standout and this film sticks in my memory until this morning. Clever timing and V/O from the "baby" Loved the brutality going on around him and he just goes with it - kinda a good reflection of how we all seem to wander through the world...making up our own narrative and rationalization for the disturbing things that happen all around us. Nice one guys, love your stuff

My favourite film from the entire night. Truly brilliant way of incorporating Ultra, also loved how it pointed out some of the things I'm sure the audience was thinking and addressed them. I thought it was amazing how even though using a baby can create limits, you were able to break those limits in such a creative way, using first person shots, voice over etc. Can't wait to see this one again (at reading cinemas June 14th get your tickets noooowwwww :P )

I really liked the Mouse POV movie but this one might just take the cake as my new Dragon V Mouse film I’ll agree with other reviews that a dragon v mouse house style is starting to emerge, but if they want to keep playing the comp this way, I’ll gladly keep watching what they serve up. For my money I want Dragon V Mouse to do ultra every year.

Nice work team - a solid film as always! I liked the idea of filtering the event through the mind of the baby, and the reminder throughout that he doesn't understand anything. I found the resolution to be a little bit flat; while you took us back to explain how you got here, once we'd found out, it didn't really end anywhere different or surprising. I was kind of hoping the baby might have plotted the getaway, or might hop in the drivers seat at the end and speed away, or something to just up the narrative stakes. Anyway, looking forward to what you do next year.

"Baby on Board" might be my favourite Dragon V Mouse film to date. What's great here, is that we get to see that classic TRADEMARK DvM meta humour and sarcasm which was really cemented with last year's bitter ULTRA, but implemented with a lot more positivity and warmth, from a team who actually liked the genres, elements and ULTRA this year. "Baby on Board" pokes fun at the competition instead of flipping the table like it did (wonderfully nonetheless) with last year's "Grisly". The strongest aspect of the film is that great directorial voice, this is a deliciously simple idea executed to it's full potential, and aided by a witty sense of humour. The titular baby is a fish out of water in more ways than one here; not only is he in over his head in a car driven by a criminal, but he's also a weirdly self-aware 6 month old Scorsese gangster in a world where everyone else is taking things VERY seriously. This is so funny, and if there's something DvM have nailed with particularly their last 3 entries, it's showing our reality through a surreal comical point of view, whether that's the point of view of a New York gangster baby, a cheeky mouse, or a jilted director who REALLY didn't want to have to make a sequel. Ironically though, both years that DvM have canonballed into ULTRA, they've nailed it, with a healthy mix of adhering to ULTRA's strict guidelines as well as subverting the formats they set up, and as someone who had a hand in creating the ULTRA element this year, I loved that this film stood up to the challenge and actually used a real life baby. Sure the whole story is told in "lazy"(quote) voice over, but that's the joke, and there was still a baby on set there doing his damnedest to be a good wee actor. On that subject, while I know it was probably only a matter of filming the baby for a while and getting him to look at certain things, the way he, as a character, responds to the events unfolding is excellent, which probably comes down to editing and selecting the shots more than the baby being an amazing actor. But hey, it can be both. The attitude of this film is so good, so silly and funny, and in every way indicative of 48hours. Going forward with Dragon V Mouse, it's either a case of "never change" or "drastically change", and that's up to you guys as a team and what you want to achieve. There is a place for you in this competition as the meta wink-wink-nudge-nudge team which continues to make films that dismantle the genres and elements, as well as the entire competition. I don't think anyone will get sick of that as long as the concepts your bringing to the table are as good as this one. The other way to go would be to change up completely, and try tell stories that dismantle our expectations of your team, as opposed to the competition itself. While I love the self aware stuff, I must say I am intrigued to see what else this team of storytellers can bring to the table. As for your title, it might be the only thing about the film I'm kind of disappointed by. "Baby on Board" feels safe and obvious, and something more appropriate to the Scorsese style being parodied maybe would have landed better.

Very slick film, great ULTRA entry and fantastic use of shadow/silhouette. I was happy with the baby having an adult brooklynesque accent! Made the story (and the baby's apparent entry into a life of crime) more fun. I find it very easy to be absorbed in a film (which is why I don't DO horror), but the explanation (mention) of the accent by the baby removed me from the story - all of a sudden I was in a theatre surrounded by a couple-hundred like-minded geeks.This brand of self-awareness feels like a bit of a safety net, one I'm confident DvM do not need. Anyway, this is starting to sound like a negative review - It is not! I really enjoyed the film and am looking forward to seeing it again in the screening room. Great work Richard and team.