Andy DehnartI saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox yesterday, which was decent, but pretty much like every other Wes Anderson film except with incredible stop-motion puppets. In some ways, a trailer that played before it captivated me even more than the film. Actually, two trailers did: for both Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and a documentary called Babies.
Yes, a movie about babies actually grabbed my attention. The documentary, which is directed by Thomas Balmes and will be released next year, is about four babies around the world: Hattie (in San Francisco), Mari (Tokyo), Bayar (Mongolia), and Poni (Namibia). The Focus Features web site for the film says it follows them “from first breath to first steps, on a journey at once universal and amazingly original.”
I’m not that fond of babies, especially the way some adults respond to them, especially if they’re sitting one row behind me on a five-hour flight, but this documentary looks fascinating. Just try to disagree: