"Babies": Is this movie tailor-made for the Whole Foods crowd? [View All]

[Writer]

Okay, I'll admit babies are cute, and it's interesting to view the entry of life into four distinct cultures.

But really - what's the point of the movie "Babies?"

A few specifics after viewing the trailer: The morning sun always seems to hit the faces of these children - a pale, golden idyllic light under which these children can be free! Loved tenderly by their parents! Tossed in the air like Simba! All the while, world music - a mix of undefined native voices and drum beats - stirs in the background. It's truly a "global village."

I then realized that the American baby, a blue-eyed blond, is from San Francisco. Of all American cities - San Francisco. No, the director couldn't show a baby trying to make it in inner-city New York or playing in Iowa corn fields. Liberal San Francisco had to do.

Then there's the fact that the children shown in the trailer aren't doing anything unique. They're babies after all, so the wonder we are supposed to feel seems purely aesthetic.

So what is this movie about? To me it looks like a postmodern screed filled with "one worldism" to appeal to the Whole Foods crowd. If that's the case, this sort of target marketing leaves me feeling a bit nauseous. Sure, it's my group - my friends are starting to have children, and my husband and I shop at Whole Foods - but the pandering is too much. Is Hollywood so desperate that they have to create these purely aesthetic, soft-cultural appeals to earn our money?

Honestly, I'd prefer to watch the "Life" series. At least the animals featured are doing something interesting.

I'll qualify my movie snobbery with an: "Eh." :shrug: