Miles Bakshi

Tim is expected to welcome a rival for his parents' attention in The Boss Baby (2017), and Miles Bakshi makes his resentment easy to understand. The early scenes let a child be jealous without requiring us to dislike him. We felt for Tim because Bakshi makes the hurt beneath his objections recognisable, without needing the film to explain it. That gives the comedy someone worth caring about before the plotting becomes busy enough to wear us out.

His earlier voice credits offered less room: Ogre Baby in Shrek the Halls (2007), followed by Ogre Baby and Villager Kid in Shrek Forever After (2010). The lead child role in The Boss Baby began with a temporary voice track recorded when he was ten. His voice changed during the extended production, yet the finished performance retains the unpolished delivery that suits Tim. There is something apt about a child sounding a little unguarded while being asked to behave generously towards someone he resents.

Director Tom McGrath gets the most from Bakshi in the friction between the brothers, where a familiar childhood complaint can sustain the joke. Alec Baldwin's persuasive little tyrant gives Tim someone worth resenting, and their relationship is more promising than the elaborate plotting built around it. The animation has wit, but the sibling-rivalry idea is stretched until the film becomes tiring. Bakshi cannot put that right, and our interest in his performance should not be mistaken for a recommendation of the whole film.

The voice-over as young Tim in The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021) was a smaller return to the part. Midwest (2023), which he co-directed and animated with Ralph Bakshi, then took his work behind the camera. These credits suggest a widening interest in making animation, but they do not yet give us much more to judge as an actor. Another substantial voice role would be welcome, preferably without quite so much plot to get through.