Baby Geniuses (1999) on Netflix
Dr. Elena Kinder and Dr. Heep study babies who speak a secret language, and the studies fund a theme park. The cleverest toddler, Sylvester, escapes the lab and meets his twin.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb2.6/1028,539 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes2%
Trailer
Plot summary
At BabyCo, Dr. Elena Kinder and Dr. Heep keep eight babies in an underground laboratory, where the children speak Babytalk, a private language they are born knowing and lose around their second birthday. The studies pay for Joyworld, the company's theme park. Sylvester, nicknamed Sly, is the most mischievous of the children and the only one raised under the stricter Kinder Method, and he keeps attempting to escape. One night he hides in a diaper truck and rides away. The next morning he meets Whit, a boy who looks exactly like him, in a Joyworld playground. Neither child knows the other exists, though the two share a telepathic bond. Guards from the laboratory grab Whit in Sly's place, and Whit's adoptive mother, Robin, takes Sly home.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Baby Geniuses (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Baby Geniuses was the first full-length feature to use computer-generated imagery to synthesise human visual speech: the babies were shot with their mouths closed, and 2D warping animated mouth shapes sampled from syllables the babies actually uttered on set.
- Bob Clark told Jon Voight and Steven Paul he did not think the premise would work, but changed his mind when they showed him a one-minute proof of concept film of babies sitting around a table like executives in a management meeting, their mouths morphed to appear to be talking.
- Triplets Leo, Gerry and Myles Fitzgerald were almost three when they were cast in the dual role of Wilt and Sly. The film's baby wrangler, Jim Wagner, said they "still looked like babies" and that "with triplets, you can work longer hours than you can with twins."
- Producer Steven Paul came up with the concept after a moment in his own life when he saw two babies communicating together at a Barneys New York.
- Although critics did not receive the film well, its commercial success on home video prompted a sequel, Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, with Bob Clark returning to direct it.
