I will give some credit to this otherwise awful film, that it is better than its abysmal sequel Superbabies:Baby Geniuses 2. On paper, it doesn't look so bad, it has a great cast including beautiful Kathaleen Turner, Christopher Lloyd who is a lot of fun in pretty much everything he's in and the late Dom DeLuise. If only, if only it had a decent enough script and a good enough plot. However, the film is severely lacking in both areas, and makes a waste of those truly talented actors.
The script is just awful, and doesn't give anyone enough to work with, and there is no originality or sophistication. The story is one that has been done before and better about a nasty children's magnate who is carrying out tests on a host of brainy little children on the premise that they can speak in a secret language. Bob Clark's direction is very unfocused throughout, and doesn't improve whatsoever. The camera-work is rushed, and the slapstick is uninspiredly staged. In fact, if there was a redeeming quality, the soundtrack was okay to say the least.
The performances are disappointingly poor, and they are not helped by the lacklustre direction and the witless script. To be honest I found triplets Leo, Myles and Gerry Fitzgerald very irritating as the twins who try to outmatch Dr Kinder. As for Turner, this has to be a career low for her. This is a shame, because she is so beautiful and talented, but her strengths aren't even put to use here and she does overact quite wildly. Christopher Lloyd usually excels in roles similar to the one he has here, but he looks embarrassed here and looks as though he wants to get it all out of the way. And Dom DeLuise? For such a talented and versatile actor like DeLuise, you would expect a lot from him. But his part is so badly underwritten that he comes across as wasted.
All in all, sorry but I didn't like this movie. Even with such a wonderful bunch of actors, their talents are all gone to waste with poor writing, direction and plot. 1/10 Bethany Cox
