.jeri.

Mongolian baby FTW! Haha. So my sister and I took my mom and grandma to see Babies for Mother's Day. I know it's not necessarily supposed to be a contest, but I found the Mongolian baby to be the most entertaining to watch. I loved his curious adventures with animals and his older brother. I quite possibly could have watched an entire movie about little Bayar and Co.; There's nothing quite like watching a kid drag a cat on a leash across the floor.

If you haven't heard about the movie, it is a documentary about four different babies raised in different parts of the world. It follows them from birth to their first steps, showing us their universal experiences and cultural differences.

One interesting aspect about the movie is that it has no narration or interviews. It simply gives us glimpses of the babies' lives - how they're born, how they're entertained, where their parents take them, how they learn to crawl, how they interact with people or animals, etc. While I like that anyone can watch the movie and understand it, this lack of narration does cause the movie to feel a little bit slow. With no directional push and so many quiet scenes, I felt like there was no way of knowing how long the movie was.

I'm curious about how the four babies and their families were selected for the movie. Did the filmmakers see these families as representative of the norm for their location? If so, the hippie family from San Francisco was an interesting choice. They live in a very nice house in one of the most expensive cities, take their baby to classes where they sing to Mother Earth, and do some naked jacuzzi time with the baby as well. Is this family supposed to represent San Francisco, California, or America? Or are they just one family with their own way of doing things? Likewise, the couple in Japan seemed to have a decent amount of money as well. The two contrast strongly with the babies from Namibia and Mongolia.

One thing I loved was what can be learned about animals in Babies. Animals are patient beyond belief and have good instincts around little, helpless beings. Dogs let the baby in Namibia pull their ears and put hands in their mouths. Cattle carefully step around the Mongolian baby who's left on his own around the family's hut. Cats, who are usually so opinionated and commanding, lie back and let kids do whatever they want. It was pretty bizarre to see how none of the animals lashed out at the babies, even when being put in uncomfortable situations. If I have kids, I'm praying that Pip will behave similarly. Haha.

Just in case anyone is wondering about it, this movie is rated PG, but the natural scenes of motherhood are featured without editing. I don't know what Grandma thought of all the boobs up on the big screen, but I did feel a little weird watching it with her even though I know she knows what boobs look like.

Overall, I was a little bit disappointed in this movie. It is a great concept, but I think I might have enjoyed it more if I could have learned more. It would have been great to hear the parents' perspective of raising babies. That would have helped me learn about cultural similarities and differences at more than just a surface level. The babies themselves certainly are cute, and there are plenty of little laughs. It ended up being a decent choice for Mother's Day, but it just didn't live up to its potential for me.