Baby Geniuses

Baby Geniuses is a 1999 family comedy with science fiction elements, released in the United States. It centres on BabyCo, a company that leads the world in baby products, and on two of its scientists, Dr Elena Kinder and Dr Heep, who carry out secret research into the language that babies use among themselves. The premise treats that babbling as a sophisticated code holding secrets about the universe. The conflict begins when Sly, the most intelligent of the toddlers kept in the laboratory, escapes, and Kinder and Heep must find him before he can act on what he knows.

Bob Clark directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Greg Michael; Steven Paul produced it. It followed a run of Clark's earlier work that includes Black Christmas, Murder by Decree, Porky's, A Christmas Story and Loose Cannons, and was the ninth of the nine films he directed in the order recorded here. Kathleen Turner plays Elena Kinder and Christopher Lloyd plays Heep, with Kim Cattrall, Peter MacNicol, Dom DeLuise and Ruby Dee among the credited cast of fifty.

Made for about 12 million dollars, the film took roughly 36 million dollars worldwide, a return well above its cost. Audience response was poor: it holds a rating of 2.6 out of 10 on IMDb from around 28,000 votes and 4.1 out of 10 on TMDB from 428 votes. A critics' rating of 2.7 out of 10 from 44 reviews places professional assessment close to the audience verdict.