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Child's Play

There is no denying that the documentary "Babies," from French filmmaker Thomas Balmes, is adorable, precious and cuddly. That's a given whenever you're dealing with smiling, cooing children in their first year of life. But search for "cute babies" on YouTube and 50,000 options will magically appear before you -- for free.

Plot and purpose are missing from "Babies," which makes it a missed opportunity. Balmes, putting on his cultural anthropologist hat, hopes to depict how different babies behave around the world. There are four on display -- Hattie (girl) in San Francisco; Mari (girl) in Tokyo; Ponijao (girl) in Namibia; and Bayar (the only boy) in Mongolia -- and his main finding is this: "...no matter what their conditions are, wherever they live, these babies grow up happy as long as they are loved, and this is universal." Well, duh.

If you're looking for groundbreaking findings or to learn fascinating new things about other cultures, skip "Babies." But if you're in a grumpy mood and hoping to smile for a while at sheer fluff, it will serve its purpose. The first baby introduced is Ponijao, one of nine kids in a tribe. They have nothing fancy around, not that they notice or care. Hattie is the child of earth-conscious, hippie parents. Bayar's slightly-older brother is jealous of him and at one point leaves him outside with the cows. And Mari throws hilarious, Oscar-worthy tantrums on the floor.

There is almost no dialogue in "Babies" -- it's like an Animal Planet special on mute. The kids are entertaining simply by having funny reactions to things. Like fearing Jacuzzi bubbles, getting a bad case of the hiccups, trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep while sitting up, bonding with cats, and discovering the wild world of crawling. But just as an Anne Geddes photo is not a Picasso, "Babies" is not a movie. No matter how cute it can be.