History Film / BabyGeniuses

* BambooTechnology: One of the babies builds a camera jamming device out of miscellaneous parts and toys lying around, including a UsefulNotes/GameBoy.

* ProductPlacement: A lot of Sony-produced shows and electronics appear, like the Walkman, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' playing on Sony TV monitors.

* TotallyNotACriminalFront: In the third movie, the villains' first "secret" base is their own burger bar.

* LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub: In the third movie, the villains' first "secret" base is their own burger bar.

* TheThemeParkVersion: London in the third movie.
%%* ToiletHumor: "Diaper gravy!"

* CompilationMovie: The third and fourth ones (they were originally going to be a TV show); the fifth is forthcoming.

The film relies on the premise that some babies possess profound knowledge of the universe from birth, but as they grow older and learn to talk, they "cross over" and lose all of this knowledge. Dr. Elena Kinder (Turner), CEO of [=BabyCo=], is studying several such baby geniuses as an experiment to develop the "Kinder Method" of child rearing, which will result in children having superior intelligence as they mature. To demonstrate her methods are valid, she arranged for a pair of identical twin boys to be born to a surrogate; one of them, Sly, was taken by [=BabyCo=] and raised and educated in their secret lab, while his brother Whit was adopted by Kinder's niece Robin (Creator/KimCattrall) to be raised in a normal environment. Robin's husband Dan (''Series/AllyMcBeal'' star Creator/PeterMacNicol) is researching infant pre-language, and suspects he may be able to remember how to speak to babies in their own language.

* GenreSavvy: The two mooks under GroinAttack point out that Sly hitting them in the gonads with skis is something out of a bad movie. [[SelfDeprecation They are completely correct.]]

* ToiletHumor: "Diaper gravy!"

Dr. Elena Kinder (Turner), CEO of the Babyco corporation, has formulated a method of child rearing (the Kinder method) meant to produce exceptionally intelligent children. To demonstrate its superiority, she arranged for a pair of identical twin boys to be born to a surrogate mother. One of these twins, Whit, was adopted by Dr. Kinder's niece, Robin (Creator/KimCattrall), and raised as a normal child. The other, Sylvester (nicknamed Sly), was raised in a habitat in Babyco's secret lab, under the guidance of the Kinder method, along with a few other babies. The movie also establishes that babies have their own language and know the secrets of the universe, both of which are forgotten when they "cross over" at age 2. Both Dr. Kinder and Robin's husband Dan (''Series/AllyMcBeal'' star Creator/PeterMacNicol) are researching infant pre-language.

Sly wants to escape the lab, and eventually succeeds, making his way to a nearby mall. Dr. Kinder quickly sends out some of her subordinates (referred to by the babies as her "goons") to find and retrieve him. The next day, however, Whit is taken to the mall, and is accidentally captured and taken to the lab in Sly's place, while Sly is taken back to Robin's house.

At first, Dr. Kinder is horrified when she discovers that she has Whit, not Sly, but then she decides it will be beneficial to her plan, and sends more goons to bring Sly back to the lab too. Whit and Sly organize the babies at the lab and Dan and Robin's day care to stop Dr. Kinder's plan.

* BabyLanguage: {{Exaggerated|trope}}}. In this universe all of that gibberish babies do (talking, art, even fumbling around with musical instruments) is actually a super-complicated cypher that requires super-computers to decode.

* AwardBaitSong: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GjKlF9mhl0 A Gift of Love]]" by Music/RandyTravis.

* BabyLanguage: UpToEleven: In this universe all of that gibberish babies do (talking, art, even fumbling around with musical instruments) is actually a super-complicated cypher that requires super-computers to decode.

* ProductPlacement: A lot of Sony-produced shows and electronics appear, like the Walkman, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation and ''Series/Jeopardy'' playing on Sony TV monitors.

* UnfortunateName: The babies' nicknames in the first movie are Sly and Whit; one of the babies' in the second film is named Finkleman.

It was followed by a sequel, ''Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2'', which starred Creator/JonVoight, in 2004. Clark planned a third movie, which has been released as a DirectToVideo movie titled ''Baby Geniuses and the Mystery of the Crown Jewels'' (which was originally going to be a TV show called ''Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators''), but since [[AuthorExistenceFailure he died in 2007]], a new director had to come in, Sean [=McNamara=]. A fourth movie has been released too, and a fifth soon followed.

* WhamLine: In the sequel;[[spoiler: "You think I went to all this trouble just because dad liked you best?!?"]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "You think I went to all this trouble just because dad liked you best?!?"]]

* AllGermansAreNazis: Implied in the third film. The British have a Literature/SherlockHolmes expy, the French have an [[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]] expy, the Italians have a [[OliveGarden random pizza baker]], and the Germans have... [[UsefulNotes/TheGestapo Herr]] [[Series/AlloAllo Flick]]?

The film was critically panned; it was ranked by leading film critic Creator/RogerEbert as [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList one of his most hated movies.]] However, despite being savaged on all sides by critics, it made about triple its budget. It was followed by a sequel, ''[=SuperBabies=]: Baby Geniuses 2'', which starred Creator/JonVoight, in 2004. As of May 2019, the first two movies are in the [[Website/{{IMDB}} Internet Movie Database's]] [[http://www.imdb.com/chart/bottom Bottom 100 list]], the first at #23 and the second at #3. And even though neither of the original films were extremely successful, Clark planned a ''third'' movie, which has been released as a DirectToVideo movie titled ''Baby Geniuses and the Mystery of the Crown Jewels'' (which was originally going to be a TV show called ''Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators''), but since [[AuthorExistenceFailure he died in 2007]], a new director had to come in, Sean [=McNamara=]. A ''fourth'' movie has been released too, and a '''fifth''' soon followed.

* OlderThanTheyLook: In the second film, Kahuna is definitely too old to be considered a superbaby; this gets even creepier when we discover he's actually a grown man who never aged past childhood.
** Did we forget to mention he's the [[spoiler: brother of the sixtysomething Bill Biscane]] in this movie?

* BabyLanguage

The film was critically panned; it was ranked by leading film critic Creator/RogerEbert as [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList one of his most hated movies.]] However, despite being savaged on all sides by critics, it made about triple its budget. It was followed by a sequel, ''[=SuperBabies=]: Baby Geniuses 2'', which starred Creator/JonVoight, in 2004. As of June 2015 resides in the top twenty of the [[Website/{{IMDB}} Internet Movie Database's]] [[http://www.imdb.com/chart/bottom Bottom 100 list]] (the original used to be on the list as well, but has since fallen off). And even though neither of the original films were extremely successful, Clark planned a ''third'' movie, which has been released as a DirectToVideo movie titled ''Baby Geniuses and the Mystery of the Crown Jewels'' (which was originally going to be a TV show called ''Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators''), but since [[AuthorExistenceFailure he died in 2007]], a new director had to come in, Sean [=McNamara=]. A ''fourth'' movie has been released too, and a '''fifth''' soon followed.

* {{Soundtrack Dissonance}}: The sappy Randy Travis song that played at the end of the movie. It tried to come across as a {{Crowning Moment of Heartwarming}}, but [[TastesLikeDiabetes failed horribly considering the source material]].

The film was critically panned; it was ranked by leading film critic Creator/RogerEbert as [[RogerEbertMostHatedFilmList one of his most hated movies.]] However, despite being savaged on all sides by critics, it made about triple its budget. It was followed by a sequel, ''[=SuperBabies=]: Baby Geniuses 2'', which starred Creator/JonVoight, in 2004. As of June 2015 resides in the top twenty of the [[Website/{{IMDB}} Internet Movie Database's]] [[http://www.imdb.com/chart/bottom Bottom 100 list]] (the original used to be on the list as well, but has since fallen off). And even though neither of the original films were extremely successful, Clark planned a ''third'' movie, which has been released as a DirectToVideo movie titled ''Baby Geniuses and the Mystery of the Crown Jewels'' (which was originally going to be a TV show called ''Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators''), but since [[AuthorExistenceFailure he died in 2007]], a new director had to come in. A ''fourth'' movie has been released too, and a fifth soon followed.

Dr. Elena Kinder (Turner), CEO of the Babyco corporation, has formulated a method of child rearing (the Kinder method) meant to produce exceptionally intelligent children. To demonstrate its superiority, she arranged for a pair of identical twin boys to be born to a surrogate mother. One of these twins, Whit, was adopted by Dr. Kinder's niece, Robin (Kim Cattrall), and raised as a normal child. The other, Sylvester (nicknamed Sly), was raised in a habitat in Babyco's secret lab, under the guidance of the Kinder method, along with a few other babies. The movie also establishes that babies have their own language and know the secrets of the universe, both of which are forgotten when they "cross over" at age 2. Both Dr. Kinder and Robin's husband Dan (''Series/AllyMcBeal'' star Creator/PeterMacNicol) are researching infant pre-language.