“Oh how cute!” That’s what I found myself saying out loud in the theater throughout the documentary Babies.  (I’d apologize to those sitting around me if they weren’t all doing the same thing.) The film follows four infants from four different parts of the world “from first breath to first step.” It’s like a nature doc with babies instead of animals. There’s no narration, no commentary from the parents, just a series of adorable infant vignettes.

The four babies are from Tokyo, San Francisco, Mongolia and Namibia and it’s fun to see how different, yet how similar the first years of their lives are. The American and Japanese baby seem to be constantly stimulated with play dates and classes, while the African and Chinese baby are often left alone to crawl around and discover things for themselves. At one point, the baby in Mongolia is surrounded by a herd of cattle while he plays outside and it all seems perfectly natural. All of the babies are well loved and cared for so they’re all very happy and content in the movie. In fact, you don’t see any unhappy moments at all – no puking, no wailing in the middle of the night, no temper tantrums, except for one minor meltdown when the little girl in Tokyo can’t figure out one of her toys.

It’s an hour and twenty minutes of pure adorableness, which is the perfect length – any longer and it might have been cuteness overload. This is the ultimate chick flick. When I saw it the audience was all women except for two men and I assure you they were not there voluntarily. It’s definitely a must see if you are in need of a mood lifter. It’s what I call an “aww inspiring” movie.

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