Anyone who rented it from the FHE clamshell friendly section was probably a bit stunned – this was a fairly hard PG at the time. But nevertheless, most Video Stores seemed happy to place this in the blue-UV-faded children’s section at the front of the store.
Along with Splash (1984), My Science Project (1985) and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), it was part of the first slate of films from the Disney-Owned Touchstone Pictures.
Baby sits awkwardly between family adventure and legitimate action thriller – there’s genuine threat, some surprisingly violent moments and some casual nudity. But unlike some of the other Amblin-inspired PG cocktails at the time, it just didn’t get the mix right. It got too intense for the kiddies, too cutesy for adults, and not quite campy enough to become a cult classic.
The effects were serviceable in spite of falling short of ILM-level wizardry, and it’s got some of that wide-eyed wannabe-Spielberg 80s sincerity that’s near impossible to replicate these days.
This was back when a major studio would greenlight a mid-budget dinosaur adventure with no merchandising plan, no franchise ambitions, it’s just a simple story about protecting something rare and beautiful from people who’d destroy it for profit.
It flopped, of course.
But for those of us who stumbled across it in the rental aisle, a plain green box sandwiched between The Black Stallion and BMX Bandits, it was a strange, occasionally thrilling curiosity that made you rewind and pause a few places. If your parents weren’t in the room. -Pop
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend was released on home video this week back in 1985, after a March 22nd theatrical release.