37. The Boss Baby: Family Business
This is the sequel to The Boss Baby and it’s better than the first one… if that means anything to you.
It… sort of does to me.
I appreciate that this film somehow managed to circumvent my biggest issue with the first one in that it was crazy and insane but often in ways that were offputting. This film is also crazy and insane but in a way that works a lot better… if that makes any sense?
This is going to be one of the hardest emotional reads to explain but the absurdity of The Boss Baby 2 is something that feels wholesome in how proud of being a weird cartoon it is. There were several times where I was watching the film and drinking in what it was showing me and I was like “What the hell is going on? What am I watching?” but still knowing full well the context to everything that was happening and why it was happening.
I feel like that happened way less in the first film somehow. I’m familiar with Baby Corp and it’s whole thing by now so I guess the absurdity of what it is didn’t take me off guard here. However, I also just think the craziness and the action set pieces are set-up just well enough that despite being ridiculous my brain can process it a bit better this time.
There’s a scene where the two main characters, a physically regressed Tim (James Marsden) and former Boss Baby Ted (Alec Baldwin), are just trying to get to school and the sequence leads to a guy being dragged out of a movie theater by his seat, the police chasing after them, a giant Christmas tree being dragged through the streets and being set on fire, the mayor almost being killed, and them riding in a large cup while Tim is on the phone with his wife trying to sell the idea that they’re on a brotherly bonding vacation or something.
The plot to this one doesn’t waste much time. Tim is an adult with a wife and kids now. One being the older sister Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt), whom surprisingly, the main conflict revolves a lot around.
Tim's self-worth as a dad and how his ability to get lost in his own imagination as a stay at home dad has him feeling rather useless. We see throughout the film that, no, he’s actually an excellent dad and he’s just lost in his own head as it were. Which is a nice sentiment.
The other one is the baby sister, Tina (Amy Sedaris), who is the undercover boss baby who brings her dad and his brother Ted in on a mission to save the world again. The regressing formula she brings has them back in their original forms from the first movie but now they both have the voices of adult men, which… surprisingly still works. Watching Tim sort of flirt with his wife as a child was actually hilarious and it works better with him having the voice of an adult still.
The conflict this time is the school the older sister Tabitha goes to. It’s run by a guy named Dr. Erwin Armstrong whom I was surprised to hear the voice of. That man whose actually a baby in an adult robot suit is Jeff Goldblum. Jeff Goldblum is in this movie and his voice is really funny to hear coming out this character.
The plot of the first one was incredibly minor compared to this one. Who cares if puppies are cuter than babies? This movie has a more "Kids Next Door gone wrong" plot where the antagonist wishes to rid the world of adulthood by hypnotizing and controlling them all so that there won’t be any more rules and kids and babies can do whatever they want. That’s something that feels like it can be playfully absurd while also being a conflict that you’d want to stop from happening.
It leads to two babies fighting each other in robot suits designed to look like adults while a bunch of hypnotized parents try to kill them, in one of the weirdest scenes I’ve ever witnessed, but… I can’t say it didn’t entertain me.
The family business moniker really goes out of it’s way to sell itself to you as the estranged relationship between Tim and Ted is the film’s other focus. The way the film handled how they grew apart and have found a way to come together again through Boss Baby Tina’s efforts is great and sometimes even beautiful. There’s this lovely scene where Tabitha sings a song at her school play that I was heartbroken to find I cared that Tim was missing it because he was about to be killed alongside his brother. However, during the scene is where Tim and Ted patch up the hangups they had with one another and rekindle their brotherly bond.
There’s another scene where Tim sings with Tabitha and it’s a musical sequence of a father, disguised as a friend at school due to the physical regression, inspires his daughter to embrace song and dance through her imagination.
This film really does a lot to embrace the concept of being a kid and imagination and I appreciate it for that. There’s also no fart or diaper jokes in it either, surprisingly enough. There’s baby ninjas though. Adorable baby ninjas that look like multiplying rabbits that fall over themselves in a weird car pile up… but they exist.
Yeah, I mean… I think the film is good for what it is… but you know, it’s still a sequel to The Boss Baby and if that bothers you then I don’t see this one changing your mind even if you might agree it’s better. There’s nothing wrong with having films like this exist. It’s not here for adults to critique it and wiggle their fingers at it so they could put up a Youtube thumbnail and express just how awful it is and why Dreamworks is dead or whatever… but people are totally going to do that anyway.
I hold the opinion that it’s fun and silly and perfectly fine. I admire a lot of what’s in it and was along for the ride when it came to its absurdity a lot more than the first one. I can firmly plant it in the section of movies that I enjoyed but probably don’t need to see again really.
It did what it was trying to do well but it’s still nothing super deep or grandiose. It doesn’t have to be, really, but there’s so much more Dreamworks has done that’s just more impressive. I give it credit for what it does successfully regardless. Don’t be ashamed to admit you like the film. It’s in the bottom tier but it's honestly fine.
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1 month, 3 weeks ago
21 Mar 2025 01:35 CET
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