The Boss Baby 2: Family Business is another animated sequel that pretty much delivers everything it’s supposed to except one thing — a reason for existing. This is another example of a movie becoming a franchise just to see how much it can drain the cash cow before it’s empty.
Alec Baldwin returns as the voice of Ted Templeton and James Marsden is his brother, Tim. The movie is set 30 years after the first one and both babies are now adults going different ways in life: Ted is a successful CEO while Tim is a stay-at-home dad.
Tim tries so hard to be a great dad, but his oldest daughter Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt) is now a teenager and distancing herself from him. It isn’t long before Ted reenters the picture due to that tired old cliché of someone in the family in “trouble” and needing his help.
Amy Sedaris is the voice of Tina, an undercover Boss Baby as well as Tim’s daughter and Tabitha’s sister. She’s asked the two brothers to go undercover at Tabitha’s school because she suspects something is wrong. The brothers are given a magic formula that will turn them into babies again for 48 hours so that they can investigate. Thus, they are babies once more.
Jeff Goldblum is the voice of Dr. Armstrong, the head of the school who wants to eliminate all adults in the world and have it run by babies. This is a plot device where its execution is so derivative that Gru from Despicable Me would probably think it’s lame.
Family Business is one of those movies that is so off-the-wall in terms of its energy and so dull when it comes to humor. Baldwin and Co. try to make the most out of the material, but they never reach escape velocity.
A lot of time and attention is given to its zany antics and its forced message about the importance of family being there for each other. Not to mention, the pop culture references to The Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, and Lord of the Rings feel completely unnecessary and out of place.
This isn’t a bad movie — it’s more misguided. I think kids will enjoy it, but everyone else will hope that if this series continues, the next one will have a better script.
Grade: C+
(Rated PG for rude humor, mild language and some action.)
