The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021)

The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021)

 

5/10

Starring

Alec Baldwin

James Marsden

Amy Sedaris

Ariana Greenblatt

 

Directed by Tom McGrath

 

I thought the creation of all these streaming platforms would lead to a content war. I expected it to force the big studios and streaming platforms to deliver the best of the best. But what we’ve actually gotten is a flood of half-baked content. This movie, for example, feels like a desperate struggle—like the writer and director were forced to come up with a sequel with little to no material to work with. It felt, to quote Bilbo Baggins, like “butter spread on too much bread.” They just grabbed every idea they could find from family-focused Hollywood movies and mashed them together.

The movie is colorful and eventful enough to keep little kids entertained, with just enough humor for them. But unlike you, they won’t be invested in the story holding everything else together. I wasn’t much of a fan of the first movie, and this sequel didn’t change my mind.

The story picks up thirty years after the first movie. Tim and Ted are now adults—Tim is a stay-at-home dad with two amazing daughters, Tabitha and baby Tina. Early on, we see that Tabitha is exceptionally smart and doesn’t bond with her dad the way she used to when she was younger. Instead, she looks up to her uncle Ted, who is now a wealthy and successful businessman.

Tim’s recounting of the events from the first movie is dismissed as the product of an overactive imagination. One night, he hears something coming from Tina’s room. When he investigates, he discovers that Tina is a Boss Baby, just like Ted was in the first movie. She tells him she’s on a mission to investigate what’s going on at Tabitha’s school and enlists Tim’s help to call Ted so they can work together on this adventure.

Ted, now grown, doesn’t remember anything from their childhood escapades. Tina and Tim jog his memory, and both Tim and Ted are transformed into babies via a magic drink that lasts 48 hours. Their mission: infiltrate the school and uncover what the proprietor is up to.

Over the course of the movie, we watch as Ted and Tim, who have grown apart over the years, try to reconnect while also carrying out their mission.

Hearing that there are plans for a third movie didn’t exactly fill me with excitement. I just hope they come up with a better script and do a much better job next time.