The Boss Baby 2: Family Business

The ambiguous world of child and parent is explored in a helter-skelter satire with knobs on.

Growth spurts: Tina

Childhood ain’t what it used to be. Long gone are the days when a fallen tree trunk or an empty cardboard box could capture the imagination of the young for hours on end. The Boss Baby 2: Family Business, which acknowledges how screens of all sizes have monopolised the inspiration of children, also seems desperate to engage their synapses in this cluttered and chaotic sequel. It feels designed for multiple viewings at home rather than for a one-off big screen experience. There is so much crammed into every second of screen time that the result is more exhausting than spellbinding. No one can be expected to grasp every nuance, gag and reference, but just hang on for the ride the best they can.

The first film saw the arrival of the eponymous tot by taxi, rather than by birth canal. And he was quite a handful, like any ‘new-born,’ except when his parents weren’t around, when he sported a suit and tie and talked to his seven-year-old brother, Tim, like an adult. Tim’s cosy, loving world had been turned upside down, not to mention his notion of reality. But when the Baby – Ted – revealed that there was a conspiracy afoot to replace the love of children with that of their pets, the siblings were united in a madcap adventure. In the sequel Tim is now a father himself, a ‘stay-at-home’ dad (voiced by James Marsden) who strives to be the world’s best parent. But his precocious eight-year-old daughter Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt) is now more interested in her homework and advanced Mandarin than playing stupid childish games with her father. More disturbing still is that Tim’s youngest, the infant Tina (Amy Sedaris), is herself a Boss Baby and needs her father’s help. Then, with a little bit of technical ingenuity, Tina summons her uncle Ted (Alec Baldwin), now a wildly successful CEO, to help. Again, there is a conspiracy to be thwarted, this time the abolition of all Moms and Dads in order for babies to rule the world. So, with the aid of a magic baby formula, Tim and Dad are reduced to their infant selves (for a period of 48 hours) to investigate.

Of course, there are many more narrative twists to the tale, including Tabitha’s solo participation at her school’s holiday pageant, an event she is dreading. While she is the brightest in her class, she finds that her superior intellect has made her an object of loathing, and now she needs the love of her father more than ever. But where is he? It’s hard to imagine any young viewer being able to keep up with all this on a first encounter, particularly as the myriad plot lines are rattled off at the rate of knots. On the one hand, the film seems aimed at children with ADHD, while also satirizing the dangers of modern technology. The principal of Tabitha’s school, Dr Erin Armstrong (a smarmy Jeff Goldblum), is himself a baby disguised as an adult and has come up with an app – CutieSnaps – that turns parents into zombies. And while he mainlines on sugar, the film proves pretty saccharine itself, dishing out homilies about the importance of play and second chances and the dangers of growing up too fast. If the guardians of the intended demographic can survive the slapstick juvenilia, the dialogue should entertain. Michael McCullers's screenplay is not averse to using words like “litigious” or making a reference to Bill Gates, while the filmic allusions are there for the picking. It’s a manic, mixed bag, that is maybe a little too clever for its own good.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Voices of  Alec Baldwin, James Marsden, Amy Sedaris, Ariana Greenblatt, Jeff Goldblum, Eva Longoria, James McGrath, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Tom McGrath.

Dir Tom McGrath, Pro Jeff Hermann, Screenplay Michael McCullers, Pro Des Raymond Zibach, Ed Mary Blee and Mark A. Hester, Music Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro.

DreamWorks Animation-Universal Pictures.
107 mins. USA. 2021. Rel: 22 October 2021. Cert. PG.