The Boss Baby: Family Business

• Directed by Tom McGrath
• July 2, 2021

Voice Cast

• Ted Templeton Jr. / Boss Baby-Alec Baldwin
• Tim Templeton-James Marsden
• Tina Templeton-Amy Sedaris
• Tabitha Templeton-Ariana Greenblatt
• Dr. Erwin Armstrong-Jeff Goldblum
• Carol Templeton-Eva Longoria
• Ted Templeton Sr.-Jimmy Kimmel
• Janice Templeton-Lisa Kudrow
• Wizzie-James McGrath
• Nathan-Raphael Alejandro
• Creepy Girl-Molly K. Gray

The Boss Baby and his brother need to help BabyCorp one more time as it is revealed that Tim’s infant daughter works for the company.

While The Boss Baby framed everything at the end as a fantastical story to help Tim’s daughter Tabitha deal with the arrival of an of a sibling, this one reframes the events of the last film as actually having happened. Heck, even the Merlin alarm clock Wizzie turns out to have really been alive. That last part really interests me.

The plot of The Boss Baby: Family Business boils down to Tim and his brother Ted Jr. having grown apart and needing to work together again. Well-worn story territory. Neither one is really framed as a jerk or to blame in the situation. They come off more as just having let life get in the way rather than having maintained their brotherly bond.

Tim, who also feels he is growing distant from his daughter, joins in mostly because he wants to figure out just why she is getting distant. He’s convinced it’s all connected to the evil plot he and his brother are trying to stop when it’s really just the pressures and stresses of going to school and not fitting in. We would all like to think such things are caused by something other than the obvious.

This time there is a nefarious plot connected to a private school where Tabitha goes. The plot is masterminded by Dr. Erwin Armstrong who runs the school. Some of what occurs with Armstrong could be viewed as a commentary on the educational system and perhaps things like NPR as well. I’m not sure if that’s what they were going for, but you could certainly take it as such.

And the finale which connects to the guy’s plan is a nice commentary on modern culture. It is built around an evil app and society’s overattachment to the miracles of the smartphone. All this is making me think that this movie is much smarter than its predecessor.

The Boss Baby: Family Business seems to be making some commentary-though mildly-and wrapping it all in a silly and rather outlandish story. I applaud them for that. They made something aimed at children but that could also have a little more for adults to enjoy.

Tina, who is the daughter working for BabyCorp, has the dual goals of not only stopping the villain but to bring her Uncle Ted and father Tim back together. A nice message about still maintaining bonds with your family.

Aside from the comedic interactions between the two brothers, there is the standout oddball character of the bully boy Nathan in Tabitha’s classroom. He’s just weird. Weird in a jerky bully way. He was a bully you could laugh at. There is also this very odd character referred to as Creepy Girl. She is a creepy child with a near supernatural ability to sneak up. Another comedic highlight were the baby ninjas. I liked the oddity of it all. They played with reality in this story.

I watched The Boss Baby: Family Business with my stepdaughter. She’s seven years old and absolutely loved it. She was laughing throughout the movie. Deep, loud belly laughs. So for the kids this is an entertaining movie. But you know something? It’s also very entertaining for adults as well. I enjoyed it. While I didn’t find it quite the comedy fest that my stepdaughter did, I found it rather good.

I was expecting The Boss Baby: Family Business to not be that entertaining. I was uncertain if they could do anything new or add to the original concept. I am happy to report I was wrong. The Boss Baby: Family Business is an entertaining and somewhat better film than its predecessor. I’d recommend this for both children and adults!