Film Review: ‘The Boss Baby: Family Business’ Somehow Makes the First Movie Look Good By Comparison

Oh boy. The Boss Baby was one of my least favorite films the year it came out, so I was not going into this one with high expectations. Was that fair? No, but at the same time, it meant that it would be even easier for it to exceed them. And yet, here we are. The Boss Baby: Family Business is worse in every conceivable way, failing to execute a premise that was played out before the first act of the last movie ended. Pointless and unfunny, it’s only meant for the littlest of kids, as well as fans of the first one. Take pity on both and watch something else.

The Boss Baby: Family Business never once manages to entertain. It’s almost an hour and 50 minutes long, so this isn’t a short slog to get through, either. Clearly meant to distract kids, at least those whose parents have Peacock, it’s a throwaway experience that has absolutely no reason to exist. Sigh.

Since the events of the first flick, the Templeton brothers, Tim (voice of James Marsden) and Ted (voice of Alec Baldwin) have grown up and drifted apart from each other. Tim is now a dad, goofily loving it, though dreading his kids growing up, while Ted has become a rich corporate tycoon. That’s about to change, since Tim’s youngest daughter Tina (voice of Amy Sedaris) is a Boss Baby, herself. Sent from Baby Corp, she needs Ted’s help, as he was a legendary Boss Baby. Bringing them together, she uses a special formula to temporarily make them babies again.

Why, you might ask? Well, she needs them to infiltrate an evil school that Tim’s older daughter Tabitha (voice of Ariana Greenblat) goes to, run by Dr. Armstrong (voice of Jeff Goldblum). Of course, they’ll also need to work together, bond again, and appreciate each other. You know how this thing goes…

The voice work across the board comes off as indifferent, likely due to boredom. There’s a great cast here, but they get nothing to do. James Marsden mostly comes off as an unfunny version of Jerry from Rick and Morty, for example. Amy Sedaris is trying, but her Boss Baby is just supremely uninteresting. Alec Baldwin is there for the check, and so on. Jeff Goldblum seems to be having a bit of fun, but that’s hardly enough. Other voice actors here include Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Eva Longoria, and more.

Director Tom McGrath and writer Michael McCullers give you absolutely nothing here. It doesn’t look especially interesting, the jokes aren’t funny, and the story is a bore. They clearly struggled to come up with a reason to continue this now franchise, and it shows. Again, it’s not even short. At 80 minutes, it would have clearly just been a thing to throw on for little kids. Instead, it’s somehow closer to two hours.

The Boss Baby: Family Business is easily one of the worst films of the year, so far. Never once did I enjoy a moment of it. If you loved The Boss Baby, maybe you’ll like this one more. At the same time, you might also see how far the series has somehow fallen. Either way, you’re better off staying far, far, away.

SCORE: ★