The Boss Baby Family Business is so much fun to watch

Am I getting too old for animated films? That’s the question I posed to myself after being utterly bored with four out of the past five animated films that I’d seen. Our boys like those four films well enough, but it was also hot outside, so perhaps they just wanted to sit on the sofa too. We were unanimous in our love for Mitchells Vs. The Machines. After watching The Boss Baby: Family Business my animation faith is restored. It’s a very funny movie that surpasses the original in terms of originality, emotional feels and overall look.

Boss Baby 2: Back in Business is as funny too. It’s not funnier than the first one, but given the overall superiority of the aforementioned terms, it is a better movie. And who would’ve thought that? It’s a property that had a great first film, was turned into a funny television series on Netflix, and has come back to theaters even better. Templeton, how very Empire Strikes Back of you.

To pile onto the almost impossibility of this being better than the first movie is that the characters in the film have grown up. Tim Templeton (James Marsden) is a stay-at-home dad and has a young family, just as the end of the first Boss Baby movie implied. Theodore ‘Ted’ Templeton (Alec Baldwin) is a big shot executive who lives in a megacity, has his own helicopter, and hasn’t changed a bit. However, the two brothers have grown apart and don’t spend any time together.

The roots of change start to sow themselves when Tim has an interaction with Wizzie (James McGrath)  in the attic. Wizzie is the LOTR-esque alarm clock who spouts philosophy and life lessons. This is hilarious and provided one of the many moments that my wife and I were laughing at more than the kids were. There are a couple of other moments in Back in Business that adults will laugh at more than kids.

It’s that fact that makes the film such a great example of family entertainment. Back in Business doesn’t dumb down the jokes in order to get a laugh. Instead, it pairs them with a visual gag or treats it as an almost disposable comment. There’s one particular business idiom that Baldwin says when his character is in a massive ball that’s careening through the park that had me and wife howling with laughter.

Our kids were laughing as hard too. But they were laughing at the visuals, in addition to one of the jokes that set up the situation. It was our laughter that was louder and then made our kids curious to see what we were laughing at. The Boss Baby Family Business is a movie that you’ll want to see a couple of times because there are jokes that you’ll miss.

Another great aspect of the film is Jeff Goldblum. He voices the principal of the elite school that Ted’s tween daughter, voiced by Arianna Greenblatt, is attending. Goldblum mercifully chews the scenery as his character realistically portrays, which is also to mock, the competitive scene of some schools. However, it’s her younger sister, Tina Timpleton, voiced by Amy Sedaris who starts the brothers on their journey.

When Ted is looking at Wizzie he hears something, almost like a person talking in Tina’s room. He rushes in to find her talking, much like he discovered his younger brother doing so when he was just a child. From there the movie is non-stop fun. The animation has beautiful periods of retro flashbacks, as well as perspective bending close ups that add to the trippy elements of the story.

Fear not The Boss Baby Family Business. It squashes the sequel curse and laughs at its television version; which in and of itself was still entertaining. This is high quality entertainment that will make those seven and up grin, howl and occasionally flail their arms in laughter.

The Boss Baby Family Business is rated PG.