Bossy babies

It’d be easy to write off The Boss Baby: Family Business as another sleepy summer sequel: The smart-aleck baby gags get a little weary with not one but two new babies the second time around, none better voiced than the original Boss Baby, Ted Templeton (Alec Baldwin).

And if a boy’s wild imagination was to blame for the jerky plot twists in the first film, this time it’s fair to blame director Tom McGrath for the chaotic switches between imagination and reality. An unofficial poll of young family members confirmed even they couldn’t tell where the daydreams of Tim Templeton (James Marsden) ended and real life began.

Family Business fast-forwards us 40 years, where we find a smart-talking baby girl persuading her dad Tim and Uncle Ted into drinking a special baby formula that shrinks them into much younger versions of themselves. But they’re not truly kids—they just look like them. The brothers uncover a plot by an evil principal: He’s employing babies to make a smartphone app that will turn parents into zombies during the school Christmas pageant.

Don’t worry, it didn’t make sense to me either. The plot of Family Business (rated PG) is so absurd and rambling (and at 107 minutes, overlong) that it ends up being kind of amusing. But it’s all in good fun, and not a bad option for families looking to return to theaters.