Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Boss Baby: Family Business 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 22, 2021

The Boss Baby: Family Business is the 2021 follow-up to 2017's The Boss Baby. Production was, surprise, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic -- the film was made in part from home and its release date was shifted by a couple of months from March to July 2021 -- but it's certainly, technically speaking (as in the digital workmanship), no worse for it. Narratively, however, it's a whole different story. The movie takes the idea of the "bigger" sequel to the extreme. This is unquestionably presented on a grander scale than its predecessor, but while it embraces "bigger" it certainly doesn't embrace "better." Not that the original Boss Baby set the standard all that high to top, but this film is so focused on the frenzied energy and dizzying visuals at work within that it loses focus of the inherent charms and novelty that made the original a quasi-memorable and certainly novel kid's movie.

Official synopsis: He may be a big-shot moneyman now, but Ted Templeton (voiced by Alec Baldwin) flashes back to his Boss Baby past when he and his brother Tim (voiced by James Marsden) renew their rivalry and make a shocking discovery! Turns out, Tim's infant daughter Tina (voiced by Amy Sedaris) inherited Uncle Ted's job as an undercover BabyCorp agent. She's on a secret mission to stop an evil plan to turn babies into brats, and she needs both brothers to help! Ted and Tim now have to turn back into kids for a hilariously outrageous adventure that reminds them of the true power of family!

This is a movie that is literally all over the map. It’s frantic and will leave viewers frazzled. The forward motion, kinetic energy, and the abundance of colors and characters and chaos all define the movie into a nearly undefined mass. Whatever social commentary or dramatic underpinnings that may somewhere exist, never mind the original film's tone and balanced humor, are all lost to the maelstrom of 100 minutes of an overplayed hand that disallows the viewer an opportunity to soak in plot points, character details, and dramatic cues once the action shifts to return Tim and Ted to their youths. The film is like a kid on a sugar rush, bouncing off walls and incapable, and unwilling, to settle down for even a brief breather. The movie lives one shot to the next with concern only for the moment rather than whatever big picture exists below the surface. It might dazzle the eyes and delight the ears, but there's no heart and certainly no soul.

The film is certainly a production marvel, taking care to find visual precision within the mayhem on the screen. Everything is grossly overdone but at the same time it's built like a digital tank; the film is certainly a product of its time and pushes today's technology to its max. If nothing else, this is classic eye candy through and through. The voice work is excellent, too; Baldwin was born to play this role, Marsden is a solid addition, and Sedaris fits well into the mix, finding easy compatibility chemistry with her counterparts while adding a welcomed female voice to the center story.

The Boss Baby: Family Business 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

While The Boss Baby: Family Business' 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation betters the concurrently released companion Blu-ray, the picture isn't leaps-and-bounds superior. This is particularly true of the resolution gain, which adds minimal textural clarity beyond what the 1080p image reveals. The picture is not appreciably sharper or more complex. It looks marvelous, revealing crisp lines, intricate digital content, well defined character models, and tack-sharp environments and objects, but without the sort of hardcore gains one might expect to find. Minor boosts to clarity and extremely fine object detail are about as good as it gets. The Dolby Vision color grading offers a more appreciable area of improvement, but even still there is no dramatic transformation, which certainly speaks very highly of the Blu-ray disc's inherent excellence because this color presentation is striking. Colors here are of course brighter, more intense, but without that dramatic transformation that Dolby Vision provides on so many films. The presentation offers a modest boost to white balance, black depth, and overall color depth and vividness across the full spectrum of intense colors that populate the film. While this is a richer experience to be sure, it's not so radically different from the Blu-ray as to make that disc valueless. Nobody watching the Blu-ray is going to be shortchanged, but buy this version to see the film at its absolute visual best.

The Boss Baby: Family Business 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Just as impressive as the video presentation is Universal's Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The track is aggressive throughout, boasting intense depth, expert width, and impressive large-scale sound management. For all the high energy sound barrages that spill through every speaker, the listener will note that the track is always in full control of its wares. For as aggressive, deep, and immersive as things get, the track never feels frivolously engineered or incapable of matching high yield excitement with precision nuance. The track is constantly making use of the subwoofer and every surround channel. Overheads are occasionally used in a discrete manner but are just as frequently deployed to support the barrage of audio cues that penetrate the listening area. Music is crystal clear and widely dispersed, too, yet still balanced and true in overall delivery output. Dialogue is clear and precise with a firm front-center output area. Home theater audio doesn't get much better than this.

The Boss Baby: Family Business 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Universal's UHD release of The Boss Baby: Family Business includes kid-friendly featurettes (including the obligatory "how to draw the characters" extra), a couple geared more towards adults, a deleted scene, a lyric video, and an audio commentary track. A Blu-ray copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Precious Templeton: A Pony Tale (2160p/Dolby Vision, 4:15): A children's storybook come to life: the tale of Precious the Pony who wants to win a beautiful tiara.
• Deleted Scene with Intro by Director Tom McGrath (2160p/Dolby Vision, 3:25): Following the intro, the scene is presented in an early conceptual stage.
• Never Grow Up: The Big Babies Behind The Boss Baby: Family Business (2160p/Dolby Vision, 6:16): Cast and crew discuss what tasks they would perform at Baby Corp. It also looks at plot basics, remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, character construction and execution, what's new for the sequel, voice work, characters to whom the cast can relate, and more.
• Roll Call (2160p/Dolby Vision): Quick looks at key voice actors and the the characters they bring to life. Included are Alec Baldwin - Boss Baby (Ted) (2:52), Amy Sedaris - Tina (2:44), and James Marsden - Tim (3:13).
• Creative Experiment Lab (2160p/Dolby Vision): A few cool science-y projects kids and can do at home with a parent, guardian, or older sibling. Included are Potato Power (2:21), Volcano To Go (2:21), and Plastic Fantastic (2:35).
• Boss Baby Art Class: How to Draw (2160p/Dolby Vision): Storyboard Artist Catherine Rader demonstrates the process of drawing several characters. Included are Boss Baby (Ted) (3:15), Tina (2:30), and Precious Templeton (2:37).
• Lyric Video (2160p/Dolby Vision, 2:59): "Together We Stand."
• Audio Commentary: Director/Exec. Producer Tom McGrath, Producer Jeff Hermann, and Production Designer Raymond Zibach explore the film in verbal detail.

The Boss Baby: Family Business 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Boss Baby: Family Business is more about sights and sounds and less about its story. It's a perfectly serviceable diversion but it lacks the charm and sense of originality that shaped the first. Here, everything takes a backseat to the visual and aural assault. The movie does not border on gross overamplification, it's well over the line. The movie can never slow down enough to sort out its frenzied wares and, really, even a thorough deconstruction likely wouldn't reveal much of value below the surface. However, Universal's UHD is top of the line. Perfect video and audio are supported by a well-rounded supplemental suite which should please younger kids and the grown-ups buying the disc. Worth a look.