Review: Time to put 'Boss Baby' in the corner?

The Walt Disney Co.'s animation studio has long been a standard bearer that can be tough to match. But even knowing the inevitable drop-off to come, "The Boss Baby: Family Business” is still an awfully steep slide from the splendid, shimmering "Luca.”

The Dreamworks sequel to 2017's (checks notes) Oscar-nominated "The Boss Baby" again pushes a simple, funny but difficult to elaborate on image - a baby in suit - to zany extremes. It was a good enough conceit for Marla Frazee's original children's book; toddlers can indeed be tyrants. But each movie has hyperactively swaddled that thin premise with a frenetic, over-plotted, off-the-wall cartoon blitz. Director Tom McGrath (the "Madagascar” movies) returns for "The Boss Baby: Family Business” (in theaters and streaming on Peacock on Friday), and fast forwards to adulthood.