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There are indeed some glimpses of techniques and mastery akin to Powell's work in this score, but they are fleeting, and casual listeners won't notice much of a difference from the original work. That said, the sequel does have a better-rounded set of themes to accompany the schizophrenic personality of each cue. As with the previous score, there is no clear attribution in The Boss Baby: Family Business as to which composer wrote what cues, still an ongoing, significant problem caused by Zimmer's methodology. Most of the musical genres pilfered before are exploited again, though the shifting between them is not quite as jarring. The theremin effect for suspense returns in "The Attic" like "Baby Brother" from previous score, a honky-tonk piano plods in "Meet the Templetons," funky jazz returns in "Crisis at Baby Corp" and "Acorn School," Western hoedown fiddle madness ensues in "We Overslept," easy Latin rhythms soothe in "Latchkey Kid," and overblown fantasy with choir opens "Baby Pep Rally." The most blatant true parody comes in the form of Randy Newman's The Natural at the outset of "The Chase." The recording sounds equivalent to the first score; the instruments don't sound blatantly sampled, but the performances aren't particularly nuanced, either. There is a bit more verve in the depth of this work than The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. Thematically, Zimmer and Mazzaro muddy the picture a bit with the sequel, but film score collectors may prefer the music's resulting narrative arc. The main theme and its bright interlude both return, but don't expect the primary phrase to dominate the action cues like it did in the first score. Its major and minor modes, led by a pair of descending notes, dominated "Survival of the Fittest," "Baby Brother," and "Go Get Yourself a Horse" (aside from the Pope-arranged cue), and its extremely happy, descending interlude sequence was never far behind. For Baby Corp, the composers had written a faux 1950's idea of wholesome productivity while the familial elements were represented by a pair of ideas explored in "I Wish You Were Never Born." Likewise, an action/victory motif in "Arrrggh" and "You're Fired" highlighted that score.

Sadly, while the established main theme and its interlude persist in The Boss Baby: Family Business, and the Baby Corp material carries over to a degree, the majority of these and all the other ideas are replaced in the sequel with new themes. Even the treatment of the main theme is somewhat unsatisfactory here despite fairly frequent applications. It debuts here in "The Attic" on slight flutes at the start, with the happy interlude resurrected at 3:38. It shifts from funk to espionage mode in "The Secret Formula." The interlude is offered in suspense mode at 1:36 into "The Chase" before it is joined by the primary phrasing thereafter in fragments. Slight references follow in latter half of "Acorn School." The theme finally bursts forth in full swing with its interlude in proper fashion in "Meet the Templetons," where it blows through several genres in the cue most like the previous score. A large brass sendoff at end of the cue is nice; it reveals where the theme is headed in this score. Also reminiscent of the prior score is the clarinet humor for the theme to open "Family Dinner." The idea starts "Stop the Show" with opening phrases on bold brass, the full theme later expressed with bravado by those players. The theme closes "Mission Planning" and opens "Shutdown the Server" (shouldn't that be "Shut Down"?) briefly, eventually littered throughout the action of that cue. A solo piano rendition graces "The Greatest Gift" before yielding to the full interlude sequence at its most exuberant. Zimmer and Mazzaro reshape the main theme from The Boss Baby into a new identity in the sequel, developing it into a formidable replacement by the end. This idea adjoins the main theme in "Meet the Templetons" and "Mission Planning," becoming prominent by 0:59 into "Yay Templetons!" It cheerfully merges again with the main theme in latter half of "The Greatest Gift." A similar transition happens with the Baby Corp theme, reprising its original form in lush form to open "To Baby Corp" before returning to its 1950's version later in the cue. A brief snippet recurs late in "Meet the Templetons." This identity is replaced, however, by snazzy finger-snapping, electric bass, Hammond organ, and guitar coolness in "Crisis at Baby Corp," "They're Home!," and "It's Back On."

The extended Baby Corp musical personality in The Boss Baby: Family Business matures into a remarkably cool new idea in "Mission Planning" (with hints of the first score's action motif) but returns to its base hipness with interjections at 2:20 and 3:46 into "Shutdown the Server." The de facto family theme for the brothers of the first story (established in "I Wish You Were Never Born" during that score) is abandoned here, replaced by a better alternative built on secondary phrases from that existing theme. Debuting on acoustic guitar and piano in "Bedtime," the cue "Family Dinner" more formally shifts from the previous score's motif to this new family theme in latter half. The idea recurs softly in "Marcos Comes Home" but becomes chipper early in "School Days," developing into a John Powell-like kazoo moment of silliness with a redemptive, symphonic end. It continues in minor-key action mode at 3:26 into "Shutdown the Server" and is victorious on strings at 1:38 into "Yay Templetons!," a noble brass rendition following at 2:36. The villainous Armstrong baby receives pairs of descending notes in "Armstrong" with a slight waltz rhythm; it's mildly creepy ambience mostly and not very effective. Extended with the same rhythmic stance and broader menace in "Baby Pep Rally," the motif interjects near the end of "School Days," slithers into "Stop the Show," and is dramatic in the opening moments of "Yay Templetons!" The action/victory motif from the prior score isn't explicitly reprised in The Boss Baby: Family Business, but a large and brassy variant does occur in "Ted Comes Home." A notable theme for the Acorn School, bubbly in its performance at 1:57 into "Acorn School," does not foreshadow the Armstrong motif or any other material. On the whole, these themes are a better lot than those in The Boss Baby, but the lack of dominant placement for the main theme is a disappointment. There are some really robust orchestral moments in the sequel that yield ten to fifteen minutes of engaging material, though nothing in that time beats the "Love" cue from the prior score. A pair of innocuous songs important to the film round out an album featuring over an hour of score. Enthusiasts of Zimmer and Mazzaro's work for the 2017 entry will appreciate the greater depth in this sequel, but most listeners won't really notice a difference.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85 (in 127 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96 (in 298,977 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 69:38