Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2

Plot

The film starts with a group of babies in a day care center. Archie tells the others (Finkelman, Alex, and Rosita) a story about a super baby called Kahuna. Kahuna rescues kids all around the world. According to Archie, Kahuna rescued a group of children from an orphanage run by the evil Kane. Kahuna and Kane are nemeses and hate each other, but Kahuna always wins their battles.

Archie's father Stan, who seems to own the day care center, is letting it be used as a television set by Biscane, who is starting up his own TV channel. Archie notices someone spying on the goings-on at the television set in the bushes, but he isn't sure who it is. However, he begins to believe Kane is evil. He and the other babies sneak into Stan's office and decide to check out Kane, but are spammed. When they hear some of Kane's cronies approaching, Rosita, Alex and Finkelman run away, leaving Archie by himself. Archie overhears the cronies talking about Kane's plan, but he doesn't really understand it. However, he accidentally attracts their attention, but before they can get him, he is rescued by, you've guessed it, Kahuna, who is in fact real. But then Kahuna leaves and the other babies don't believe Archie. Kylie, Archie's older cousin and Stan's niece, takes them all out to the children's museum, but not before bumping into a friend and a disc falls into the pushchair. On the way to the museum they are stopped by loads of Kane's other cronies. But Kahuna rescues them all, and the babies realize that Archie was telling the truth. Kahuna takes them all to his base in Hollywood, where they meet Zack, whom Kahuna took in years ago. Kahuna's base is in fact a huge playground, and Kylie finds it weird. Kahuna transforms the babies into "superbabies": Archie is Brain Boy, Alex is Bouncing Boy, Rosita is Cupid Girl, and Finkelman is Baby Courageous. But they don't think these super alter-egos fit their personalities, and they tell Kahuna to change them back to normal. Which he does. After convincing Stan and Archie's mother that they are okay, Archie asks Kahuna to tell him where he got his powers from. But he refuses...so Archie eavesdrops on Zack and Kylie. Zack tells Kylie that Kahuna's father was a scientist and developed a formula of some sort, which Kahuna drank, and he was transformed into a super baby, but he is stuck as a child for good. Kahuna's brother didn't like it that everyone thought he and his family were freaks. When the father died, despite Kahuna being 18, he was put into an orphanage, but he escaped, and set out to rescue babies and children everywhere, and in the words of Zack, "a legend was born."

The next day, Zack and Kylie find the disc that magically managed to travel from the pushchair into Kylie's bag. Zack gives it to Kahuna. Then Zack and Kylie go for a picnic on the hills and they kiss, when Zack gets a message from Kahuna. On the disc is a clip of the programme that is to be aired on Kane's TV channel, followed by lots of seemingly random code. At last, they realize that Kane is up to no good, and set out to see what is going on. Zack, posing as a policeman, and the babies, watch as Kane counts down til his channel is to be aired on TV. But Kahuna, who has worked out his plan to control the world stops him and destroys the satellites- before disappearing. Archie and the other three don't know what to do- they think they can't go on without Kahuna. But in fact, all they need to do is believe in themselves. They all decide to go and become their super alter-egos-for Kahuna. With Stan, Archie's mum, Kylie and Zack with them, they return to Kahuna's hideout and become Bounce Boy, Cupid Girl, Brain Boy and Courageous Boy. Then Kahuna arrives, followed by Kane and his cronies. But after defeating all the cronies, Kane still gets the disc he needs and begins to air the TV clip on TV. It's also revealed that he is Kahuna's older brother and he hates Kahuna for being their dad's favorite. Now Kahuna and Kane have always been fighting, ever since Kahuna escaped from the orphanage- Kane always wanted to be young forever, that's why he hates children, and Kahuna needed to save all the children from his evil brother. Then, the babies kick Kane into the thing resembling a carousel that transformed them into their super selves and he, wanting to become everything he's ever wanted, presses a button that wasn't there before and becomes a baby, much to his despair. But thankfully his cronies promise to look after him. Kahuna reverses the transmission posing as the TV clip Kane is airing and all the children decide to run outside and play tag. Yes, apparently every child in the world starts playing tag. Now that their work is done, Kahuna tells Archie that he must go and though they'll always be friends, Archie must stay with his family and Kahuna must go and save kids.

In the end, Zack meets his mother. Turns out, Zack and Kylie are dating, and apparently, Archie (running outside) sees Kahuna in the flying vehicle who waves at him and yells that he'll always be a hero.

Cast

Box office

Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 opened theatrically on August 27, 2004 in 1,276 venues, earning $3,251,856 in its opening weekend, ranking number eleven in the domestic box office. At the end of its run, on October 3, the film grossed $9,219,388 domestically and $229,256 overseas for a worldwide total of $9,448,644. Having an estimated $20 million budget, the film was a box office bomb.

Critical response

The film was panned by critics and audiences alike. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 0% rating, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 2.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A startling lack of taste pervades Superbabies, a sequel offering further proof that bad jokes still aren't funny when coming from the mouths of babes." Metacritic reports a 9 out of 100 rating, based on 19 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".

Dave Kehr, in his New York Times review, said that the film was "not so much Look Who's Talking as Look Who's Walloping," while also noting that the problem with the villain's "plan is that it is already in effect and endorsed by the FCC. It is called commercials." Writing for the Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan stated, "The action sequences are phony-looking; the dialogue sounds largely improvised on the fly; the laughs are few and far between; and the acting ... is, to put it kindly, wooden."

Home media

The film was released on DVD and VHS on January 4, 2005.