The wide world is a confusing circus to a baby, a bombardment of stimulation, almost constantly, with no hopes of being able to parse any of this input for at least a couple of years. Still, we try our best efforts with T.V. shows dedicated entirely to teaching children the basics, in as simple a way as possible. But what if this was done for nefarious intent. In 2004, the winning formula of the Baby Geniuses received a substantial upgrade for the second foray into the world of Superbabies.

In Superbabies, we are introduced to four new tykes, who have the gift of the gab once again with their version of Babytalk. Scott (who is related to Dan) is trying hard to make his new Daycare business a success. Inside Scott’s daycare, The babies regale each other with the legend of super baby Kahuna, well known for stopping evil genius Kane in the shadows of the Berlin Wall. Over forty years later, that legend might be true, as Bill Biscane He’s back and his multimedia empire has some sinister intentions in store for the babies, something planned for their current daycare center. The Babies, despite being geniuses, may need help. Can they rely on the special baby known as Kahuna to help them reach their full potential?

This sophomore adventure does a lot to differentiate itself from its bigger budget beginning, in managing to tell its own story, Yes, the new heroes are tangentially related to the protagonists of Baby Genius. You can’t keep adorable child actors as the Fitzgerald siblings, who do return, only this time as brand-new characters. Superbabies is mostly its own thing, making use of almost double its predecessor’s budget, it does manage to escalate the stakes rather well, all while treading on familiar plot points. The addition of Superhero elements is also an inventive new step for the franchise to take, one that can be seen in the design of Kahuna’s lair, and the alter-egos of the new generation of Baby Geniuses.

Following in the star power of the first film, Superbabies does pull out all the stops. Jon Voight throws himself into the role of former Nazi, turned Stasi, turned billionaire Bill Biscane. You’d be forgiven for thinking that such a sequel might not require such commitment. Yet Voight delivers. Outside the grand caper is the subplot of Scott’s, who lets his daycare be used for the start of his Baby-centric T.V. network. Skyler Shaye is there to offer some support as Kylie, who becomes a sort of chaperone to the babies, even though they are far more capable. Along with the likes of Whoopi Goldberg helping round off the winning potential of this film’s cast.

Baby Geniuses cemented the hypothesis that talking babies is a crowd-pleaser; Super Babies adds superheroes to the mix, with winning the same results. In some ways, Superbabies surpasses the original and manages to do so while fully embracing having double its predecessor’s budget. The entire production has an energy that it leapt out of a child’s imagination, almost to the same effect as North. Despite ever-looming peril, Superbabies will show that every baby will soon have his day.

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