The dysfunction of flustered Spencer Tracy continues as he faces becoming a grandfather the year after being the father of the bride. He objects to an immediate baby shower and wife Joan Bennett's desire for the couple to move in. Bennett fantasizes about re-decorating Taylor's old room into a nursery as if she was Myrna Loy's Mrs. Blandings describing blue to decorators for her dreamhouse. Daughter Elizabeth Taylor is the only one considerate toward's Tracy's feelings, exploding at everybody else when they try to take over again. His kitten more precious to him than ever, Tracy gives her the wisdom she is craving. This makes their scenes together even more poignant and indicates why a sequel was a very good idea.
While the two films pay closer attention to Tracy, the lovely Liz gets more attention here over wife Joan Bennett who was the dominant female in the first. Ms. Taylor had a few good outbursts, her character truly becomes revealed as a genuinely lovely young lady inside and out. The screenplay lightly explores how emotional a pregnancy can be, intertwining that with marital issues that come out of those pregnancy hormones. Bennett is more of a light-hearted nag here, well-meaning but a bit bossy and continuously throwing the baby in the reluctant grandfather's face. At that rate, Tracy will never bond with the infant unless fate steps in. That is where this rises above becoming a '50s version of the Andy Hardy series, showing genuinely real people rather than Louis B. Mayer's idealistic view of what he thought a real American family should be.
While the two films pay closer attention to Tracy, the lovely Liz gets more attention here over wife Joan Bennett who was the dominant female in the first. Ms. Taylor had a few good outbursts, her character truly becomes revealed as a genuinely lovely young lady inside and out. The screenplay lightly explores how emotional a pregnancy can be, intertwining that with marital issues that come out of those pregnancy hormones. Bennett is more of a light-hearted nag here, well-meaning but a bit bossy and continuously throwing the baby in the reluctant grandfather's face. At that rate, Tracy will never bond with the infant unless fate steps in. That is where this rises above becoming a '50s version of the Andy Hardy series, showing genuinely real people rather than Louis B. Mayer's idealistic view of what he thought a real American family should be.