Disney / Pixar
Has it really been fourteen years since we last saw the Parr family, aka The Incredibles, on the big screen? Pixar certainly does take their time with sequels. It was thirteen years between Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, and eleven years between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 (with nine between the third and upcoming fourth installment). And when The Incredibles premiered in 2004, the Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t even exist yet! That would get a kick-start four years later, so Pixar and Disney were ahead of the curve with superhero movies. What set the original film apart from a traditional superhero movie was that it was more like a retro spy flick, like a Bond movie, rather than what we have now with superheroes. So with the boom in Marvel and DC movies, can The Incredibles hold their own against The Avengers and the Justice League?
Incredibles 2 takes place in a world where superheroes are illegal, so the Parr family is struggling to live a life or normality without using their powers. That works just fine for Violet, who is trying to get through high school and be a normal teenage girl but her younger brother Dash is itching to use his powers. And on top of all that, they have baby Jack-Jack to attend to. But the arrival of a villain calling himself the Underminer spurs the family into action — and brings their friend Frozone out of the shadows as well — but their attempts at helping resulted in major destruction to the city, the escape of Underminer (and if they’d just let him rob the bank, all would have been fine as the insurance would cover everything) and, worst of all, Violet’s identity is revealed to the boy she likes at school, forcing her dad to have the boy’s memory of the incident erased … which ends up erasing all traces of Violet, so put even more teenage drama on top of everything else.
With the family banished to a seedy motel until one of them can find a job, Frozone (aka Lucius Best) tells Bob and Helen that there is a gentleman who wants to meet them, someone who is very interested in superheroes and wants to help undo the law that has made them illegal. They bite, and go to meet Winston Deavor and his sister Evelyn, who have a whole plan in action to prove to the world that we need superheroes and they want Helen, aka Elastigirl, to be the face of the operation much to her husband’s chagrin. Elastigirl’s first successful missions end with the protection of an ambassador which puts into motion the idea that superheroes are a valuable asset. But the arrival of a new villain named Screenslaver puts everything in jeopardy with his hypnosis technique that threatens to outlaw superheroes forever.
Incredible 2 is another smart, witty, action-packed film that shows none of the magic from the original has been lost over the past decade and a half. Catching up with the Parr family, it seems like not a day has passed, even if the last time you saw the movie was fourteen years ago. Obviously no time has passed in their world as Jack-Jack is still a baby, so the Parrs are as eternally ageless as The Simpsons. As with the first movie, Incredibles 2 is really geared more to adults than children, adults who can relate to the struggles of juggling a family and work, stay at home parenting, and discovering your baby has super powers (okay, most adults don’t actually face that one in real life). It’s an animated movie that very easily could have been translated to live action.
The story is also more adult in nature — as is the violence, cartoonish though it may be — especially once Screenslaver ‘enslaves’ the superheroes to do his bidding. Screenslaver is a sort of classic Bond villain, with a twist, which also elevates the film out of pure kiddie fare. As one would expect, the movie is bright, colorful and extremely detailed, and filled with Easter eggs that will probably require several viewings to find. I patted myself on the back for seeing a Quest Industries logo on a building in the city (and later the Jonny Quest cartoon is playing on TV) and noticing the ambassador signs her name H. Selick, an obvious nod to The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick. And, of course, Pixar’s good luck charm John Ratzenberger is the voice of Underminer. Michael Giacchino’s score also has a nice, retro spy movie flavor to it. I also can’t forget Edna Mode’s appearance which basically amounts to a cameo, but her reaction to Jack-Jack is priceless.
Pixar proves yet again that patience is a virtue and fourteen years is time well spent in developing a story and characters that are engaging and entertaining for audiences of all ages. Don’t dismiss Incredibles 2 as just a cartoon for the kids. It’s definitely not and you’d be doing yourself, the movie and all the people involved in the movie a major disservice. And if we have to wait another fourteen years for Incredibles 3, I can deal with that if they can uphold the same quality as the first two.
Disney / Pixar
As with most Pixar releases, this one also comes with an animated short called Bao which tells the story of a Chinese-Canadian woman, left alone at home as her husband eats and runs off to work. As she’s eating her lovingly made dumplings, the one in her mouth suddenly lets out a wail and she’s shocked to discover the little thing is alive. It sprouts out a little body and she begins to care for it as if it was her own child. Time passes and little Bao grows, experiencing the usual struggles of a parent/teen relationship that ends in heartbreak … and a twist. At first, Bao seems to be an odd little comedy but the story has an emotional punch at the end that will hit you in all the feels.
Incredibles 2 has a run time of 1 hour 58 minutes and is rated PG for action sequences and some brief mild language.
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