Incredibles 2

photo courtesy of sciencefiction.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     Coming nearly 14 years after the release of the original movie, Incredibles 2 tells the continuing story of the heroic Parr family: Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner), and Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile). After the defeat of Syndrome, the Incredibles fall on hard times, without a home and without support from the public. Things start to look up when Elastigirl gets a new job, working with a powerful company to change perception of supers for the better. But when the nefarious Screenslaver appears, it’ll take everything Elastigirl has just to survive.

     Expectations for this sequel are high, which is understandable considering the well-beloved status of the original film. The Incredibles (2004) is a masterpiece in two genres at once—animation and superhero—and fortunately, Incredibles 2 nearly manages the same trick. 

photo courtesy of indiewire.com

     Incredibles 2 ticks a lot of the top-teir Pixar boxes. It’s well-paced, it tells a meaningful story, it has phenomenal animation and great music, it’s funny, it’s atmospheric, and it’s got thematic depth. Where the Incredibles franchise distinguishes itself is in the action, which doesn’t play a huge role in any other Pixar series. Elastigirl, who rightfully takes center stage this time around, is an undeniably charismatic action star, and though the action in Incredibles 2 doesn’t always have the same kinetic force as that of its predecessor (remember those flying disc ships on Syndrome’s island?!), it’s still sleek and exciting.

     And excitement is the operative word in Incredibles 2. This is the kind of refreshing, unpretentious adventure movie that just wants to show you a good time, and isn’t so very concerned—less concerned, I think, than the original—about establishing grave emotional stakes. In a landscape of superhero films where the lines of morality between heroes and villains are so often nuanced or blurred, it’s nice to see a picture where the bad guys are just bad and the good guys are wearing honest-to-goodness spandex.

photo courtesy of uproxx.com

     When the story begins to approach some deeper thematic work, the movie handles the transition artfully. Incredibles 2 has some meat on its bones, but the filmmakers allow a good deal of the substance here to remain subtext rather than addressing it outright. A few of the characters, for instance, have bags under their eyes for the duration of the film. What superhero movie lets its heroes look just plain tired for no explicitly stated reason? It’s a choice the viewer could easily miss, but it speaks volumes to what the movie is trying to accomplish under the surface.

photo courtesy of drafthouse.com

     When push comes to shove, Incredibles 2 can’t quite measure up to the quality of the original film. The gap stems more from the fact that The Incredibles is such a perfectly well-conceived and well-executed movie than from any critical defect in the sequel. The action, as I’ve already mentioned, falls a little short, and Incredibles 2 has to let a few of its characters fall by the wayside to squeeze everything in (Dash’s limited role makes way for more of Samuel L. Jackson’s Frozone and Voyd, a new character played by Sophia Bush). And without giving too much away, it’s safe to say that the similarities between Incredibles 2 and The Incredibles—on a plot level—are striking. Still, these aren’t the kind of flaws that would outweigh the movie’s strengths… they’re just the kind of flaws that separate great from, well, incredible.

FINAL VERDICT: 14 years later, the Incredibles have still got it.

TRAILER

Watch the trailer here.

photo courtesy of pastemagazine.com