Incredibles 2

2018 animated sequel

Rating: 15/20 (Jen: 17/20; Buster: 19/20)

Plot: The Incredibles continue to balance their superhero and familial responsibilities in a world that does not want them. 

As a Pixar movie, the expectations for a movie, even a sequel in which they don't have the best track record, is beyond just creating an entertaining action movie about superheroes and superheroines saving the world from bad guys. This movie follows a film that did have superpeople saving the world from bad guys but also dealt with complex issues like family, marriage, disillusionment, and role models. The first movie handled those things in subtle ways, never getting preachy or falling into traps other animated features with adult themes might, never spelling things out or claiming to have any magical solutions. This movie touches on a lot of the same sorts of themes. Our happily-married supers are apart for the majority of the movie, and we spend time watching them deal with new challenges. 

For Mr. Incredible, it's getting used to becoming a stay-at-home dad, not being the breadwinner for the family, being in a situation where he has to focus on children with needs that are much different than the needs he might have had as a child. With daughter Violet, it's troubles with romance, the kind of thing I imagine he'd rather have Mom deal with. He handles things exactly as you might expect a guy fueled by machismo and superficial common sense would--clumsily. With son Dash, it's helping with homework, a "new math" that presents challenges parents remembering their own experiences with math might not be able to anticipate. And then there's the baby. Dealing with a baby is stressful enough, but when your baby shoots lasers out of his eyes, turns into fire, transforms into a demonic thing, duplicates himself, and still constantly shits himself right after you just changed a diaper, it presents new problems. These strange super powers might not be things that most parents experience with their own offspring, but with the pride and fear Bob feels as he's seeing all this develop, it becomes a perfect metaphor for that stage of parenting. Bob's voiced once again by Craig T. Nelson, and both the voice work and the way the character is animated, all these stages of fatigue and frustration that you see, are easy for a father to identify with. And that's even true of a father like me who doesn't spend any time with his children. 

Mrs. Incredible is dealing with being out of the house, starting a new job and being away from the kids and her husband. You see her come to life, her animated action sequences giving her this buoyancy and vitality that she just doesn't have in the scenes of domesticity. It's not that she's a bad parent or anything. It's just that she's not designed to be only a parent and housewife. Watching her in action in this movie was awesome. Other than maybe two memorable scenes in the first movie, you don't really get a sense of what she can do as a superheroine. She stretches, just like Plastic Man or Stretch Armstrong or Mister Fantastic or Gumby. It seemed like an uninspired superpower, although Mr. Incredible's ability to be bigger and stronger than everybody else is even less inspired. In this sequel, you see Elastigirl on her own, and her super abilities give her an unexpected versatility. She's got a cool motorcycle, she can zip around an urban landscape like Spider-man, and she can definitely hold her own in a brawl with any opponent of any shape and size. The animators have a lot of fun with her, but what is more important is that the character really seems to be having fun. Of course, there's a lot going on psychologically with a mother who has to be away from her family, and that aspect is important to the character's story, too. We hear her express doubts about her role and the decisions she's making. That makes her situation identifiable as well. 

And that's really why these Incredibles movies work so well. They can take these characters with these abilities that aren't realistic at all--unless you're capable of producing ice with your fingers--and ground them, make them easy to relate to. It's a neat trick Pixar's pulling off with these characters, the way they hold up a mirror to society. I'm willing to bet any parent can see a bit of themselves in these parents, and any adolescent can watch and see realistic teens with realistic problems in Dash and Violet. 

The movie has a subtext that addresses issues of diversity or the stifling of a human being's abilities. They're not fully realized ideas, but they are there. The X-Men-ish idea of people being afraid of those who are different, a theme that was developed in the first movie, remains relevant as superheroism is still outlawed in this movie. I'm not sure if there's an intent to attach this to any specific people, but there are definitely ideas of control here that are interesting. A second viewing might help unwrap some of that. 

A villain named Screenslaver also touches on our 21st Century need to have screens in front of us all the time. That could have been used more satirically, but I'm probably glad it wasn't. These Incredibles movies are a little busy anyway, and trying to shove in a lot of other ideas on top of the family and identify themes could have gotten way too messy. 

I did like how it picks up right where the last movie left off. That might have just been an excuse to not have to make up a brand new character for Ratzenberger to play. A fun battle with his Underminer character starts this, and although an entire movie with that guy being the villain never would have worked as he's about as goofy as a Spider-man nemesis, it was a great way to reintroduce us to these characters, remind us of the rules of this world, and show off some action animation abilities. Dirt, concrete, billowing smoke. It all looks almost photorealistic in these early sequences, and that's another great thing about Pixar. They don't really have to do that because people going to the movie theater to watch a cartoon about superheroes probably aren't going to care if there's a richness to the animated dirt or the water or the chunks of buildings. But they spend the time to do it right anyway. After that, we meet a pair of siblings voiced by Catherine Keener, whose voice I didn't recognize, and Bob Odenkirk. Jonathan Banks, who plays Odenkirk's pal in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, is also recognizable in this one, by the way. These sibllings get our new story going, but unfortunately, that story is a little underwhelming and predictable. 

That underwhelming and predictable narrative didn't get in way though as the animation and characterization is just so well done. There are a lot of terrific action sequences in this. Elastigirl's motorcycle ride, defying both logic and physics, is about as exciting as any sequence I've ever seen in an action movie, and a later seizure-inducing brawl with a masked character is also really cool. A climactic fight scene on a boat is also really well done, a giant jumble of superpowered characters that never feels overwhelming or dizzying because it's put together so well. 

The new superheroes are kind of neat, too. You get to see Frozone in action quite a bit if you need your Samuel L. Jackson fix. There's a variety of others--an owl man, a gal who can zap things and people via wormholes or something, an electricity guy who looks a little like John Linnell from They Might Be Giants, a guy who crushes things telekinetically, and an old dude who vomits lava. It's a fun collective, and most of them get at least one moment to be humorous, exciting, or both. 

There might be a little too much Jack-Jack in this movie. Actually, now that I bring him up, I have a question for you. In this movie, we see each member of Jack-Jack's family discover that he's got these super abilities. They're all surprised. But didn't they find that out at the end of the first Incredibles movie? I could have sworn one of them even had a line that was something like "Jack-Jack's got super powers?!" I'm confused about that. Maybe Jonathan Banks' character wiped their memories of that. 

Speaking of Jack-Jack, one of the funniest parts of the movie involves a battle he has with a critter. It's a neat little short film within the feature, and sure it could have been shorter or maybe even deleted entirely, but what would be the fun in that? 

Anyway, this sequel is at least as good as the first installment and one of Pixar's better sequel efforts. It's got the right mix of action, humor, intrigue, and realistic human drama to make it work for both kids and adults, just like all of Pixar's best films. I'm not sure I would have asked for a sequel to The Incredibles even though it's actually the one that makes the most sense on paper, but I'm happy it finally came out and will look forward to a completion of the trilogy in another fourteen years or so. 

Note: I did not care for the short preceding the feature film--Bao. Jen liked it more, so maybe it's a "mom" thing.