Incredibles 2

Incredibles 2

After 14 years, a prequel to Monster's Inc, three Cars movies, and The Good Dinosaur, Pixar decided to make the one movie people actually asked for: Incredibles 2. So after all that waiting, does it live up to the hype?

Mostly yes.

Spoilers.

Incredibles 2 is so much fun. Right from the top it dives right into everything that's fun about the original. Using family dynamics in a heightened superhero setting is such a simple but effective premise that all they really have to do is keep pushing that button, and for the most part that's what they do. Mr. Incredible has to be both parents as Mrs. Incredible gets to go on an adventure of her own, making him jealous, tired, and miserable. It's essentially the exact same scenario as the original Incredibles, only the characters have switched. Violet gets a bigger role, fully embracing the horrific embarrassment of being a teenager, and Jack-Jack's powers are fully explored to the funnest possible degree. Frozone is used sparingly but is always great to see. Dash basically isn't a character at all in the movie, which might be an oversight by Brad Bird but it really doesn't effect the movie overall. The action is great, with some really fun and creative new superpowers, the coolest probably being Void's portals, which leads to some really entertaining fight scenes. There's a fight scene between Jack-Jack and a raccoon that, on paper, should be the worst scene ever in a movie ever, but instead it's so funny it could be its own short, probably because it follows the Tom and Jerry rule of the pain and terror being genuine instead of played for laughs. Also, Edna shows up and she's just the best.

I think my favorite element of the film has to be its style. Brad Bird goes full-Brad Bird and has all sorts of 50's/60's retro-future junk in here. Old timey TVs playing Johnny Quest and Outer Limits, plenty of art deco buildings, a bizarre mix of old and new technology, it's like if The Iron Giant and Tomorrowland had a baby and that baby beats up raccoons.

When it comes to the villain, there's simply no replacement for Syndrome. This time they go for a "twist villain", which is all the rage in the Disney universe right now. What's much more interesting than the villain herself, however, is the idea that her masked persona represents. "Media is bad" has been done in a ton of movies already, but typically in a preachy obnoxious way that feels as though they're talking down to the audience who already know what they're talking about. Here it's actually subtle enough to feel at least somewhat poignant (especially now, when news sources are more spread out than ever) and it finds a way of having something for both children and adults to think about while talking to them as an equal instead of a superior.

While the villain is a little bland, the true shortcoming of Incredibles 2 is that it has no real emotional core, meaning I couldn't tell you what this movie is actually "about" from an emotional standpoint. Mr. Incredible is jealous of Mrs. Incredible, but that's only somewhat touched on in a couple scenes. Mrs. Incredible feels empowered, but that's somewhat glossed over as well. The movie seems so concerned with being entertaining and making sure the plot keeps moving forward that they forgot to have the characters really feel things. Pixar's been losing its grip on a lot of things recently when it comes to story, but focusing on emotion was something they've almost always been able to keep straight. This movie, especially when it's compared to the first Incredibles (which has complex emotions on top of incredibly tight storytelling), is ultimately just a light, even somewhat shallow sequel that's still a lot of fun to watch, but not that fun to think about afterward.

Of course you should still go see it, and if you love Incredibles I'm sure you already have.