With the continuing-to-grow deluge of superhero movies
(Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Antman and Wasp), it is easy to suffer
from the so-called “superhero fatigue” that has slowly begun to
plague not only the DCEU of late (Justice League) or even the
recently problematic Marvel (Black Panther). Sorry, fanboys, its just
a fact: if you watch enough of them, they tend to run together and,
regardless of your affinity for the genre, nothing, not even Marvel,
can stay fresh forever. Consider Incredibles 2 to be a heartfelt, yet
seemingly knowing, wink at this slowly downward-spiraling trend that
tells it in a way that only Pixar can.
Okay, look, if you like Pixar movies and you like
superhero movies, chances are you'll probably love The Incredibles 2.
The characters are still charming, the jokes are still funny, Bob
Odenkirk plays sleazy but still honorable in ways only he could have
envisioned, the action is still fun and, if you loved Jack Jack the
first time around, you'll likely find nothing wrong with him 14 years
later in this iteration. Throw in yet another amazing villain (i.e. a
villain who's ideology would make him a hero if it hadn't been
twisted with murderous intent) and you even have a character depth
that Marvel Studios still struggles and fails to pull off in their
endless loop of bland heroes and their problems. See? The movie not
only is a fun distraction with redeemable merits but it even mocks
its big brother franchise mercilessly for its creative flaws. That's
meta to the point of mean spirited!
Unfortunately, much like the superhero movies before it
(at least the ones in the category of “Not Made By Pixar”), this
is still a one team show and, as a result, no one outside of the
original players from Incredibles 1 really make anything more than a
passing impression. Sophia Bush is completely wasted as the nerve
wracked superhero Voyd, up to 70% of the heroes without the last name
of Parr (that's the super family) won't even have a line of dialog,
no normal, human character outside of Odenkirk's Winston Deavor have
anything interesting to say or do and, even though I mentioned that
awesome villain previously, he also kind of feels like a slightly
more vindictive version of Syndrome (Jason Lee) from the last movie.
Its a movie that mocks the tropes of its genre before accidentally
falling into them as well.
As for watching it, sure, go for it. Its still a Pixar
movie at its very essense and, while it lacks anything resembling a
quintessential “Pixar Moment” (i.e. trying hard not to ugly cry
before bursting into uncontrollable laughter), its still a cute, if
sometimes underwhelming, superhero/family movie with the proper
respect paid to the family side of that equation. Do you avoid Pixar
movies because you think they are just meant to keep small, screaming
children quiet for a few hours? Good luck trying to defend your
decision to watch anything else in theaters this weekend.
Brad Bird (Iron Giant) continues to prove that he can't
make a bad animated, sci-fi movie with The Incredibles 2, a
kid-friendly version of what the Fantastic Four would be if they had
competent people working on that franchise. Picking up immediately
following Part 1, Bob (Craig T. Nelson) and Helen (Holly Hunter) Parr
are recruited by Walt Disneyesque media mogul Winston Deavor
(Odenkirk) for the purpose of rectifying what he believes is the
biggest wrong from the first movie: being a superhero is still
illegal. To fix this problem, Helen will return to her persona as
Elasti-Girl and, with the help of Deavor's media connections, try to
reaffirm public trust in superheroes again and...are you still awake?
That's too many words! How about this? Its got Jack Jack the infant
in it. And he is AWESOME. Now, go watch the movie already!
My score: 8/10. Is it weird that, after this movie, I
kind of miss Syndrome? Despite his kind of evil plan in the first
movie, he was still just trying to sell everyone rocket boots and be
a supervillain version of Ayn Rand (“When everyone is super, no one
will be.”).
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