The Incredibles 2 - Review

The Incredibles 2 - Review

Release date (US): June 15th, 2018

Directed By: Brad Bird

Rating: PG

Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Brad Bird, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener, Sophia Bush, Jonathan Banks 

Expectations/Background: Growing up in an era where Pixar was at its best, I saw The Incredibles many times growing up. It was one of the best movies that I had seen as a young child as it showed what superheroes could do in a medium (animation) that lent itself to cartoonish violence. But along with that, it showed the dynamics of a true family, which is what really drew me in. As I grew older and my knowledge of film grew with me, the question that pervaded my mind (as well as the minds of many) was: Where's the sequel? The film lends itself so nicely to another installment, and it was only a matter of time. Still, as time went on, I grew less and less hopeful, until a few years ago, the sequel was announced to begin production. My excitement level was through the roof as one could imagine; this was one of the pieces of nostalgia coming back in a big way. And yet, seeing the trailers gave me pause; though I liked the individual scenes in the trailers, I thought that the trailers were mediocre at best; they were a collection of disparate scenes set to the wonderful music (Giacchino, you genius). But hearing the overwhelmingly positive word of mouth coming out of the early press screenings, I had hope - and I went in hopeful that this would be the sequel that we all wanted/deserved. 

The Movie: I don't usually describe many films like this, but I feel that this film deserves this descriptor: The Incredibles 2 is superbly well-crafted from the ground up. I say many movies are good, some even great, but rarely do I say that from the very foundations is a movie "well-crafted"; yet this film is so wholly deserving of this praise. 

I'm going to start off this review starting off with some things that I didn't particularly enjoy because that was the experience I had in the theater - the first hour or so I thought was "fine", but nothing more than that. I thought some of the voice acting and the dialogue was EXTREMELY clunky (and I still stand by that for some parts of the film), and by the time we reached the middle of the film, I was beginning to worry. The movie was feeling more like a kid's movie than the same "vein" as the first movie.

HOWEVER, once the film really kicked into gear in the second hour (the film is about two hours long) I suddenly realized exactly what I was watching and I was so incredibly (no pun intended) impressed. Here's what I thought the problem was with the first hour; the first hour is a lot of individual, disparate storylines and character that seem to have very little relation to each other, and while enjoyable to an extent on their own, I was confused as to what the overall narrative was (much like the trailer) - but suddenly every single plot thread that they had set up (and I mean every single one - if it was in the movie, it was for a purpose) came together to weave into a beautifully intricate puzzle AKA the third act, which blew me out of the water. The last hour, and more specifically the last forty minutes was so absolutely thrilling and satisfying that I completely understood what the first hour was trying to do.

One of the highlights of the film, just like as with the first film, is the interactions between the Parr family. Violet in particular gets a big B-storyline that I enjoyed a lot; she's at the center at a lot of the best moments, and I was surprised to find that her interactions with her father, Mr. Incredible, were some of the best in the film.

But let's not kid ourselves; Jack-Jack completely stole the film. There's a certain part in the middle of the movie that had me nearly in tears laughing, and it revolved entirely around Jack-Jack. The expansion of his powers in this film is so fun to watch. And yes, if you've seen any other reviews you know that Edna and Jack-Jack's interactions are priceless; they are worth the price of admission alone. 

Elastigirl, as shown in the trailers, is given a much bigger role as compared to the first movie, which was also great to see. Her character is expanded a lot more and she becomes a central figure throughout the movie. While her personality/character didn't really grow/mature much, it was still great to see her put in different situations that we hadn't seen her before. 

Closing out the Parr family, I think Dash got the short end of the stick. I think that while Bird had a great idea as to what to do with the other four members of the Parr family, I think that Dash was relegated to the "punchline", and not even that at certain points. He was just kind of "there", and that was a shame. There was no real scene like in the first film where he was running across the water.

One of the biggest concerns I had with the film going in was that the trailers had revealed almost everything - and I was so wrong. The trailer revealed next to nothing about the story - like I said early, the trailer was a series of disparate scenes strung together to make a mediocre trailer, but it effectively hid a lot of the film's plot from the audience which I was extremely thankful for.

Really, there isn't much in the film that I didn't like. I will touch upon a few "nit-picky" things that I didn't quite enjoy as much as I thought. Like I said, the first hour dragged a little bit for me - I was having a good time but I thought that if the rest of the film was like that then I would be extremely bored (maybe on a second viewing it will be better). As stated earlier as well, some of the dialogue (in particular, one character) is very over-the-top, clunky, and quite frankly cringeworthy. Those were the moments that I was reminded that I was watching a "kid's film", even though it really isn't. 

But overall, I walked out of the movie with a huge smile on my face - I thought that they couldn't make a film comparable to the first, but somehow, against all odds, they did it, and I was so glad that I got to see it. 

The Villains: I will say one of the weaker parts of the film is the villain(s?). I think that while the villain served their purpose, they weren't particularly strong, and once I understood who they were as well as what their motivation was, it was a very bland, generic villain as compared to Syndrome from the first movie. No spoilers. 

The Music/Score: Giacchino is back - but I can't quite say better than ever. While his original themes from the film ring throughout the sequel, there isn't much else that stands out. To me, I would've loved to hear the original theme a lot louder and a lot more - that would've made the film feel a little more in tune with the original. But there are times where the score reminds me enough of the original's score that satisfied me enough.

In Conclusion: The Incredibles 2 is everything I wanted it to be and more. It has action, heart, and wonderful characters that are developed even further. Because of the wonderful set up the Brad Bird did in the first film, he was able to play in his world even more in the sequel, and although it shouldn't have taken 14 years to make the film, it was well worth the wait. 

**DISCLAIMER**: This is a subjective, opinionated article that has, nor should have any affect on your opinion on the given material. As such, my opinion is entitled to change over time and whatever is written here at this given point in time may not and should not be held to me in the future.