Okay, so the first Incredibles is one of my all-time favorite Pixar movies. For real. I remember watching that movie in theaters and being absolutely blown away by how fun and exciting and funny and just awesome it was to have a world where superheroes existed in the same breath as the mid-century James Bond-era. That’s what that movie felt like to me: a beautiful mix of modern “super powers for normal people with families” and James Bond. It was practically a perfect film.
Incredibles 2…was not.
THE BLURB:
Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in “Incredibles 2” – but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transistion for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again—which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible.
WHAT WORKED:
I loved, loved that we picked up right where the first film ended. You never see that! The ending “next-adventure” is never the “opening caper” in the next episode of a superhero or spy film. That was refreshing.
Also working for this film was the enoooorrrmmmoussss amount of good-will that we as the audience have for these characters. I know I keep brining that up for these beloved franchises, but that really is what makes them able to last for several movies! If I love the characters, I’m going to come back and back and back to watch what happens to them next. It’s the foundation of television, and it’s the same for film franchises.
In that regard: the highlights of this movie boiled down to two characters for me: Jack-jack, and Violet.
Jack-jack steals the freaking show, y’all. He is hands-down the best part of this movie. His powers are interesting and hilarious, the shenanigans he gets into are sooo fun, and it’s also just the right decision to have him be such a handful (in a positive, fun way) with Papa Indcredibles in charge of the household while Mom is gone. He’s also money when he gets to spend time with Auntie Super-suit.
Violet is more hit and miss…but there are several instances where her escapades to meet/interact with the boy of her dreams are spot-on what it feels like to be a teenager with a crush, and be wholly unprepared and ready to interact with that person on even the most simple level. The restaurant scene where she blows soda out of her nose stands out in particular. Oh, teenagers…
…which makes me realize it’s even more doubly impressive they made that work. Teenagers suck on film/TV. Usually. Not REAL teenagers…but so often storytellers struggle to not just make them completely whiny and annoying. Same with young kids. So…bravo.
I also have to give the movie props for the aesthetic. The HOUSE that the Incredibles are staying in is a goddamn mid-century modern dream. I love, love, love mid-century modern, and this movie does it in only the way that an animated feature with a budget can do it. Sumptuous. Mmmm.
The last thing I’ll mention is that there is ONE
WHAT DIDN’T WORK:
Okay…so those were some legit positive aspects of this movie that I was all in on. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else ranged from lackluster to downright disappointing.
Biggest of all is the execution on the main arc between Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. It was a good IDEA, don’t get me wrong–if we’re setting our story in such a 50s-based kind of era, at least aesthetically, then taking on the idea of “a woman’s place” is perfectly appropriate. It’s not the concept that was the problem, it’s the execution.
Simply put: Mr. Incredible is a fucking asshole in this movie, and they NEVER ADDRESS IT. At least not fully. He is NOT supportive of his wife’s move, and he never seems to move from that place to one of understanding. There is no arc. It’s never adequately addressed, and that left both me and my wife at the end of the movie just not buying that everything should have been okay in the end.
The villain(s) in this movie are also super, suuuuper weak. Not well-motivated. Not clear in their archetypes. And when for that one scene where things get actually a little scary and I leaned forward, we immediately undercut it and never go back to that kind of danger again.
I just never understood what it was we were going for with our villains. In the first movie, it’s so clear: the super heroes need to learn that they have an effect on the small people, and sometimes a negative effect. That ignored and squashed small person might grow up one day to be a super-villain that almost defeats you. DO YOU DESERVE TO COME BACK AND BE SUPER?
In this movie…I think we’re critiquing cell phones? I think? And we’re just mad at Supers for not saving the day? I don’t know…it’s weak, at best. And just not powerful. It doesn’t feel like a true challenge hitting at the core of our characters.
The sister, in particular, voiced by the very talented Cathryn Keener, was particular nebulous to me. She didn’t seem like she was in the same movie as everyone else, to the point where I was thinking to myself ‘why is she even here?’ Which then led me to other questions about her presence that ruined certain reveals for me.
The movie was also really poorly paced. The interest-level between settings was never equal; one always felt like a letdown in the “but I don’t want to watch this right now, let’s get back to the interesting stuff” kind of way.
And all these things were apparent very, very early on in the movie. As fun as it was to start off exactly where we left off, even the mole-people sequence didn’t make sense. It was clunky. Not exciting, and not…inspired.
Even worse than that…the movie STARTED with an *apology* from the filmmakers. Yes, you read that right, an apology. For taking so long to make it. It was the weirdest, stupidest thing I think I’ve ever seen before a movie. Not only were none of us angry about it taking this long, Pixar–you are making a CARTOON, after all; age is not a problem–but it’s a cardinal rule that even a freshman in college knows to not apologize before you’ve even presented a piece of work. Yikes.
It’s suuuuuch a disappointment, this movie. There are certainly things to like, and it *is* watchable, but it does not hold a CANDLE to the original movie. It’s more an unfortunate reminder that lightning rarely strikes twice, let alone for more than a decade, which is the run of absolute excellence that Pixar put together. But, those days of reliable genius are behind us. Sadly. I hope our next round of geniuses is just around the corner.
5 out of 10 – at best, funny and charming…and at worst, boring and full of holes. A disappointment.