Incredibles 2
Dir: Brad Bird
2018
****
Some animations are better off as stand-alone films. A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up are all perfect as they are, while Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Cars are quite suited to having the sequel treatment. The Good Dinosaur is the only Pixar film thus far to not deserve a follow up in my opinion but it was always weird how The Incredibles never reappeared. I’m glad they eventually made another but fourteen years between animations is an unheard of amount of time in the scheme of things – for any genre of film but particularly ones aimed at children. Director Brad Bird has stated over the years that he would only do a sequel to 2004’s The Incredibles if he could come up with a story that was just as good as, or better than, its predecessor. However, following the release of Incredibles 2, he acknowledged that the film's truncated production schedule resulted in many plot-lines and ideas he had for the film being cut from the final version. He cited Pixar's decision in October 2016 to swap the release dates of Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2 as a major upset, which essentially meant that Bird’s film lost a full year of production. So really Incredibles 2 isn’t the film Bird wanted to make or indeed promised to make, it is something of a compromise. It happens. To be fair though, while it isn’t better than the first film or as original, it is still as good as, and it is amazing how quickly I got into it considering it has been fourteen years since I’d last watched the family of superheros. Weirdly, it felt like watching a movie version of a favorite sitcom, which of course it isn’t. I guess it is the film’s core familiarity that helps, although this can’t help but allude to its overall unoriginality. I’m actually totally fine with it though, the characters are charming, like The Munsters but superheros instead of monsters. It’s charming and likable, so the average and familiar storyline doesn’t matter as much. The magic isn’t really in the core story anyway, it is in the details. The film takes place three months after the last film. After defeating Syndrome, the Incredibles (Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell all reprising their voice roles while young Huck Milner replaces Spencer Fox who is now in his mid-twenties) pursue the Underminer. Although the Underminer (John Ratzenberger once more on voice duty) robs the Metroville Bank and escapes, they manage to stop his out of control drill from destroying Metroville's City Hall with help from Frozone (voiced by a returning Samuel L. Jackson). However, the government is more concerned with the amount of collateral damage caused by the incident, and shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program, leaving the Parr family without financial assistance from the head of the program, Rick Dicker. Later, he meets Violet's date, Tony Rydinger, and has his memory wiped after encountering her without her mask during the Underminer's attack. That night, Lucius informs Bob and Helen of an offer presented to him by Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), a superhero fan and the owner of DevTech, a telecommunications corporation. Winston and his sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener), the genius inventor behind DevTech technology, propose a publicity stunt to regain the public's support and trust in Supers. Helen is chosen to spearhead the stunt under her old superhero identity, Elastigirl. Winston provides the Parr family with a new home and Bob offers to look after the kids while Helen is away on her missions. Bob struggles with his new role of a stay-at-home parent, especially with Jack-Jack displaying his various superpowers (requiring him to be temporarily babysat by Edna Mode); Dash struggling with math even Bob can't figure out; and Violet becoming withdrawn after learning that Tony had his memory wiped by Dicker. Meanwhile, whilst on her missions, Elastigirl confronts the Screenslaver, a mysterious supervillain who projects hypnotic images through television screens. She eventually tracks down and captures the villain, who, when unmasked, is revealed to be a pizza delivery man with no recollection of his actions. At a DevTech party celebrating the Screenslaver's defeat, Winston announces a summit with leaders of various countries to once again legalize Supers, to be hosted on a luxury hydrofoil at sea. Unsettled by the ease with which she captured the Screenslaver, Elastigirl investigates further and realizes that the Screenslaver was being controlled by screens within his goggles. Before she can alert anyone, however, Evelyn forces the goggles onto her, revealing herself as the mastermind behind the Screenslaver. Evelyn explains that her hatred for Supers stems from her parents' murder several years ago, where instead of hiding from intruders and calling the police, her father attempted to call the Supers, but was unable to reach them and fatally shot. Evelyn plans to use the Supers to sabotage her brother's summit and cause a catastrophe that will tarnish their reputation forever. She uses Elastigirl to lure Mr. Incredible into a trap and force a pair of goggles on him, then sends other hypnotized Supers invited for the event to subdue the Parr children in their home. Frozone arrives and tries to protect the children, but is ultimately overwhelmed and placed under Evelyn's control as well. Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack escape with the help of the Incredi-mobile, a high-tech car once owned by Bob during his time as Mr. Incredible, and reach the Deavors' ship. On board, the hypnotized Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, and Frozone recite a vindictive manifesto on air to paint Supers as a public threat. They subdue the ship's crew members and aim the high-speed ship at Municiberg before Mr. Incredible destroys the controls. When the Parr children find them, Jack-Jack telekinetically removes the goggles from Elastigirl, who in turn frees Mr. Incredible and Frozone. The Incredibles and Frozone release all the other mind-controlled Supers by destroying their goggles. Mr. Incredible swims underwater to turn the rudder while Frozone sends out layers of ice, and they manage to slow the ship down just before it can crash into the city. Evelyn tries to escape in a jet but is captured by Elastigirl. Following the incident, Evelyn is arrested, and Supers around the world regain full legal status. Some time later, Tony accompanies Violet and her family to see a movie. Outside the theater, the Parrs spot a deadly high speed pursuit between police and armed gunmen. Violet leaves Tony at the theater and promises to be back in time for the movie, before the Parrs don their masks, ready to give chase in a refurbished Incredi-mobile. It is, like I said before, unoriginal. The story is very close to the first and the ending is incredibly predictable. It’s a shame but it didn’t take anything away from my personal enjoyment. Cliches were certainly avoided and the action scenes and the new characters were all brilliant. Again, it all feels very grown up for a Pixar film but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The only really shame about the film was the inclusion of a gun – the first time in a Pixar film and an unfortunate miss for a film so inventive. I do think that the next film, if there will be one, has to up the ante significantly and come up with a change to the concept but as it is, and considering the huge fourteen year gap between films, Incredibles 2 is pretty darn good. Is it my though, or were many of the extra characters modeled on ex-presidents of the USA?