Incredibles II

Image credit: Disney Movies

It’s been fourteen years, but the Incredibles haven’t aged a day. Just to prove how super their anti-aging cream is, they’ve come back a sequel starting right where the last one left off…

After an encounter with the Underminer, the Incredible family find themselves once again on the wrong side of the law, as superheroes are still illegal and even though they saved the city, they are forced to go back underground. As the harsh reality of their situation closes in, a spark appears in the form of a powerful tycoon who wants to enlist the help of Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) to gain public support and reverse the law banning superheroes. After years of being a stay-at-home mum, Elastigirl is suddenly back in the spotlight, doing missions while Mr. Incredible stays at home and tries to cope with Violet’s boy troubles, Dash’s math troubles, and Jack Jack’s budding power troubles. But the campaign comes to a halt when a new supervillain called Screenslaver comes onto the scene.

The first Incredibles movie was such a fresh and original idea for an animated feature that it would be very hard to top, but the sequel definitely doesn’t disappoint. Jumping right on the ‘yas queen!’ bandwagon, Incredibles II delivers the fun of the first movie while also being a ridiculously shiny, reflective surface of society and its cringing political correctness.

The story itself is predictable; it’s actually quite similar the first movie, which sort of ruined the ‘plot twist’ and flattened the character of the villain, but I’m not tempted to bare a grudge against that because, after all, it’s just a fun family film so a mediocre story is not the end of the world. The role reversal aspect is rather fun and it’s nice that both stories get equal amounts of screen time. Elastigirl kicking butt and taking names while Mr. Incredible is forced to become Mr. Incredible Mom is a sweet balance and provides the movie with conflict and comedy. On top of this the kids get their own development and focus time, which is quite lovely and strengthens their characters reasonably well.

Image credit: The Verge

All our favourite characters are back –including the fabulous Edna Mode- and there’s a bunch of new ones too, though admittedly the new supers I found a bit lackluster and uninteresting.

It’s definitely not the greatest film to come out of Pixar and its predecessor is still miles ahead of it in originality and popularity, but Incredibles II is nonetheless a sweet story and a fun movie experience.

Director: Brad Bird, 2018

Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Sophia Bush, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener, and Isabella Rossellini