Review of Incredibles 2 (2018) by Wayne K — 24 Jun 2018

It's been 14 years since Brad Bird's Pixar debut The Incredibles hit cinema screens and made audiences squeal with delight. Now we finally have the belated sequel, Incredibles 2. Ditching the 'The' from the title that was clearly holding the film back, the superhero family return to take on a new villain and, as with the original, new personal and domestic issues.

I love the movies progressiveness, with the female hero, being pushed to the forefront and hailed as the superior, leaving her male counterpart to experience the kind of treatment that is usually reserved for the females.

What made the first film so great was how well the balance between being a superhero with a responsibility to the public and being a parent with responsibility to the children was depicted. It was like a superhero midlife crisis movie.

Now with the whole family donning the orange and black tights, we get more debates on the legality of superheroes and their role in modern society. It's unfortunate that the film came out when it did, since the market has been heavily saturated with superhero movies in the last decade.

As a result, many parts of the film feel overfamiliar, be they close to the first film or the other movies released between that one and this. The villain is weaker this time round, with a confusing motivation and being so easily defeatable.

Also, don't go in expecting an uproarious comedy. There are plenty of funny moments, but nowhere near as many as the first. The best elements are the human moments and the action sequences. The latter never fails to get your heart beating, showing that Bird still handles animated action better than perhaps any other director.

And when the family speak to each other, you believe what they say and feel for their dilemmas. I'd like to see a 3rd film, and while this one doesn't quite equal the original, I'd still highly recommend it to anyone, young or old.