Review of Incredibles 2 (2018) by Tyler R — 23 Jun 2018

I don't usually get excited about animated movies. It's not that I don't enjoy them, but when I see trailers for new animated films, even those by Pixar, my response is usually along the lines of "OK, I'll see that when it's free on demand or Netflix." While I won't say I was excited about Incredibles 2, I will say I knew when it was announced it'd be one I would take a trip to the theaters for. I enjoyed it.

The Incredibles came out fourteen years ago. I was twelve. I thought it was awesome, and it was. Following up a fourteen year old movie with a sequel seems like a potential disaster in most cases, but it's Pixar, and it's The Incredibles. The question wasn't ever "Is it going to be good?"; it was "Is it going to live up to the first?" And in many ways it does. The comedy is there. The action is there. The fun, stylish things they do with all of the superpowers are a blast to watch (especially the baby's). The family driven drama and laughs are as good as they were in the first. The only issues I had with the movie came with the writing.

I don't want to get too into this because I want to keep the review spoiler free, but my problems boil down to the villain and their motive, as well as what I think is a tired issue of superhero legality. I know The Incredibles is a sort of nod to the golden and silver ages of comic book heroes where there was more celebration of the heroes by government officials and whatnot, but nowadays the norm is that vigilante justice is not OK, and while persons of public authority often count on masked heroes, they do so in secret because they need to promote the fact that the real heroes are the men and women in uniform and all that. So when The Incredibles and their superhero friends are fighting for superhero legality I'm sort of wondering "What's the point?" They have secret identities anyway, and they generally finish a bout with a baddie surrounded by damaged property and hurt people. The only benefit I see to this theme is that it offers a sound reason for the parents to forbid their children from being the heroes they were born to be.

As far as the villain goes, while they do some cool stuff early on with a motive focused around humanity's inability to separate themselves from TV and their screens in general, when the true villain is revealed, it's predictable as hell, and I can't help but wondering what the point was in the facade and all of the preceding mayhem; aside from leading us to a climax that is exciting to watch.

Writing that lends itself to convenience, but not much actual sense, is a small issue in a movie that is hilarious and just plain entertaining.

I give it four Jack-Jack copies out of five.