I have been writing about the need for a sequel to The Incredibles for about as long as I have been writing about movies. Whether at my previous post as Managing Editor at TheMovieMensch.com or my years as Senior Entertainment Editor at SheKnows.com, there are multiple articles asking, “Where is sequel to The Incredibles?” So, you can imagine the joy when Pixar and Disney announced that The Incredibles 2 was happening, and the entire superhero family was returning for more adventure.
Now that the Brad Bird written and directed instant animated classic is here, one must take a deep breathe and exhale. The man who gave us the masterwork that was the first movie has returned to form and delivered a sequel that not only is as good as the original, it improves on the original—a rare feat in the animated movie world and frankly, the superhero realm as well. In fact, I would put it up against any superhero follow-up in history and it goes toe-for-toe with your Iron Man 3s and that Thor trilogy. Maybe not quite Captain America and his sequels, but that is for a whole nether article.
The Parr family commences their follow-up to the 2004 smash hit knee deep in the action, much like a James Bond film classically does. That type of frenetic filmmaking is a time-proven means to pull your audience into the sequel by the collars and, hopefully, never let them go until the credits are rolling.
The Incredibles are hot on the tail of The Underminer, a glorified bank robber who “mines” under banks until they fall underground where he can suck them dry. In the process, the villain gets away, the banks are robbed… but, the Supers manage to save a slew of civilian lives.
Not enough, claim the powers that be, and our crusaders are forced to go underground again.
Enter Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Kenner). The pair run a company that carries their namesake and are worth billions. They craft and idea that if they can show that the Supers are needed, the public opinion will sway political opinion and get Supers legalized once again. But, and this is a huge “but,” they only want Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) leading the charge as a solo operation. She’s enigmatic, motherly and things don’t seem to go as wrong when she’s the primary hero as compared to her husband, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), who has a much—let’s say larger, i.e. destructive—manner of saving the day.
That means Bob Parr must stay home to play Mr. Mom to Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dashiel, aka Dash (Huck Milner) and the family’s new edition, an adorable baby named Jack-Jack.
It’s a terrific, and very 2018 set-up to a story. Bird has emboldened his female lead with literally leading the charge to bring all Supers out of the shadows. Helen, aka Elastigirl, doesn’t think twice about the opportunity. For her, it’s not outrightly about female empowerment. It simply makes the most sense. She adores her husband and her superpowered children, but at the end of the day, Helen believes that her powers and personality make her the most suited to be the one out in front to lead this superhero resurgence.
Meanwhile, Bob is slow to catch on in the domestic department. Violet is having boy trouble, Dash is finding challenges left and right with his schoolwork (New Math?!) and Jack-Jack, well, let’s just say that he may be the most “super” of the entire clan. Watching Nelson embody Bob in this film is, well, incredible. After all, we live in a society today where (at least I hope) it does not matter who brings home the bacon in a family, as long as that bacon is finding its way home.
The antagonist in The Incredibles 2 is The Screen Slaver, a maniacal menace who can dictate people’s thoughts with years of expertise in hypnosis and mind control. The villain in this picture is fantastic in that their mere presence screeches our story to a complete halt—in an effective way. Any forward progress that Elastigirl is making trying to keep the city safe is thwarted by the baddie’s entrance into the situation. Whether animated or live action, a sequel’s villain needs to up the ante and The Screen Slaver does that because the fear is palpable in Bird’s film. Robert Downey Jr. once said—speaking about Iron Man at the film’s very first press conference—that a movie is only as good as its villain. With The Incredibles 2, our evil doer makes the sequel sensational.
All returning players are an utter delight. Hunter revels in her portrayal of the heroine/Parr family matriarch. Her emotional tug-of-war is real for any woman who must leave her children behind to work and because this is a family animated feature, kudos to Bird for not shying away from that emotive vacuum storming up her feelings. The writer-director also delivers a powerful arc for the Parr patriarch as well. He repeatedly speaks to his desire to just wanting to be a “good father” and the pressure that that entails. Through Nelson’s performance, the audience feels that pull as well. His passion is clearly being heroic, but his heart and his head are firmly and blissfully home with his kids. It’s downright touching.
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The scene stealer throughout The Incredibles 2 is Jack-Jack. Although the baby only coos and never says a word, you cannot take your eyes off of him in every single frame he possesses. It is a stroke of genius adding a baby to the super-family mix and especially one that can elevate oneself, shoot lasers out of his eyes, disappear into other dimensions and best of all… turn into a devil baby whenever the situation requires it! This character is a marvel… pun intended. He first appeared in 2005’s Jack-Jack Attack and after witnessing him charm our socks off in this summer sequel, there will be a whole lot of demand for Pixar-Disney to give us more of the little lionheart.
Let’s hope that if there is a third film in this series—first, we don’t have to wait almost a decade-and-a-half—and that they keep Jack-Jack infantile. There is something charming about a film centered on a family and their family dynamic played out under the guise of the superhero movie milieu, where the biggest hero is in fact the smallest in every sense of the word.
Odenkirk is a welcomed addition to the series. His character is one-part superhero fan and one-part facilitator hoping to make a difference in the world. The Better Call Saul star balances that high-wire act impeccably and in many ways is the viewers way into this world, especially for those who may have missed the first film. The character is layered and grounded. That is an achievement because too many animated films have failed to deliver richness with their periphery players.
An interesting note is that his Better Call Saul co-star Jonathan Banks has a nice (but too small!) part as Rick Dicker, a longtime friend to Supers.
Bird announced his presence to the world when his The Incredibles landed in theaters in 2004. He went on to helm another Pixar-Disney film, Ratatouille, in 2007 before leaping to live action with stellar work on Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and a decently received George Clooney starrer, Tomorrowland. He is equally as comfortable with his live action films as he is with his animated work. It’s just that there is something about the world he has created with the Parr family that brings out the absolute best in him.
Grade: A