Fenya really wanted to see the long-awaited Incredibles sequel before she leaves for China on Wednesday, and we've seen most of the Pixar movies as a family so I was happy oblige when an opportunity arose this afternoon.
In terms of context, it is good to remember that there was a longer gap between that first film and Incredibles 2 than there was between the last season of the Star Trek television show and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And the Incredibles is a hard act to follow that, for over a decade, we were told never even needed a sequel. The big question going in then, has to be whether this is a shameless and opportunistic money grab or a worthy extension of the story.
My money was on the latter, and I feel justified.
Picking up mere minutes after the ending of The Incredibles, the opening battle with The Underminer results in the sort of property damage that a decade of super-battles have led us to expect. Our family of heroes once again find themselves on the outs with both their now-folded government concealment program as well as the public at large.
Thankfully a wealthy industrialist and his sister are fans and have constructed a plan to win back both the adoration of the crowd and eventual re-legalization of their lifestyle, if they can only overcome the villainous and hypnotic Screenslaver.
After the betrayal of Buddy/Syndrome in the first movie, I was delighted that the fanboy in this instance was not the villain, as I had first surmised. Listening to Winston Deavour croon the theme songs of both Frozone and Mr. Incredible was not only a whimsical delight, but also helped re-establish the groovy sci-fi alt-60s art deco style of the first film.
Other supers are enlisted as well, with names like The Void, Krushauer (Phil Lamarr!), Reflux, and Screech, but the focus is all on ElastiGirl at the start, while Bob, Dash, Violet and Jack-Jack are left to sort out bigger problems at home. Challenges like new math, a memory-compromised potential boyfriend, and the manifestation of multiple powers in a capricious infant.
Thematically, the movie is less about adaptation than it is about the manner in which we adapt, whether it is to a new job, new family challenges or a changing world. But the characters we know and love manage to muddle their way through in a manner consistent with what we remember from over a decade ago.
Most importantly though, the addition of a handful of new powered characters (and the return of Mr. Incredible's amazing ride, the Incredibile) means that there are even more opportunities for superhero set pieces than even the first Incredibles, which not only set the gold standard for power depiction and related gags, but did so in such a way that forced the Fantastic Four movie to do a bunch of reshoots in an attempt to step up their game.
Brad Bird already has some legendary animated features under his belt, including the long-neglected Iron Giant. He brings all his power (so to speak) as a writer and director to bear on this film, and the result is a deftly paced, heartfelt and electrifyingly imaginative depiction of powers in a world just enough like ours to be familiar.
You could argue that, like Solo, this is a movie that did not really need to be made. On the other hand though, Incredibles 2 carries its characters through new challenges and shows the world changing around them, from the reluctance to accept supers, to a breadwinner moving into a caregiver role and vice versa.
Despite my love of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredibles is probably my favourite superhero movie, and certainly my favourite team flick. Incredibles 2 doesn't displace it, but can take its place within that rare pantheon of sequels that are at least as good as the films which spawned them. The action is, well, incredible, but the relationships which tie the various characters together give this film a foundation even firmer than that of The Avengers, which had 4 feature films to establish its characters.
In fact, my sole quibble with the film is that despite stressing the importance of secret identities to their children (another nod to classic comic lore and differentiation from the MCU), Mr. Incredible never bother to give super-names to their offspring, Dash and Violet. Well, maybe it's because their names work so well as -is, that there is just no point. Still feels like a missed opportunity in my books, but if it is, there aren't a lot of other ones to keep it company.
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