I waited fourteen years for this?! Before I go into a rant, let me say I enjoyed Incredibles 2; it was a mild version of everything you need in a summer movie. It also was in no way up to the standards of The Incredibles which makes me wonder why it took so long to make a sequel. Do you like basketball? Well, think of The Incredibles as Larry Bird and Incredibles 2 as Chris Mullin. Now, there’s nothing wrong with Chris Mullin – delightful ball player; did many things well. But everything he did well, Larry Bird did better. And after exposing my fandom to Larry Bird, telling me to hang on fourteen years because something great is coming, and then giving me Chris Mullin is … disappointing.
The Incredibles are, of course, a family of “supers” i.e. they all have super powers … even the baby. In fact, the baby has, apparently, all the super powers, which starts as a running gag and then takes an heroic and mighty leap into plot device. I’ll get back to that in a sec. The film starts exactly where the last one left off: in a parking lot while The Underminer uses a combination spaceship/drill bit to burrow under the city and rob banks. The amount of money it would take to design and create your own functional giant mole-mobile almost certainly exceeds the trouble it takes to break into vaults, but no matter. The three key parts from the intro are: 1) The Underminer gets away – which the film never returns to, btw. 2) Violet’s would-be hunk of cartoon flesh gets the flashy-thing treatment from MiB, thus rendering him helpless in remembering things … just like every other American male – I‘m not sure why Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) doesn’t just call this a win, assuming the relationship has moved to the next level already. 3) The Incredibles save the day, but get blamed for all the destruction. Oh, for the love of Syndrome’s cape, are we still on this? Did we learn nothing about the value of superheroes from the first film?
Frustrated as I might be from that tired storyline, The Incredibles themselves are suddenly down to exactly their super powers and nothing else. Just when it seems darkest for our heroes, however, Captain Plot Point swoops down to save the day. Exactly at this time, the true narrative arrives in the form multi-billionaire sibs Evelyn (Catherine Keener) and Winston (Bob Odenkirk). Their idea is to use their ungodly wealth to sell heroes to the world again, starting with Helen Incredible a.k.a. “Elastigirl” (Holly Hunter). If all this sounds terribly convenient to you, just wait; Elastigirl gets to save a train full of people in her very first time out. And, oh yes, with the magic arrow pointing to Helen, hubby Bob Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) can revisit the feelings of inadequacy he had in the first film.
Again, don’t get me wrong; I liked the film; I just found it terribly frustrating. When it’s not revisiting old storylines and jealousies, Incredibles 2 skirts so closely to saying something valuable without ever reaching the plateau. Here you have an ultra-wealthy independent businessman and businesswoman influencing government policy. Gosh, that sounds really familiar, doesn’t it? Are you going to make a comment about this situation, movie? No? Ok, I see that the major plot involves the manipulation of media and hypnosis through screens. Golly gee, that couldn’t be timelier, right? Are we going to make a statement other than, “People are really easy to control.” Thanks movie, like we haven’t noticed who’s in the White House. Feel free to make a bigger statement about, you know, anything.
I don’t know what year it is in The Incredibles world, do you? The fashions, tube TVs, the single-button remotes, and “New Math” all say 1960s-1970s. The movie begins exactly where the last one ended, so at the very latest, we’re in 2004, yet the communication and mechanical technology says something much newer. I suppose it doesn’t matter; your artificial world can combine a cohabitation of dinosaurs and Mormons so long as you call it fictitious. It’s just leaving me confused.
Ok, I’ve batted around why I think Incredibles 2 doesn’t belong on any Top 10 list; now let me tell what I liked: I liked how The Incredibles family discussed power and responsibility; I liked how they juxtapose being ordinary with being extraordinary and how even crime 
fighting super heroes are required to look after the baby. I loved the fact that baby Jack-Jack seems to have every super power imagined by man, and uses them all to keep a raccoon off the property. I liked Voyd (Sophia Bush), taking Portal to the next level – her skirmish with Violet was very clever. I like Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). I like Edna (voice of director Brad Bird), the bourgeois superhero costumer; I think Edna should have her own movie … if you’re gonna bombard me with movies about Christian Dior, Vivienne Westwood, and Coco Chanel, why not make a film about a fictional cartoon fashion designer? How much worse could it be?
I was told that Brad Bird turned down fourteen years of scripts before he settled on the Incredi-winner. I’m a little baffled as to how that can be true. Incredibles 2 was a nice follow-up, but, honestly, it feels like the kind of thing you make when you’re cashing in on the first. Love it you must; I’m hoping for a little more out of Incredibles 3.
In the world of polarized fights
And making wrongs into rights
No need to glower
To show off your power
But you gotta do it in tights
Rated PG, 118 Minutes
Director: Brad Bird
Writer: Brad Bird
Genre: Second verse … same as the first
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Children of Pixar
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The obsessively disappointed
