This review is definitely behind and I do apologize for that but, as many of you realize, life simply gets in the way of real fun in progress. With that said, and speaking of fun, The “Incredibles 2” was definitely a blast and worth taking the family out for a sit-down on a nice weekend outing for movies.
As my media consumption goes, the family animated series’ that are supposedly designed for children often fall to the bottom of the list of things that I choose to see first. That’s said, many of those animated movies that I do take the time to watch turn out to be such a great pleasure. The original “Incredibles” was definitely one of those movies that made me rethink the opportunity to see computer-generated and animated features. To clarify even further, I want it to be understood by the reader that this is not an exclude things such as DC and Marvel animated features and definitely not some of the old school stuff we used to watch such as “ThunderCats”, “He-Man” and the “X-Men” animated series’ which were definitely some of the best pieces of work to ever hit the TV screen. And don’t let me even get started about some of the anime features that are flying around out there… good stuff. But, I’m really referring more to some of the Disney animated movies and some of the supposed lighter stuff that has been brought out by different companies like Pixar. So suffice it to say, that 14 years ago when “The Incredibles” came out, I was definitely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. That being said, we’ll discuss the long wait a little bit more down below.
The Truth of It
The reality is that I had not planned on going to see this movie, at least not up front. If it hadn’t been for the wife who was totally fired up to head out on a Saturday and see it, I probably would have skipped this until video. That’s what a good woman by your side will do for you… that is, keep you on track with what’s important. And honestly, it didn’t take much to get me out to see it once she started pushing it. And I tell you it was a very good decision after having seen the past few movies which were hit or miss. Besides, I really like it when she get giddy like a schoolgirl over stuff.
One of the cool things about this movie is that it begins with an apology and an explanation of why it’s taken so long to do a part 2 to such a good and successful movie. All the stars come on and some of the filmmakers to explain the time, energy, money and difficulty there is in making animated films as well as the fact that they were really intent on taking their time to put out a good film with good story and quality. This immediately made me settle down and know that I was in for a treat on that afternoon. That said, after they went through that short they got into the film which did not disappoint.
The Bad
Normally I start off with the good but decided that I would start with the bad this time around because in reality it wasn’t a lot was bad about this film. So I really address the largest elephant in the room and that is that it took them a decade-and-a-half almost to produce this and release it for public viewing. I think maybe that’s definitely too long and again, I know they had their reasons for waiting. I don’t think it’s much of an excuse though and maybe a 5-year break to get everything done as well as it could be done or to produce the quality that was given to us in this film would have been enough time. But I digress because I’m not an animation expert and truly don’t know the full gist of what needs to be done to get out equality animated film. Aside from that I think maybe one of my biggest complaints was that Samuel L Jackson’s character of Frozone may not have been in it enough for me but that’s just because I enjoy the character (and actor of course) so much. Not taking away from it though, he did what he needed to do and it was very effective at moving the story along. But honestly that’s about it I think. It was very well done overall so we’ll move on to the good.
The Good
So there was plenty of good things to speak of concerning “Incredibles 2”. First off we pick up not too long after the last movie where our characters are still dealing with the situation of superheroes openly using their powers being illegal. I thought this was a pretty interesting dynamic from the first movie and to have our heroes dealing with it now made for the beginning of an intriguing plot. This of course became the crux of what they were fighting for. In other words, the fight for the right to be a superhero and equality in general. The movie makers have been sticking pretty much too the whole concern of the Social justice Warrior crowd and certainly brought up issues with women and their place in society overall but especially as being superheroes, or super-heroines if you will, in the forefront of the fight against evil. This was discussed in certain scenes of the movie but not so much as to overshadow the overall story line. With that said, Mr. Incredible was definitely shown in the position of being a stay-at-home dad which may or may not be an issue for some viewers but again did not overshadow the entire story and was told in a way that kept the plot moving along.
Speaking of, what was one of the better things that I enjoyed Mr. Incredible is that he’s actually very instrumental in helping his kids to overcome specific issues that were causing certain issues as far as growing pains, especially Jack Jack. Dash and Violet were dealing with some of their typical Teen/Tween issues but Jack Jack was perhaps a bigger issue as the family was still convinced that he was just a normal child (no powers) because they missed the whole “Jack Jack Attacks” sequence from the first movie. Mr. Incredible was completely thrilled and surprised upon finding that his youngest not only had powers, but a plethora of abilities to boot. This made him potentially the most powerful of the family. The dilemma for Mr. Incredible was that he had to control Jack Jack so the world wouldn’t find out and had to also deal with the angst of Mrs. Incredible believing that he couldn’t control the home situation without her. This was part of the cool dynamic – her being the bread winner and him being the caregiver. They both felt tremendous anxiety about their role reversals, something that would eventually help them to appreciate what they had together even more.
As for the overall plot, we get a pretty decent villain who’s presented via misdirection. Think the Mandarin from “Ironman 3” except more acceptable a plot device in this story. This was ok, I think, up till the reveal of the true villain. I think I was more intrigued by the character of Screen Slaver. He was very mysterious because of the mask and his evil intent. Overall, no real complaints about where the story went overall as far as antagonists and their evil goals.
Who This is For
This is certainly a movie for everyone. I can tell you this… the children that were in the theater absolutely sat there at the edge of their seats and quiet the whole movie. The adults certainly enjoyed the more grownup matter and at the very end the entire audience cheered, something I hadn’t seen since Thor dropped out of a furious lightning bolt onto the army of Thanos to save the day… well, almost save the day. But, overall “The Incredibles 2” was a delightful story that very nicely brings the franchise back into the spotlight and gives it a fresh chance for new outings. Note to movie makers, a little bit of scarcity can go a long way in cementing the interest of fans. With that said, take the family out to catch it in theaters before it’s gone and if not, certainly worth a post theatrical viewing.
***Scale of 1-10: 9.0
NVIDIA SHIELD TV | Streaming Media Player with Remote & Game Controller
| Incredibles 2 | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Brad Bird |
| Produced by | |
| Written by | Brad Bird |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Michael Giacchino |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Stephen Schaffer |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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125 minutes [1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $866.3 million[4] |
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