Incredibles 2 (2018 Film) Review
It's finally here! After many long years, "Incredibles 2" has hit theaters. Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, and Sarah Vowell return to voice their member of the Parr family while Huck Milner replaces Spencer Fox in the role of Dash. Samuel L. Jackson and Brad Bird return as Lucius Best/Frozone and Edna Mode respectively. Among the new characters in this sequel, Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener voice the brother-sister duo of Winston and Evelyn Deavor.
Overall Thoughts
In the early days of Pixar, the studio's focus was on making original films more than sequels. "Toy Story 2" was the only exception. Nowadays, we have "Toy Story 3" with a fourth one on the way, two "Cars" sequels, a prequel to "Monsters Inc," and a "Finding Nemo" sequel called "Finding Dory." Even before the release of all these films, audiences were saying, "No more sequels, Pixar! Well, except for 'Incredibles 2'." Indeed, despite everyone agreeing that Pixar should stop making sequels, the only exception to that cry was always a potential sequel to the 2004 film, "The Incredibles." For a while though, people were worried that it might not happen. After "Ratatouille," another Pixar project, director Brad Bird jumped on the live-action filmmaking train with "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol." He did so quite successfully and to this day, "Ghost Protocol" ranks as the most successful film in that franchise, both critically and financially. Although he had great success with his first live-action effort, his second effort, "Tomorrowland," was a bomb both with critics and audiences alike. So now that he's back at Pixar and with the Parr family, does this film show that "Tomorrowland" was a small misstep, or a sign that this sequel is too many years too late?No, it is not too late and "Incredibles 2" is definitely worth every minute of the fourteen-year wait. In fact, this is the best sequel that Pixar has made. One of the things that continues to make the original film one of the best superhero films ever made, is that it covers ground that no other superhero film covers. That is, the drama within a superhero family. The original film did well on covering this topic, but "Incredibles 2" proves that there is a lot more to cover than initially conceived. Behind the fabulous action sequences and animation, the movie continues to develop the strong relationships within this family and it is what drives this film through its runtime.
Sadly though, one of the main problems with "Incredibles 2," is that it falls into some of the typical formulas featured in superhero films today. It is particularly unfortunate as the traps this film falls into are ones that the original openly mocked. The villain monologues a lot and I felt that it was simply too much. I was expecting the heroes to comment on it, but to my surprise, they didn't. My other main issue has to do with the tone. The original was that rare animated film that appealed more to adults than to children. At first, the sequel follows suit, but by the end, I felt like it skewed more in other direction. It still may appeal to older audiences, just not as much as the original may have.
Old Friends
Seeing these characters back brought forth nostalgic feelings in the early minutes of the film, but don't worry, "Incredibles 2" proves that it doesn't need to rely on nostalgia in order for you to enjoy these characters once again. The script, which is the best part of the film, knows where to take these characters next, and it was exactly what I was wanting to see done with these characters. In a world where franchises like "Star Wars" are struggling because it's going places that audiences don't want it to go, Brad Bird's vision for the next story of these beloved characters was exactly like what I had in mind. A superhero film is at its best when it puts character development before action sequences and clearly, Bird never forgot that when making this follow-up.
While other characters steal the show, Craig T. Nelson is the emotional center of this film, reprising his role as Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible. This film is releasing Father's Day weekend, and this is a darn good Father's Day film. Among all the dramatic points, "Incredibles 2" touches on what it means to be a good father. That is the story arch for Bob. Nelson has a voice that captures vulnerability to a T, no pun intended. A chunk of the heart of this film, is seeing Bob bonding with his kids. In the original, he barely spent any time with them. That is not the case with the sequel. In reality, Bob spends more time being a father, than he does throwing punches. While Mr. Incredible throwing punches was entertaining, Bob Parr learning to do "new math" with Dash was more engaging.
If you were to ask me who I think was the best character of the film, I would answer with Helen Parr/Elastigirl, played again by Holly Hunter. Not only did she have the best action scenes in this film, but I felt that she was the person who grew the most during the course of the picture. The script incorporates her flaws as a character into the major conflict of the film.To go along with her arch, Helen has my favorite lines of the film and those lines are translated quite powerfully through Holly Hunter's voiceover work. While I'll cover the action scenes later, all I will write now pertaining to Elastigirl, is that she makes Mr. Fantastic look a slacker with his elastic abilities.
With seemingly so much going on in the sequel, I was worried that Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack were going to get the short end of the stick in the screen-time department. Luckily, that wasn't the case. Make no mistake, Dash and Jack-Jack didn't have much of an arch in the film, but they did entertain in spades which almost balances things out. Violet has an interesting side-story within this sequel and has the most development of the three kids. It's not too reforming for her, but it did lead to some high-brow humor as well as a great scene between her and her father.
Going in, Dash was a wild-card for me. Since they swapped actors between films, obviously due to the passage of time, I didn't expect much from him and what I got was better than those expectations. The difference between the voices was noticeable, but that proved to be inconsequential to the character at large. I feel as though Huck Milner did a good job replacing Spencer Fox. It wasn't a repeat of what happened to Nemo in "Finding Dory," where that character was made less entertaining because of a different voice actor.
Then there's Jack-Jack who, after his minor time in the original, gets a role upgrade for the sequel. He, of course, had that short film that showed when his powers started manifesting and now, we get to see them in their entirety. The filmmakers did not disappoint and Jack-Jack's powers were a visual, as well as comedic, treat.
New Faces
I feel like "Incredibles 2" is a bit overstuffed when it comes to characters. I loved seeing the veteran characters back, but some of these new ones weren't all that great.
Chief among them is the Deavor duo. Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener provided good voiceover work as Winston and Evelyn Deavor, but they didn't have a lot of personality as characters. Winston deals with more expositional dialogue without putting much emotion into it, while Evelyn had an overly-feministic attitude that I found to be distracting and a tad played-out. I related to a few traits that both characters had, but outside of those traits, the two did not do much that elevated my enjoyment of the film.
The new supers, however, added quite a bit to my enjoyment of this film. They not only paved the way to build upon this world of superheroes, but had some visually arresting abilities with distinguishable, if familiar, personalities.
When it comes to looks, each of them had clear and colorful appearances. The update in animation allows for more character designs that wouldn't have been possible in the first film. All of the new cast of voices amassed for these new supers, do their part in making them entertaining. Once again, they don't have a huge part in the overall story, but the charisma and unique power sets for each of the new supers, was more than enough to keep my attention every time they were on the screen.
Action and Animation
Superhero films may be a dime a dozen today, but in the animation field, the genre remains relatively uncharted. "Incredibles 2" features a host of large-scale action sequences featuring stunning power sets and animation. To me, this actually matches the action seen in the live-action superhero films. From Frozone's ice to Elastigirl's elasticity, the action is almost hypnotizing. I use "almost" because the third-act finale does go on a bit too long for my liking. Other than that, I couldn't be happier with how the creative team topped themselves in the action department.
In every film Pixar puts out, good or bad, they always mange to up the animation game and this sequel is no exception. It is the one area where this follow-up decimates the original. "The Incredibles" was already beginning to show its age, but now, that film looks dated compared to this follow-up. Sometimes the lighting can be too bright, thus making it hard to see at times. That's as far as my complaints go.
Score
In my first entry of the "Five Best Film Scores" series, the topic of discussion was Michael Giacchino and his five best film scores. His score for "The Incredibles" made my number four spot, so I was curious to see what his score for the sequel was going to be like.
Honestly, it was slightly disappointing. That is, he doesn't introduce new or inventive themes that go beyond what he did in the first film. He reuses the same music from the original, adds a few new tracks, but those new tracks weren't at all memorable. The only themes I remember were the ones used in the previous film.
Then again, I can't get too mad because the old music is perfect to use in this sequel. Why change anything if what you already got is perfect? The 60s vibe is evident in the music once again, energizing every action sequence in the film. Then again, some of the things that helped the original's score reach greatness is diluted. While it lacks an identity apart from the original, the music is still so good, that I almost give it a pass.
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