**** outta *****

4 outta 5

Pixar’s The Incredibles came at a time there was a relative dearth of superhero content and was a blast of fresh air. It took the freedom of animated format and superhero powers, basically a slight twist on the Fantastic Four, to make the genre soar.  About 14 years later superhero movies are at full blast and Incredibles 2 may not seem as groundbreaking this time but this is still a solidly enjoyable, entertaining romp involving family frustrations and superheroes.  Also the addition of an out of control baby with super-powers kicks the film up another notch. What could have been a too late sequel feels vibrant as if the Incredibles never left. 

One day, the super-powered Parr family fights off the attack of the Underminer (John Ratzenberger), which causes problems because superheroes have been outlawed.  Father Bob aka Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) thinks this is a terrible idea, even though his wife, Helen aka Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), believes they should obey the law to protect their kids, Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack.  Soon their friend, Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) brings them an offer from a billionaire, Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and the billionaire’s inventor sister, Evelyn (Catherine Keener), to come back as superheroes. So Helen is on the frontlines battling a mind controlling villain named Screenslaver (Bill Wise) as Bob is at home with the kids.  For Helen, the mind controlling villain may be unstoppable and for Bob, the kids are running wild especially little Jack-Jack who is manifesting new and dangerous powers. 

This movie kicks off from the closing seconds of the 1^st film, which is an advantage of the animated format; it literally can take a decade long break and start off running.  There is a minor continuity glitch as it appeared at the end of the first film the family knew about Jack-Jack’s powers but here they’re unaware that the baby has super-powers.  However it leads to some of the movie’s funniest, consistently hilarious reactions as people watch the baby do crazy super-powered stuff.  This movie, however, does completely destroy the continuity of the 2005 video game The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer which is fairly irrelevant unless someone is still waiting to play that on X-Box or GameCube. 

All of the returning cast is great and haven’t lost a step.  Bob and Helen are still fighting over the welfare of the kids, Dash is unfocused at school and Violet is sulking over a local boy.  It is a bit of a cheat that the first movie is about them coming together using their powers as a family and then the sequel puts them back on the bench in the first 10 minutes.  One character that is evolving is Jack-Jack and each time his powers freak out and do something unexpected, it’s constantly gold.   While Bob’s stay-at-home frustrations is a bit of a cliché sitcom dad plot there is some funny stuff at how exhausted he gets as anything with Jack-Jack makes any scene better.  The two main plots are really disconnected as it sometimes feels like a domestic comedy and superhero movie running side by side, although both come together in the finale.  Samuel L. Jackson’s Frozone is very cool and has some great, loud reactions to the craziness.  As the brother and sister, Odenkirk and Keener offer some unique twists as Winston’s offer seems almost too good to be true.  Keener especially gets to do her best stuff in the third act which she delivers solidly.  Edna Mode (Brad Bird) returns where she investigates Jack-Jack’s powers and the scene where she lays out Jack-Jack’s transformations to Bob is gold.

The Incredibles was one of Pixar’s earliest films and it looked fantastic even though there are a few rough edges.  It was Pixar’s first movie that had all human lead characters instead of just toys, bugs, animals or monsters, so the Parr’s looked a little dough-y.  Fast forward to 2018 and Pixar has gotten much better at animating human characters so the Parr’s themselves look a little basic next to newer ones but the Parr’s seem to be rendered a bit smoother this time.   After a foray into live action with Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Tomorrowland, director Brad Bird returns to animation with Incredibles 2 and he gets to cut lose here with some wild, sprawling action scenes that can really only be accomplished in the animated medium. 

There is a lot of Helen in action as Elastigirl’s powers let her slide along objects.  The attacks by Screenslaver are gripping as whenever he starts enslaving people there’s a disconcerting strobe-light effect that hypnotizes the victims.   The first time Screenslaver’s power takes someone over is when Helen is in the middle of an interview with a news anchor and it’s pretty freaky. There are more superheroes in this movie than the Parr family and each has weirdly different powers and unique character designs.  Michael Giacchino’s music pops with a cross between a jazz influenced ‘50s tunes and bombastic James Bond style flourishes. 

Incredibles 2 is an enjoyable return to the world of the Parr family and their friends and enemies.  This is a superhero film mashed up with a family comedy that has punch.  It’s incredible, comfortable, familiar, and unexpected all at once.