The Incredibles 2 Review
Despite what I'm about to say in this review I feel kind of sorry for Incredibles 2 because it's a sequel to a popular Pixar movie with a huge fan following that began production a full decade after the initial film's release. No matter how good the film is there's no way it will ever be able to meet the exceptions of long waiting fans who have already conjured impossible standards in their own minds. This is what's known as the Duke Nukem Forever effect. Thankfully, Incredibles 2 isn't as cancerously bad as Forever was if only because the accounting department has it by the scrotum and won't let it step one toe out of line.
The film picks up directly where the first one left off (which kind of seems odd to me because this is like following the Indiana Jones crew after they rode off into the sunset in The Last Crusade) in the middle of an action scene with a random villain who we never see again. After inadvertently causing mass destruction to the city the Parr family are left without help or resources as the Superhero Relocation program is disabled. However, an eccentric tycoon is eager to make supers legal again, starting a publicity campaign with Elastigirl to show that Supers are necessary and that they should be allowed to come back and continue fighting crime. Meanwhile, a mysterious new villain using hypnosis continues to cause trouble for Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible contends with his rambunctious children as a stay at home father.
There are so many things that bother me about Incredibles 2 that it's like trying to prioritize threats in a target-rich environment. Just for starters, you can definitely tell this wasn't a passion project for Brad Bird like the last film was; the first film had a very clear philosophical idea it wanted to explore and using superheroes was the perfect way to do that. However, the driving ideology of the villain feels like it was crowbared into the sidelines of the plot rather than being the core of the story. This forced ideology ultimately leads to a villain plan on par with Civil War in terms of forced and convoluted motivation/masterplans.
Speaking of the villain we can add "good villain" to the list of things Incredibles 2 doesn't have. The antagonist is fine enough before we know his true identity, but then really boring really fast when the twist happens and we find out who the true villain has been all along. This forced "real villain" twist has been happening with such Shyamalan-esq frequency in recent Disney movies that I feel like the company thinks its audience demands it. Are they just doing this because Frozen did it and that movie ended up making a billion dollars? You know it wasn't the big twist that made Frozen a hit, right? I miss the days when the conflict was driven by a memorable charismatic bad guy, totally upfront with their villainy which lead to a big personality. The "realistic" alternative (bad guys who have high-minded motivations and less threatening character designs) is just boring and not fun.
The characters have gone through a downgrade since the last film (which you'd think would be impossible since this takes place immediately after the last film). Whereas in the first film Mr. Incredible was an occasionally selfish, but loyal and good-hearted father and husband, here he comes across as an insecure husband and incapable parent. When Elastigirl, who I would remind you is his wife who he is supposed to support, starts getting more attention for her acts of super-heroism than he is, instead of being happy for her and encouraging he becomes insanely jealous and mopes around, frustrated that his wife is getting more attention than he is. I've never been married before, but this doesn't seem like husband-like behavior to me. It's made even more frustrating when you remember that he already went through a maturity arc in the last movie; it doesn't make sense that somebody who learned about the value of his family over the excitement of heroism just two months ago would then promptly flip priorities. Then there's his inability to keep up with his children as Mr. Mom; I absolutely refuse to believe that in their fifteen years of marriage Mr. Incredible was never called upon to take care of their children for a few days while mom was out of town. The other characters don't fair much better either: Elastigirl is practically a non-entity in a movie where she pretty much drives the plot, Dash isn't nearly as interesting or fun as he was in the last one and Violet doesn't have an arc outside of "win back the affections of the hunky boy". In fact, that's the problem with all of the characters besides Mr. Incredible (and even then not even him): nobody goes through any significant arc in this film, presumably because they already had satisfactory arcs that wrapped up nicely in the first movie. Jack-Jack, the Parr's infant son, is funny in that he does cute baby slapstick with his out of control superpowers, but the only thing I could think to myself the whole time was "Wow, that Jack-Jack merchandise is gonna sell like hotcakes." If I had to place bets on why this took place in the same time frame as the first one and not years in the future Jack-Jack would be it.
Anything I do like is strictly on the technical side: the animation is better than ever, with Brad Bird's cartoonish 2D character designs rendering surprisingly well with 3D. The action is well choreographed and a lot more imaginative, especially when they bring in new superheroes with unique powers that are a lot of fun to see in combat. I'd be lying if I said the film didn't make me laugh quite often, but it always felt kind of manipulative, like the jokes were made by a money man in a suit looking at a chart that tells him what makes the money sheep (that'd be us) laugh these days.
In the end, Incredibles 2 is a fine enough distraction and certainly a lot better than most of what you could be seeing at the theater right now. However, "above average" is a standard which I can't settle for anymore. In my mind it's like saying "I may have gotten scammed into buying a malnourished cow that will die soon, but at least it can provide me with milk for the next week". Incredibles 2 is an incoherent mess lacking in ambition with its only good points held up through pure creative force on the part of Brad Bird, who really needs to get back to form at some point as he's just too interesting an auteur to lose. Go see it if you really have to; just don't be surprised if you leave disappointed.
There are so many things that bother me about Incredibles 2 that it's like trying to prioritize threats in a target-rich environment. Just for starters, you can definitely tell this wasn't a passion project for Brad Bird like the last film was; the first film had a very clear philosophical idea it wanted to explore and using superheroes was the perfect way to do that. However, the driving ideology of the villain feels like it was crowbared into the sidelines of the plot rather than being the core of the story. This forced ideology ultimately leads to a villain plan on par with Civil War in terms of forced and convoluted motivation/masterplans.
Speaking of the villain we can add "good villain" to the list of things Incredibles 2 doesn't have. The antagonist is fine enough before we know his true identity, but then really boring really fast when the twist happens and we find out who the true villain has been all along. This forced "real villain" twist has been happening with such Shyamalan-esq frequency in recent Disney movies that I feel like the company thinks its audience demands it. Are they just doing this because Frozen did it and that movie ended up making a billion dollars? You know it wasn't the big twist that made Frozen a hit, right? I miss the days when the conflict was driven by a memorable charismatic bad guy, totally upfront with their villainy which lead to a big personality. The "realistic" alternative (bad guys who have high-minded motivations and less threatening character designs) is just boring and not fun.
The characters have gone through a downgrade since the last film (which you'd think would be impossible since this takes place immediately after the last film). Whereas in the first film Mr. Incredible was an occasionally selfish, but loyal and good-hearted father and husband, here he comes across as an insecure husband and incapable parent. When Elastigirl, who I would remind you is his wife who he is supposed to support, starts getting more attention for her acts of super-heroism than he is, instead of being happy for her and encouraging he becomes insanely jealous and mopes around, frustrated that his wife is getting more attention than he is. I've never been married before, but this doesn't seem like husband-like behavior to me. It's made even more frustrating when you remember that he already went through a maturity arc in the last movie; it doesn't make sense that somebody who learned about the value of his family over the excitement of heroism just two months ago would then promptly flip priorities. Then there's his inability to keep up with his children as Mr. Mom; I absolutely refuse to believe that in their fifteen years of marriage Mr. Incredible was never called upon to take care of their children for a few days while mom was out of town. The other characters don't fair much better either: Elastigirl is practically a non-entity in a movie where she pretty much drives the plot, Dash isn't nearly as interesting or fun as he was in the last one and Violet doesn't have an arc outside of "win back the affections of the hunky boy". In fact, that's the problem with all of the characters besides Mr. Incredible (and even then not even him): nobody goes through any significant arc in this film, presumably because they already had satisfactory arcs that wrapped up nicely in the first movie. Jack-Jack, the Parr's infant son, is funny in that he does cute baby slapstick with his out of control superpowers, but the only thing I could think to myself the whole time was "Wow, that Jack-Jack merchandise is gonna sell like hotcakes." If I had to place bets on why this took place in the same time frame as the first one and not years in the future Jack-Jack would be it.
Anything I do like is strictly on the technical side: the animation is better than ever, with Brad Bird's cartoonish 2D character designs rendering surprisingly well with 3D. The action is well choreographed and a lot more imaginative, especially when they bring in new superheroes with unique powers that are a lot of fun to see in combat. I'd be lying if I said the film didn't make me laugh quite often, but it always felt kind of manipulative, like the jokes were made by a money man in a suit looking at a chart that tells him what makes the money sheep (that'd be us) laugh these days.
In the end, Incredibles 2 is a fine enough distraction and certainly a lot better than most of what you could be seeing at the theater right now. However, "above average" is a standard which I can't settle for anymore. In my mind it's like saying "I may have gotten scammed into buying a malnourished cow that will die soon, but at least it can provide me with milk for the next week". Incredibles 2 is an incoherent mess lacking in ambition with its only good points held up through pure creative force on the part of Brad Bird, who really needs to get back to form at some point as he's just too interesting an auteur to lose. Go see it if you really have to; just don't be surprised if you leave disappointed.
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