Review: INCREDIBLES 2

INCREDIBLES 2 
(ACTION-COMEDY/ANIMATION) 
★★★★
Directed by Brad Bird
Screenplay by Brad Bird
Featuring the Voices of: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huckleberry Milner, Catherine Keener, Eli Fucile, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Bird, Sophia Bush, Brad Bird, Phil LeMarr, Isabella Rossellini, Adam Gates, Jonathan Banks, John Ratzenberger, Bill Wise
Rated PG for action sequences and some brief mild language.
118 minutes
Verdict: With humor and ferocity, INCREDIBLES 2 subverts expectations to be Pixar's best and most interesting movie in at least a few years, and a potent return to form for Brad Bird.

After 14 years since the classic original THE INCREDIBLES first arrived, it was disappointing that filmmaker Brad Bird was finally returning to deliver a sequel only after the disaster that was TOMORROWLAND, as though it would be an act of penance rather than a project of passion.  Fortunately, what it seemed is not the case.  INCREDIBLES 2 is very much a Brad Bird film, more than it is a Pixar film, really, and that's a great thing right now.  It's not perfect, and it stumbles a bit toward the finish line, but it would be wrong to let that overshadow how strongly it plays as long as it does, especially considering the lofty expectations the sequel has to live up to after all this time.  It's hard to compare the sequel to the original, considering that we've had 14 years to live with and love the original.  The original is a fact of life at this point, and a lot grown adults actually grew up with it, and it's a really great movie besides, so even the idea of a sequel is a huge uphill battle from the start.

The story, written by Bird, picks up with where the original's memorable coda left off, as the super-powered Parr family; physically super strong father and husband Bob (aka Mr. Incredible; voice of Craig T. Nelson), the extremely stretchy and malleable mother and wife Helen (aka Elastigirl; voice of Holly Hunter), the force field-wielding daughter who can also become invisible at will, Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), the super speedy son Dash (voice of Huckleberry Milner), and the polymorphic baby Jack-Jack; suit up to confront the burrowing supervillain Underminer (voice of John Ratzenberger), but the subsequent battle results in significant property damage and the ending of the "Super Relocation" government program that had been creating and maintaining the secret identities of superheroes like the Parr family.  Despite their success in defending the city only months before, alongside their ice-wielding family friend Lucius Best (aka Frozone; voice of Samuel L. Jackson), superheroics are still technically illegal, but telecommunications tycoon and superhero enthusiast Winston Deavor (voice of Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn (voice of Catherine Keener) come to Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and Frozone with an idea to boost public support for the re-legalization of superheroes.  Because of her less destructive track record, the Deavors want Elastigirl to be the face of their campaign by openly fighting fighting crime again, which leaves Bob doing his darnedest to keep things running smoothly at home between Violet's boy troubles, Dash's homework and Jack-Jack, whose newly emerging powers are increasingly out of control.

Being a sequel, the story isn't as inventive as the original, and it isn't as streamlined either, as it heads off in a number of different directions that aren't all that tightly unified, but the paths it goes down are often interesting and fun.  Mostly, it's just great getting to spend more time with these characters, seeing the ways they react to new dilemmas, like Bob's well-meaning and relatable attempts to be a good father, that often result in disaster before he finally finds a way that works, and Helen's own reliving of the glory days.  They still feel like the same characters.  Helen, though, is never as insecure a character as Bob, so her transition back to superheroing is smoother than Bob's ever was and is inherently less interesting, but her powers provide the opportunity for some more unique and exciting action sequences that are occasionally surprising in their ferocity, as well some great high-speed chasing on her two-piece "Elasticycle."  

Like the original, INCREDIBLES 2 is a deceitfully adult-friendly Pixar production dealing with adult insecurities, politics (but not in an obnoxious way) and threats, and it doesn't pull it's punches just because it's a cartoon.  Parents of small children may be surprised at how creepy the villainous Screenslaver (whose broadcasts hypnotize viewers to do his will) is, and the movie earns its PG rating with fisticuffs, gunplay and Pixar's first legitimate profanities (mild though they may be), but it's not that people shouldn't bring their kids.  It's just that, rather than the kind of kids movie that adults can enjoy too, INCREDIBLES 2 is the kind of adults movie that (slightly older) kids can enjoy.  It feels like an anomaly from other, especially recent, Pixar fare, and more like something else entirely that's passed through a light Pixar filter.  But Pixar has been a bit stale lately, visually sumptuous and going for the emotional throat like a coke addict goes for line, a little too reliably.  INCREDIBLES 2 shakes that up, and it's refreshing, yet it's not lacking in feeling just because it's not as blunt about it as something like FINDING DORY.

In the moment, at least up until the last 10 or 15 minutes, I was nothing if not entertained, and only after post-viewing consideration did it occur that INCREDIBLES 2 wasn't quite as brilliant as the original THE INCREDIBLES, but that 'in the moment' joy has to count for a lot, I think.  It doesn't stick the landing as well as it could or as well as its predecessor, and it's constantly subject to those unfair comparisons, but it deserves credit for coming as close to that level as it does.  It's possible that the ending would play better on a rewatch, and it's not that its bad.  It just doesn't come to as clean a point as the bulk of it deserves.  Before all that though, there was little doubt in my mind that this was one of the best movies I'd seen in a while, and while my comparisons point toward a 3.5 out of 4 rating, my heart says 4 out of 4.  Maybe a soft 4, but a 4-banger regardless.  It was just immensely fun and the best time I've had at a Pixar movie since INSIDE OUT.  It's easily their best sequel since TOY STORY 3.  It's not clear if it's as good as the original yet, and we may not be able to tell for another 14 years, but it's playing around the same level, which is a feat in itself.

                                                                                                                                                                          Images via Disney