When The Incredibles come out in 2004, superheroes in movies were still more of a novelty than the norm. While Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi had released two installments of X-Men and Spider-Man, respectively, Batman hadn’t yet begun and Nick Fury still searched for heroes to assemble. There was something fresh, something cool, something classic about The Incredibles. It was bright and colorful, with the scale and imagination of Jack Kirby and the emotional journey we’ve come to expect from Pixar. It out Watchmen’d “Watchmen.” (Which might be why it’s mistakenly identified as an Objectionist text.) Now, 14 years later, superheroes dominate the multiplex. Audiences see the same ridiculous twists, events, turns, and beats time and time again as these movies gradually become more and more like their comic counterparts. The landscape has changed and we all wonder if the Parrs still have a place within it.
Incredibles 2 more than warrants its existence. It casually, effortlessly balances spectacular set pieces with a wide range of dynamic characters and various storylines. These, too, all feature numerous motivations and conflicts that play off each other while never overwhelming the other parts. The movie fizzles with a frenetic energy. It surges forward with an unstoppable momentum. It’s also not as good as the original.
After an unsuccessful attempt at apprehending the Underminer, who appeared at the end of the last movie, the Parrs find themselves dismissed and reprimanded for causing so much damage to the city. However, Winston Deavor and his sister, Evelyn, happened to be on the scene. They want to bring superheroes out of the underground and have enormous resources to help them do so. “We need to change their perception,” Winston Deavor says. He wants Elastigirl to be their poster child. “We all know if it had just been you dealing with the Underminer, things would have turned out differently,” Evelyn Deavor tells her. While Helen’s off trying to rebuild their reputation, Bob stays at home with the kids, where he discovers the baby, Jack-Jack, has developed his own set of powers. And also learns about the dynamic struggle that is child-rearing. Meanwhile, a shady figure known as the Screenslaver is hypnotizing people throughout the city with TV or something.
In many ways, Incredibles 2 is a reaction and mirror of the first. Instead of Bob getting lured away by his old glory, Helen chooses to work with the Deavors in order to help her family in the future. Like with Bob, the obstacles she faces here are a direct challenge to her core beliefs. The bad guy acts out of a hatred of superheroes, though this time instead of it being because he was excluded from something, it’s because people have become complacent and lazy. They expect the supers to do everything for them and don’t take any action themselves. The body count is considerably less. The very nature of the story keeps the Incredibles from blowing up an endless horde of bad guys. And while there are echoes of the previous movie, they never serve as a reminder of what worked earlier, aren’t horribly tinted with nostalgia. (Jurassic World.) Because Incredibles 2 is a direct continuation, the movie is able to continue developing its themes and analogies. It can look at them through a different perspective.
Brad Bird clearly learned a lot from the live action films he made in-between these. This is especially obvious in how the camera glides over the sets, the way the story is paced, and how the characters move in the frame. Even in still shots, he has the animators add in subtle quirks and movements from all the characters, which gives them a better sense of presence. He’s aware of how they take up space, of their heft and weight. He’s also aware of what isn’t physically possible and garners a lot of fun from physics defying set pieces, of having the characters do things even Tom Cruise can’t manage.
Indeed, the set pieces are some of the most creative and well-executed sequences in any superhero movie. No other superhero movie out there has come up with some many great gags and moments using these powers. Elastigirl’s body expands, shrinks, flattens, contorts, and stretches during an exciting chase with a train. Like, wow do the animators come up with some great gags in that scene. A new character opens dimensional portals in the air which can keep people from escaping or helps them deliver a particularly effective punch. But the best of the bunch all comes from Jack-Jack, especially as Bob exhaustedly discovers more and more of his abilities. In fact, one of the best scenes involves the baby in combat with a raccoon.
Continued belowFor all the spectacle and bombast, Bird and company still remember the best and strongest moments are with the family. Incredibles 2 easily could have fallen into some weird gender politics. However, it never plays it as “Haha look at a man trying to manage a family” but more of “Jeez, taking care of a family is daunting.” Jack-Jack may have a polymorph’s worth of problems but they’re treated with the same weight and importance as Dash’s struggles to figure out what he’s doing at school or Violet’s terrible attempts at getting to know local pretty boy, Tony. One of the most enduring moments features Helen gleefully recounting a successful mission to Bob over the phone. “And guess what?” she yells. “No casualties!”
Despite all this, Incredibles 2 doesn’t have the same emotional weight as the previous movie. The family isn’t trying to figure out how they can be together again. Their struggle with hiding their abilities is more just them having to hide their abilities. The Incredibles has been called elitist and Objectionist, though Bob’s character arc was literally about him having to get over those ideals and open himself up to other people. Helen’s already fairly comfortable with her place in the grand scheme of things: she fights more so everyone can have a choice of what they want to be. It works with the character, and Holly Hunter delivers an excellent performance, but it doesn’t feel as dramatic or hefty.
After such a long gap, Incredibles 2 certainly had a lot of hype built up around it. Brad Bird and his team of animators manage to overcome it largely by ignoring it, continuing on as if nothing was different. While it doesn’t quite reach the levels of its predecessor, Incredibles 2 is a blast, with some superbly realized action sequences, a strong sense of humor, impeccable design and production work, and an invested cast. It’s a reminder of what superhero movies ought to be. It’s a reminder of how much more they ought to be.
