Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
Do you remember the fourteen year old Incredibles? Would you like to see more of it? Then, boy, do I have just the film for you with Incredibles 2.
We rejoin the Parr family still committed to breaking the Sokovia Accords by using their superpowers for great justice, with Craig T. Nelson’s Bob, Mr. Incredible, still causing as much damage as those he’s trying to stop. As such, the government takes a dim view of their antics and shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program, turfing them out onto the streets. Well, into a manky hotel. Close enough.
Succour is delivered when Samuel L. Jackson’s Lucius “Frozone” Best informs Bob and Holly Hunter’s Elastigirl, Helen, of a possible way back to public acclaim. Bob Odenkirk’s superhero-daft telecoms tycoon Winston Deavor, and his sister, Catherine Keener’s Evelyn, are looking to rehabilitate the public perception of Supers through a managed PR campaign, with Elastigirl at the front of it, in large part due to her being rather more mindful of the ol’ collateral damage thing.
They agree, but that does leave Bob back at their swanky new pad looking after their superpowered children; Sarah Vowell’s vanishing, force projecting Violet, Huckleberry Milner’s super-speedy Dash, and bafflingly named toddler Jack-Jack who has some sort of every-power cheat code thing going on. OP. OP. Plz nerf. So, strap yourself in as we sit though another “father struggling to cope with rambunctious kids” storyline, which runs every bit as predictably as you’d expect.
Meanwhile, Helen finds herself going up against the Screenslaver, who has stolen The Riddler’s plan from Batman and Robin, using telly screens to hypnotise people. This leads her into a plot to turn the world irrevocably against Supers at just the moment Winston will use to convince leaders to welcome them back into society again, which the family must band together to stop.
Normally when I can’t think of much to say about a film, I’ll just vamp and jazz hands my way to fill up five minutes and call it a day, but in this instance I’ll keep it to a minimum. I rather enjoyed this, and I seem to recall rather enjoying the first film, but I’ve not thought about the Incredibles once in the past fourteen years, and I’m sure I won’t be thinking of this much in future either.
It looks pretty good – I do like the art style used, as continued from the first film, and it’s often quite funny, and it handles the action scenes pretty well. Plot-wise, it makes its way up to serviceable, just, which is papered over by characters which are charming enough to make up for how predictable it is. You have to wonder why this well was returned to 14 years after the fact when it clearly doesn’t have any particular tale to tell, and it’s a marked step down from Coco. Although I suppose most films are.
It’s an enjoyable summer release, and very entertaining. And of very little other merit, but, well, sometimes that’s enough. I’m not moved, touched or otherwise emotionally affected by the piece, but, well, that’s enough sometimes. Watch it out of five.