I enjoyed The Incredibles, though I only first saw it in 2015 after my husband bought me a Pixar blu-ray box set. I did like it, but I didn't feel like it sparkled all that much or was particularly stand out.
I wasn't blown away by the trailer for the sequel either, and I heard nothing in particular about it, so I assumed it was going to be neither a flop nor a success. Still, we have our Unlimited Cards and it was flipping sweltering in our flat this week so we decided to hide in an air conditioned cinema for an hour or two.
It. Was. Hilarious.
I loved it. We weren't bored, we were laughing out loud, we were genuinely entertained. Both of us came out bubbling away at how funny it was and how much better than the original it was.
Plot: It starts with the end of the first film. There is no time jump - it literally picks up where the last film left off.
Then it peels away, leaving the Incredible family staying in a motel because their house was destroyed, along with their reputations as Supers. I was amusing myself by whispering Marvel's Civil War parallels at my husband at times, cause it was a similar line of attack.
The character development was brilliant. Dash is the only character that did not get a lot of growth or definition, but that's because actually, he didn't really need it - it was there as a foil to the family and as a child who is at the age where he's confident and comfortable with himself - "It's part of who I am!" - he was not in any need of a character arc.
Helen gets ample, and it's really great to see the mother figure going out there and doing the super hero stuff while Dad stays at home to be the care giver. What was REALLY refreshing, despite Brad Bird's general views on feminists and stuff, is that there was no resentment towards Helen for being out there and him thinking her JOB was to be at home. No no, he was just resentful that he wasn't particularly good at it and he didn't like the implication that the thing he IS good at (saving people with brute strength) was done in a more sloppy manner than his wife, whose skill set is more adept at keeping collateral damage to a minimum. We get to see Helen and how she operates, and how she gets to do the things that she has wanted to do but hasn't, because she's naturally the better care-giver at home - and partly out of societal expectation, too.
What is great - and as a teacher with the inability not to relate things to what she is trying to teach her kids - is that we see Bob not giving up or half-arsing his parental role because he finds it difficult or it didn't come naturally, we see him putting more effort in and trying his best to GET BETTER - he sees that just because he's not good at something doesn't mean he can't get good at something. Ok, so he is more comfortable being Mr Incredible and he misses doing things he was good at naturally, but he never complains about being at home, in fact he gets proper stubborn about it when people offer to help - he doesn't want to fail at being a stay-at-home dad. It makes him persevere and work harder at it. THAT is the sort of male role model we want to see on t.v. and film. Also Craig T Nelson's voice acting is hilarious and brilliant and I love him.
Jack Jack gets a lot of the arcs, because being a baby, he is higher maintenance, and of course being the child of Supers, it's even funnier if he's a high maintenance baby with RIDONKULOUS powers.
Violet gets a pretty solid arc too - for her, there's a level of coming of age. She is a teenager and trying to get through high school life, while developing her place in the superhero family. She has her powers but also experiences for herself the negative impact it can have on her social life - going as far as to renounce her powers (another funny scene involving her costume). By the end of it, she matures enough, in the same way that Bob does, to see that her skill set means that she is best equipped for particular jobs - that is how teams work. It's not about glory or being the best at everything, it's about playing a part to get the task done in the best way possible, and if that means taking a "back seat" during something - be it allowing someone else spearhead a PR campaign to get Supers legalised again or allowing Dash to run around while you create a shield to protect everybody else - then that does not mean you're less important or worthy. There were lots of great take-aways from the film that I fully intend to use but will probably forget by the time term begins again in September.
The only downside or mild negative, though potentially interesting, is the strange almost feminist coding of the villain. I mean, it was pretty obvious who it was going to be from the get-go, but the way it's done is rather similar to the way villains tend to be queer-coded, only with a feminist bent? I don't know if that makes sense, I'm typing at 3am because I can't sleep. It fits with Bird's general outlook, let's just put it that way.
Still, it is a solid film, I give it a 4 or 5 out of 5. Honestly, go and see if it you haven't already!
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