Strange, at the beginning of the movie, the voice actors thanked us for watching. Well technically they thanked us for waiting, but it’s the same thing. Usually that’s the kiss of death for a film but here it didn’t make a difference. Even with this bad omen, it would have been hard for Pixar to ruin Incredibles 2. I love me some Brad Bird – he was ‘Miscellaneous Crew’ of my favorite Pixar movies, including Monsters University and Inside Out. The man knows his stuff. Of course Incredibles 2 is fantastic.
Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is left to care for Jack-Jack while Helen (Elastigirl) is out saving the world.
The strength of Incredibles 2 is in its writing. The movie is immaculately paced. You can empathise with every character; they have their problems, their goals and their reasons for doing what they do. And somehow, they get this across without taking up a lot of screen time explaining themselves. This movie definitely did not feel even close to 2 hours long and I was having fun the entire time. There were plot points that were supposed to be Big Reveals that were pretty easy to guess. But that’s okay because they didn’t really keep us in the dark very long and it was clear that they weren’t trying for Shyamalan-esque twists. The plot wasn’t about events as much as it was about characters.
And man, there were some good characters there. I am and always will be in love with Edna Mode. She fills my gay heart with joy – hilarious and fabulous in equal measure. You had all the superhero newbies too, each wonderful, each unique and funny in their own way. But the real strength of The Incredibles 2 (also 1) is in its family dynamic. The chemistry between Bob and Helen is so complex and believable. Same with how they interact with their kids. Almost everyone has experienced these family moments, they’re familiar and very funny when happening to someone else. Babies are difficult as it is, can you imagine one that can catch fire at will? I guess you don’t have to, Incredibles 2 shows you that and it’s wonderful.
The voice acting was so good. I mean of course Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter were great, as was Samuel L. Jackson, but you had Katherine Keener and Jonathan Banks there too. Bob Odenkirk was good and it was interesting how his character looked like an animated version of him. And visually, Incredibles 2 was amazing. The colours are dialed up to 11, which I’ve found out is really hard to do. Get it wrong and it becomes very hard on the eye. They did not get it wrong. Actually they didn’t get much of anything wrong; I really don’t have anything to complain about. Except there was another before-movie short. As obnoxious habits go, preambling your movies with other, shorter, films is STILL less annoying than after-credits scenes.
So is Incredibles 2 worth watching? Yes. I’m going to see this at least one more time in theatres – the sooner, the better. I must have been in a really good mood when I saw this one. I was completely prepared to love it, mostly because I’ve been looking forward to Incredibles 2 for so long. I can’t tell you why that is, exactly. The first film didn’t grab me that much but over the years I just started liking it more. I could even go for a third. I didn’t feel at all burned out on the genre either – why can Pixar make watchable superhero movies but Marvel can’t?
Rating: [star rating=”4.5″]