‘The humour is funny enough to satisfy the want of the children but the themes are quite mature’
Incredibles 2, 2018
Directed by: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Samuel L. Jackson
The long awaited sequel to the well-received Incredibles takes place in a world where superheroes are now illegal, forcing the Parr/Incredible family (consisting of Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and Jack-Jack) to have to be heroes in secret. Helen soon gets offered to be part of an operation to help legalise heroism once more, by proving that heroes help the world, more so than simply destroying it in their path.
It’s not often in these animated movies is there enough to satisfy the adult audience and the children, but Incredibles 2 manages to do it quite successfully. The humour is funny enough to satisfy the want of the children but the themes are quite mature. The idea that Helen has to leave her family to save it as well as breaking the law to fix it (a sentence she says in quite a nice scene) can mirror things happening in real life, and was a theme I enjoyed having in the film. It was also interesting to see the family dynamic altered somewhat, as Helen is the one out trying to save the world while Bob has to stay at home and look after the children and suppress his own personal desire to save the day.
It also features some great action scenes, especially so later on as several superheroes fight each other. The other superheroes aren’t given all the time to be fully fleshed out to make us be that little bit more invested, but visually it’s still a great scene (even if the idea of heroes fighting each other and laws being made about heroes are copies of recent Marvel films).
However, the villain of the film is terribly written. There’s a secret villain called Screenslaver and by that mere mention of a secret villain we immediately know that it is someone we meet during the film. And there are so very few characters who could fit that role that we immediately spot the villain in disguise, meaning we focus on their actions as a villain rather than the character they’re pretending to be. It left me so deflated by the end because it was treated as a twist but was so foreshadowed by the way it was all written that is was disappointing. Also, it wasn’t very original in the way it handled the altered family dynamic (I’ve seen the failing single father routine time and time again), and adding that to the lack of originality in the plot (superheroes being negatively viewed by the press and the public despite their actions being heroic) all combined to leave a distaste in the mouth upon its conclusion.
The humour is funny throughout and the visuals are beautiful, but it unfortunately suffered in the script during key moments. I also didn’t like the idea of the Incredibles being split up throughout most of the movie (I know it’s treated fairly well but I still would have preferred the family try to save the day together), as it left us with just Elastigirl being a hero when I wanted the whole team.
Steve James 